I didn't think I could love the little critter in Star Wars Outlaws more, then I saw its mocap puppet

 Star Wars Outlaws
Star Wars Outlaws

Yeah, the new sidekick in Star Wars Outlaws is cute, but you should see his mocap puppet.

On June 12, we got a brand new look Star Wars Outlaws during Ubisoft Forward. The new gameplay footage we saw looks super promising, but my main takeaway is what was shown after the main event had ended.

In a series of dev videos, several developers working on the game talked future players through what we were seeing on screen. Perhaps most interestingly, we got to see behind the scenes videos of actor Humberly González bringing Kay to life. In the clips we see González donning the mocap suit and apparatus, talking about what it was like working with Ubisoft on this game and joining the Star Wars universe.

What I didn't expect to see though was someone acting on behalf of adorable li'l guy Nix. Now, I know what you're thinking, and no there wasn't a human performer running around on all fours, or even an animal with loads of little balls stuck to it. Instead, the gosh-darned cutest puppet you've ever seen stood in for Nix on the mocap stage.

From Yoda to Grogu, Star Wars has a rich history of building its most memorable li'l guys around puppetry, and Nix is stepping right into a proud tradition of lovable aliens. Nix's voice actor even adds some extra Star Wars pedigree.

Today's Outlaws gameplay also showed us narrative choices and a factions system, a Starfield-bettering surface takeoff sequence, and revealed how Nix is integral to stealth.

The E3 2023 schedule continues for now.