Star Wars Outlaws Culinary Minigames Left Me Extremely Hungry For More

Before we get started, here’s a quick note that wasn’t quite long enough to justify a full blog itself.

Hey folks, it’s been a little while, no? Thanks for checking out this review.

WGG has been through the wringer from a technical and content perspective for the past few months, and I appreciate you taking some time to check out the new blogs. We’ve been slacking like crazy, but that’s all in the past now. Expect more blogs, shorts, and great podcast episodes in 2025 as we continue to push this platform forward. We couldn’t do it without you, so once again – thanks for being here, I appreciate ya.

And now, on with the blog.

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When you think of all the things that make you love Star Wars, what words come to mind first? For me, it’s discovery. It wasn’t Jedi or Sith, or Empire or Rebellion that first made me fall in love with Star Wars as a kid… It was the wonder of seeing mysterious new planets, species, technology, and civilizations unfold on screen. I was captivated by the seedy cantinas of the galaxy – as well as the unimaginably strange, ugly, and beautiful (looking at you, Max Reebo) alien creatures who populated them.

I’m a guy who loves to travel and experience new countries, cultures, sights, sounds, and tastes – and I like to think my love of sci-fi and fantasy helped to mold that part of my brain from an early age. I’ve always been curious about what’s beyond that next horizon, what exactly that weird dish on the screen tastes like, or what makes people tick who I’ve never met before. If we’ve met in person, you know I’m usually not afraid (to a fault) to chat anyone up, and I’ll talk a brick wall to death if you let me – and that all comes from my deep sense of wonder and curiosity about the way the world works. 

A game that answers way more of those questions about its various worlds, creatures, characters, and cultures than you might expect, is Star Wars Outlaws. Whether it’s people watching and listening on the streets of Mirogana, or messing with the jukeboxes and cheating the locals in various forms of gambling throughout the game’s various cantinas and back alleys, the level of immersion in Star Wars Outlaws is leaps and bounds beyond any open world game I’ve played anytime recently.

There’s no better example of Outlaws’ immersion than the game’s “Galactic Street Food” events, which I didn’t even notice until AFTER I’d completed the game’s main story. In every major city in the game, your main character (Kay Vess, a down-on-her-luck smuggler looking for that one big score that’ll set her and her pet Nix up for life) – you’ll will occasionally remark about being hungry or how good the local food smells. I thought this was just a random quip (and a fun one at that), but it turns out she was calling attention to the Galactic Street Food carts that have service droids preparing signature dishes for fellow hungry travelers.

Interacting with these carts immediately rewards you with an adorable (and interactive) cutscene where Kay and Nix share a meal together, and each one is more interesting and elaborate than the last. Whether you’re slurping up soup and worms on a snowy street, or cracking open odd looking flowers to reveal glowing edible fruits inside, every planet has a unique dish to offer – and unique dialogue in which Kay will remark upon the specific ingredients, flavor profiles, and more. It’s indulgent, adorable, and I only wish there were 100 more instances like it throughout the game because I never wanted these fleeting moments of culinary bonding between Kay and Nix to end.

Oh, and if you find the accompanying quick-time events annoying – you can just turn them off in the settings, no harm no foul.

There’s a lot to love about Star Wars Outlaws, and I cannot believe it took me this long to play it, but as someone who really loves to travel and especially loves to eat and try new things, I couldn’t believe how on-the-nose perfect this small (and extremely missable) feature of the game was for me. It resonated on a very deep level, and I felt like a spacefaring version of Anthony Bourdain while taking a break for a meal with my alien pet buddy in between heists and treasure hunts throughout the galaxy far, far away.

So yeah, go play Star Wars Outlaws, and don’t overlook the food trucks. Now if you’ll excuse me, I am going to go dig my Star Wars cookbook out of the pantry and do my best culinary droid impression in the kitchen tonight.

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