The Star Wars galaxy has a unique aesthetic, and for its open-world adventure game Star Wars Outlaws, developer Massive Entertainment had the difficult task of maintaining that design ethos while also putting its own spin on the franchise. In a new video in GameSpot’s Insider series, developers Massive Entertainment revealed how they managed to strike the balance between authenticity and originality for their open-world adventure game.

Thanks to all the reference material provided to the developer – such as concept art and sketches – the studio was inspired to create a world for Kay Vess that was inspired by the original films and the time period they were set in. Massive Entertainment wanted to use these resources to create worlds, cities and vehicles that could very well appear in the original trilogy of Star Wars films, such as Kay Vess’ ship, the Trailblazer.

Inspired by the technology, vehicles and even kitchen utensils of the ’60s and ’70s, Massive Entertainment followed the same artistic path as the artists who worked on the Star Wars films to create an authentic level of detail for Star Wars Outlaws. “It was really important for us to bring in new things, but with the same methodology,” Associate Art Director Marthe Jonkers explained the studio’s artistic approach to designing Star Wars Outlaws.

Massive Entertainment knew it was heading in the right direction when it had discussions with LucasFilm and the company had difficulty telling whether the developer had created an original asset for the game or recreated one from the Star Wars films. “We’ve definitely had situations where people weren’t sure if we’d created this ourselves or if we’d taken something from existing material,” said Associate Narrative Director John Bjorling. “And I think that’s the highest level of achievement you can probably achieve. It’s so authentic that we don’t even know.”

The end result is a Star Wars game that could very well fit into the classic Star Wars universe, thanks to Massive Entertainment’s eye for detail and authenticity. The various locations visited by Kay Vess and Nix appear inhabited, the technology looks like it came from a funkier decade of sci-fi design, and even the NPCs wear clothing that seems to be modeled after the wardrobe of the extras in the old films.

Star Wars Outlaws is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on August 30, but if you’re a Ubisoft+ Premium subscriber, you can start playing three days early while also getting all the bonus content from the Ultimate Edition of the game.