The first time I crawled into a vent in Star Wars Outlaws and the camera changed from third to first-person, I thought to myself, “why can’t the whole game be like this?”. The level of detail to the scenery, props and the many alien life forms that inhabit the games’ multiple planets is incredibly impressive and it makes the areas you explore feel alive and, most importantly, in-keeping with the Star Wars universe.
Even though I enjoyed looking it at all from my third-person perch above Kay Vess’ shoulder, I was dying to inspect the assets in closer detail. It’s such a well built world that I wanted to be in it, rather than observe it. While I haven’t been able to manage that officially as, sadly, it’s not an option in Ubisoft’s game, that’s exactly what I was able to do for this week’s VR Corner thanks to a new update to Luke Ross’ REAL VR mod.
As you’ll be able to see in the video, Luke’s mod for Star Wars Outlaws is a little different to others that I’ve featured because this one has a first-person camera toggle. The game can also be played in third-person VR and in fact, parts of it still are. During climbing sections, stealth takedowns and the occasional in-game cutscene, the camera will pull back to show Kay Vess doing her thing, before pushing back in again so you can view the world through her eyes once more.
It all works brilliantly and being able to fully immerse myself into the game and feel like I was actually standing inside a Star Wars cantina was a wonderful feeling. It’s not as wonderful a feeling as zipping along the open plains of Toshara on a Speeder Bike though! Doing jumps and hearing laser bolts burn by your head as you rattle past alien settlements during first-person Speeder chases is as epic as any Star Wars adventure could be and it’s a proper treat for fans of both the game, and the Star Wars universe.
As usual, Luke’s mod doesn’t include motion controls and must be played with a controller but as always, I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all. It’s just like playing Star Wars Outlaws in flat screen, but with the added dimension of actually feeling like you’re standing there inside a hive of scum and villany.
This is easily one of the best implimentations of Luke’s REAL VR mod so far and the first-person view point just feels right. Like it really should have been there all along. Star Wars Outlaws was already a good looking game but, as you’ll be able to see in the video, it’s so much better when you can actually lean into it and inspect it and feel like your part of it. The dirt and grime of Star Wars’ ‘used future’ aesthetic is easy to miss as you trot through in flat-screen but here, it’s all at eye level and this makes the whole experience incredibly immersive.
Thanks to Luke, a realistic, busy and open Star Wars world that you can feel like you’re actually inhabiting is no longer a galaxy far, far away. This mod brings the Star Wars to you, it drops you right inside it and, despite a few visual glitches here and there, thanks to the strength of the visuals it’s easily my preferred way to play this game now. What a treat!