Radio or bell towers have a certain tradition in the Open Worlds, but this has not yet reached a galaxy far, far away
For fans of the series, the radio towers in Far Cry 3 are among the “images you can hear”. But it’s not only in Ubisoft’s shooter that you can uncover the map by climbing the towers; this feature was also part of the inventory in Assassin’s Creed for a long time.
In Star Wars Outlaws however, the game’s game director, Julian Gerighty from Ubisoft studio Massive Entertainment, recently explained that this will work differently.
Classic exploration instead of climbing games
Brian Shea from Game Informer magazine spoke to Gerighty and asked him specifically about the “Ubisoft Towers”, as he reported in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Regarding Star Wars Outlaws, I did directly ask the creative director if there are towers you climb in the open world to unlock the map. He said there are not.
– Brian Shea (@BrianPShea) April 11, 2024
The post says: “I asked the creative director directly if there are any towers in the open world that you have to climb to unlock the map. He said there weren’t. “
In a comment Shea goes on to say that his understanding is that the map is revealed simply through exploration. “When you go exploring, the fog lifts where you go,” the journalist says.
For you, these are bohemian towers?
The “Ubisoft towers” are a game mechanic that can be found primarily in the Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed series. In their origins, they were radio or bell towers that players had to climb up to uncover a part of the map. In many game worlds, these towers also serve as fast travel points, for example.
The whole thing is neither exclusive to the two series nor to Ubisoft games in general. The concept can also be found in Warner’s Batman: Arkham Nights or Sony’s Spider-Man.
However, because these towers are so common at Ubisoft, they are now often seen as a symbol of the infamous Ubisoft formula, according to whose principles many of the publisher’s open worlds are built.
The developers revealed in July 2023 that Star Wars Outlaws will be different from other Ubisoft open world games. It is not intended to be a “200 or 300 hour long endless role-playing game”. Find out more in the article linked above.
Do you think this decision is the right one or do you have something to gain from the “Ubisoft towers”? How do you think exploration should work best in Outlaws? Let us know in the comments below
