This might sound like absurdist and sensationalist clickbait, but Star Wars Outlaws is one of the most important games to be released in the Switch 2’s first few months. I was looking forward to reviewing this port, not because I found the original to be an amazing Star Wars game (it was alright, but derivative), but because it would be a showcase as to if Nintendo’s new system is actually able to run those bigger AAA titles that the Switch has missed over the past few years. Would the Switch 2 properly run a game made with the PS5 and Xbox Series S/X in mind, without an excessive amount of setbacks and limitations? Would that imply that we should expect for a lot more ports in the future, once Nintendo decides to actually send devkits to third parties? Shockingly enough, the answer is a yes.

It’s still a vapid game, but one that’s also very competent and well-ported.

This is not me trying to say that Outlaws is now a great game, and that the Switch 2 is the perfect home for an open world action adventure in the vein of your typical Ubisoft AAA title. It is still decent in its technical presentation, but somewhat generic in terms of gameplay. But the sole fact I’m saying it’s decent in its technical presentation is already a net positive. Star Wars Outlaws runs well on this portable, despite one or two minute setbacks. Visuals are actually quite good, even featuring ray tracing in an always-on state. The cost for that is a 30fps cap, but this is a valid setback I was okay with. Outlaws is not a fast paced game anyway, so even if I was disappointed with the lack of a performance mode choice, this looked and played alright, especially on portable mode.

Ray-tracing in a third-party game on a Nintendo system. What a time to be alive.

In fact, I was surprised with the fact Ubisoft actually took its time to add in some quality of life features meant to improve gameplay on portable mode in particular. It’s almost as if they knew that very few people would actually grab Outlaws on the Switch 2 to experience it on a TV screen, so the addition of larger fonts and an improved UI meant to make everything more readable on a smaller handheld screen was a really welcoming addition. I have also noted that, unlike what used to happen with Switch ports of AAA games, there wasn’t a noticeable amount of excessive compression or quality reduction on the sound department. Sadly, the protagonist still talks way too much, but hey, can’t win all battles, I guess.

Finally, what is probably the best new feature in this version of Outlaws is gyro aiming. It’s not exactly a game changer when aiming your weapon, as this game’s combat isn’t particularly deep or challenging, but being able to use gyro controls when piloting your spaceship feels… I dunno… natural, I guess? Again, it’s not something that gives Outlaws a brand new coating, but it’s a neat little inclusion that just works, and shows that Ubisoft didn’t make a half-baked port just for the sake of a quick buck.

Piloting the ship with gyro controls isn’t a game-changer per se, but it’s a welcoming QoL enhancement.

This still isn’t an amazing title, even if there isn’t anything completely wrong about it. At its core, Star Wars Outlaws is still largely okay. But for some odd reason, some of its design flaws felt less egregious when playing it on-the-go. Between the surprisingly good visuals, quality of life enhancements, and the fact every single piece of DLC is included in this package, I have to say I had more fun with Star Wars Outlaws on the Switch 2 than on other systems. Not by much, granted, but that’s still something.

Star Wars Outlaws is available now on PS5, Xbox Series S/X, PC and Switch 2.

Reviewed on Switch 2.

A copy of Star Wars Outlaws was provided by the publisher.