Summary
Ubisoft has decided to wade into the “yellow paint” debate, as it’s been revealed thatStar Wars Outlawswill allow you to turn off all “guiding color on core navigational elements” with Explorer Mode.
While there has been plenty of gaming-related discourse over the years,whether it be difficulty arguments,30fps versus 60fps, orturn-based versus real time combat, one of the more specific points of contention revolves around yellow paint. For most people, that sounds absurd, but the tendency to include yellow paint to point out climbing routes or destructable objects has gotten to the point where it’s included in pretty much every big open world game out there these days.
The argument against yellow paint is that it breaks your immersion, as you begin to question exactly who took their time to slap paint on every single cliff handhold or crooked barrel. It’s an obvious sign that the game is holding your hand and telling you where to go and can take players out of their experiences. The argument for yellow paint is that now games are getting so detailed, it can be difficult to determine interactable objects from scenery, thus some kind of indicator is needed to make things stand out.
Resident Evil 4caught some heat back in 2023 for it, while it was Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s turn this year. Star Wars Outlaws looks to be the next big game to include the infamous yellow paint in its climbing sequences and puzzles, but interestingly, it’s going to attempt to please everyone by giving players the option to turn off “guiding color on core navigational elements” with the game’s Explorer Mode (thanks PCGamer).
Star Wars Outlaws' Explorer Mode Lets You Turn Off Yellow Paint
Ubisoft has added “Explorer Mode” to a number of its titles over the years, mainly in Assassin’s Creed, as it attempts to make discovering items and crucial NPCs more natural and less reliant on your minimap or objective markers. It’s a more natural way of playing Ubisoft’s games, and while they’ve varied in success over the years, it seems as though Star Wars Outlaws' mode will be a little more in-depth this time around.
That’s not too surprising, given how much importance is being placed on the game at the moment, asUbisoftrecently revealed that the game will benefit fromthe publisher’s “biggest marketing campaign ever.“With that much backing, andits willingness to move away from Ubisoft’s slightly tired open world formula, Star Wars Outlaws should be poised for success.
