Massive Entertainment’s next game is slowly making its way to the public, and while Star Wars Outlaws doesn’t look all that fantastic, it does have, or had, some work that inspired the studio to make it.

Star Wars Outlaws feels very similar to what Ubisoft’s other open world games have to offer, as the formula doesn’t deviate much from what we’ve seen in Far Cry or Assassin’s Creed, for example. In an interview with GamesRadar, the game’s creative director Julian Gerighty said that “without a doubt” Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is one of his favorites in the franchise because of the freedom of approach in a vast environment, with curiosity at the heart of the game. As a result, Massive often consulted with colleagues about what would be too big or too far to travel.

But Assassin’s Creed Odyssey wasn’t the only inspiration for Star Wars Outléaws. Gerighty revealed that the biggest reference for him was Ghost of Tsushima, which was more of a Kurosawa inspiration than a Western, John Ford inspiration for George Lucas. He also mentioned Red Dead Redemption because it treats the world as a world rather than a repetitive list of activities. When Gerighty thinks of Ghost of Tsushima, what he loved about it was that the player’s imagination was pure, and that’s what Sucker Punch is building on in the game. The story, the world, the character, it all fits together, while the gameplay drives everything. It’s a fantasy where you get to manage a samurai/ninja in Japan. It was one of the “light towers” of Star Wars Outlaws.

The release is not far, but it’s still a month away. Star Wars Outlaws will be released on August 30th for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and PC. The only question now is how long the game will last, because Massive might not be able to do it.

Source: PCGamer, GamesRadar