Okay okay, I'll Nix the cynicism.
Ubisoft has announced Star Wars: Outlaws and, judging by the Star Wars nerds on the PCG team, it’s made quite the impression. The game is an original tale about smuggler Kay Vess, set between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and the devs are amping up the seedy Han Solo vibe they’re going for. But as is almost de rigeur for the series these days, the scene-stealer was Vess’ cutesy little companion called Nix.
Lord knows what Nix is. A dog-eyed Gizmo-looking thing with various hair fronds that seems adept at stealing things and, per the trailer, is Vess’ constant companion with numerous in-game uses. It’s obviously going to be a key part of Outlaws, and Ubisoft has sent over a press release with the news it will be voiced by Dee Bradley Baker, one of the most prolific voice actors in the world and a man who has voiced more Star Wars characters than anyone else (thanks, GamesRadar+).
Star Wars fans will know Baker from The Clone Wars, where he voiced every single clone trooper, as well as spin-off series the Bad Batch. I cannot emphasise enough just how many characters that is in the Clone Wars alone, which has an enormous cast of grunt clone troopers but also a whole bunch of main characters that are clones and played by Baker. He’s played 11 different characters in the Star Wars Resistance show.
Games? You want games? Baker was in fricking Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. He’s also played characters in Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and the sequel, Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Kinect Star Wars, Boba Fett among others in Disney Infinity, Star Wars Battlefront and the sequel, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. If you’ve ever watched or played something Star Wars-y, you’ve almost certainly heard his voice.
Though funnily enough, you won’t here. Well, not Baker’s speaking voice anyway. As a weird little alien-dog thing, Nix doesn’t speak, but makes various animal sounds, which it turns out is another strand to Baker’s career: he regularly does VO parts that are animal-based, perhaps the most well-known being Perry the Platypus in Phineas and Ferb.
The same press release says that Outlaws’ lead character, Kay Vess, is played by Humberly González. González is a Venezuelan-born Canadian actor who’s appeared on TV shows and has had various roles in games before, including Mercedes ‘Jonrón’ Martín in Far Cry 6.
“When we first imagined the first open-world Star Wars game, we explored where and when it could take place, and quickly realized that we had all the right ingredients for the journey of a scoundrel,” said Julian Gerighty, creative director at Massive Entertainment. “These outlaws live life under the thumb of the Galactic Empire, but can still thrive given the opportunities that the criminal underworld opens up for people looking to take advantage of the turmoil. The time is ripe for a new outlaw to make their name, and Kay Vess is written in the stars”.
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