With its 1.6 update, Star Wars Outlaws has finally fixed its janky as hell speeder combat

You've got to hand it to Ubisoft: despite Star Wars Outlaws' rocky launch, it's stuck with it doggedly, releasing a whole series of updates that have hugely improved the game's performance, stability, and the core play experience. Here we are, nine months on from the original release, and it's still going, with a new major update now available alongside the release of the A Pirate's Fortune DLC.

This time, the headliner is speeder combat. Previously, mounted battles felt pretty awkward. For some reason, Kay couldn't just fire her pistol at pursuers—instead, you had to wait for her Adrenaline Rush ability to charge and use it to tag enemies in slow-mo before automatically shooting them.

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

No longer! Now you can just free aim your pistol while reading a speeder and fire at will—a much more intuitive approach.

Another long-time bugbear for players has been Kay's disinterest in holding on to any weapon other than her default pistol. While you could grab blasters and other two-handed weapons off defeated enemies and armoury racks, they were effectively temporary power-ups, as you'd drop them if you started doing almost anything other than shooting.

Patch 1.4 already improved things somewhat there, allowing Kay to at least do things like climb ladders without losing her new gun, but 1.6 improves that to a more complete solution. You can now actually holster a second weapon on your back, and switch between it and your pistol without dropping it.

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

It looks like you can even take the gun with you between areas and planets, which should make Kay feel rather better equipped than ever before—and make it a lot more viable to go in all-guns-blazing when you're feeling bored of sneaking.

The update also includes some new passive equipment slots for your ship, the Trailblazer, for more interesting customisation. New space contract types should also give you some opportunities to try them out.

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

And all those mechanical tweaks are accompanied by some new cosmetics, free to all players, inspired by the TV show Skeleton Crew.

As a bit of an Outlaws apologist—it has its flaws, but I don't think its rich and immersive Star Wars world quite got the credit it deserved—I'm excited to jump back in and give it one last go with the new DLC. Yet another round of quality-of-life improvements is the icing on the cake, and hopefully another step towards the game earning a little more appreciation over time.

You can read the full patch notes below.

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Highlights

Added the ability to free fire Kay's blaster while riding the speederAdded the ability to holster and swap between two handed weapons and Kay's blasterAdded the ability to equip new passive systems to the Trailblazer for additional gameplay effectsAdded new space contracts for all players that include multiple challenge typesFixed an issue where the Hidden Riches intel could not be completed

General Gameplay

Improved shooting when behind cover to prevent hitting the environmentFixed an issue where certain intel quests could not be completed if intel was found before picking up the questImproved enemy AI when moving to cover/being suppressedFixed an issue where Kay could get trapped when respawning in a restricted room on TosharaImproved Kay's movement animations on stairs and slopesAdjusted effects of getting ionized in spaceFixed space NPCs going "out of bounds" when in combatMiyuki Traders have been upgraded to full vendors and now sell passive system upgrades in addition to previous resource itemsFixed issue where the Ion upgrade of the smoke bomb was inconsistent in ionizing enemiesFixed issue where melee finishers sometimes wouldn't trigger if the blaster is overheatedFixed issue where configurations with improved heat capacity from upgrades and gear would risk overheating the blaster if quick switching modules when near the overheat thresholdCrimson Reign gear set has a reduced cooldown on Stun Shot for each enemy caught within all variants of the Smoke BombOutlaw Belt has a reduced cooldown and increased duration of the supercooled state when swapping between Kay's blaster modules.  Additional HUD feedback has been added for the duration and cooldownFixed an issue where shields would not protect Kay from direct impact explosive projectilesPerformance improvements during climbingImproved attaching and releasing input when using the grappling hookFixed an issue where Kay would move slowly when aiming during strafing in certain areasKay no longer gains adrenaline during standing jumps on the speederKay is now thrown off the speeder when hit by a melee attackImproved cases where dropping weapons could result in clippingKay now exits scoping when staggeredFixed an issue where the Glowlamp would disable when entering vents

Performance

Fixed an issue where the game could crash when activating FSR3 Frame Gen and Freesync Premium Pro HDR

Graphics

RTXDI improvementsRay Reconstruction improvements

UI, HUD and Settings

Fixed an issue where a vendor's purchase screen was unable to be closed when the items list was emptyFixed an issue where the incorrect journal entries would be highlighted when hovering over a different entry

Audio

Fixed an issue where crew members lines would be played at incorrect times

Cinematics

Improved instances where props were missing/floating in certain cinematics

Camera

Fixed an issue with camera jittering and clipping while on the speeder

Worlds, Fauna and Flora

Fixed an issue where the surrounding environment would not reflect correct time of dayFixed an issue where color banding was present in the sky on Consoles

Accessibility

Added accessibility shortcut allowing high contrast, auto run, and menu narration to be toggled without accessing menusGadget wheel can now be set to a toggle rather than a button holdHUD background transparency and colors can now be adjustedHigh contrast UI setting now also affects headings in settings menusGameplay high contrast transparency now affects darker colors more evenlyMap menu narration now reads whether a location is on another planetFixed an issue where remapping breaks sabacc controlsFixed an issue where high contrast mode settings menu preview did not match how the transparency slider works in the gameFixed an issue where some HUD icons were hard to see when high contrast HUD was enabledFixed an issue where large HUD text would be larger than its backgroundFixed an issue where autowalk was not available when using a controller on PC, or on consolesFixed an issue where the Trailblazer was not displayed correctly in high contrast mode when damagedAuto-vault no longer triggers if the fall will kill Kay

Miscellaneous

Reduced instances of environmental clothes clipping

MAIN & SIDE QUESTS (beware of spoilers)

Akiva

The VeteranFixed an issue where the speeder was unable to be interacted with after a cutscene

Kijimi

BreakoutFixed an issue where Kay could get stuck dismounting the speeder when exiting the factory tunnel

Other

RevelatorFixed an issue where Kay could get stuck if walking behind the turbolift while joining Sliro's detailFixed an issue where a ladder could not be interacted with if Kay respawns

Known issues

Contraband contractsPicking up a contraband contract and not completing it (e.g. going to another region/space/planet or completing another activity) will cause the contract to fail.  The contract can be picked up again from the vendor.