What to Expect from Upcoming Star Wars Games
When Lucasfilm Games awarded Electronic Arts the Star Wars license in 2013, it seemed like a huge coup for the developer. In that time, the publisher managed to release just a handful of Star Wars games, and they weren’t without controversy. Most recently, Electronic Arts announced that the first-person shooter from Respawn—the studio behind Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and its sequel, as well as the Titanfall series—has been canceled. But it’s a new era for Star Wars games, and a bunch of studios are working on their own adventures set in a galaxy far, far away. Here’s what to look forward to.
Star Wars Outlaws
The reputation for Star Wars as being a story about space wizards named Skywalker or Palpatine is strong—strong enough that we’d rarely get stories about the other corners of the Star Wars universe up until fairly recently. Games are no different. We had a run of excellent games inspired by Star Wars dogfights in the 1990s and 2000s, but it’s mostly still Jedi and Sith standing at the head of Star Wars titles. Star Wars Outlaws is one of the highest profile titles to break away from this.
Outlaws will follow Kay Vess and her trenchcoat-wearing droid companion Nix as they “attempt one of the biggest heists the Outer Rim has ever seen.” Outlaws is set between “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi,” and is a third-person action title in development from the Ubisoft Massive team behind Tom Clancy’s The Division and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Fans of Ubisoft games like the aforementioned Division and Watch Dogs should keep an eye on this one. Ubisoft hasn’t set a release date just yet, but has said it will release this year for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S.
Star Wars Hunters
Star Wars Hunters is a free-to-play, player-vs-player Star Wars title from Zynga. In this game, you’ll choose from a cast of new Star Wars characters that include bounty hunters, stormtroopers, and heroes of the rebellion, among others, and team up for 4v4 arena battles. The game doesn’t have an exact release date, but is currently set to release this year on Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.
Untitled Star Wars Strategy Game
Bit Reactor may not be a familiar name, but its team has the cred that matters. The studio began with former Firaxis team members—that studio is responsible for the Civilization and XCOM games, among others. So these guys have the strategy bona fides. And Respawn is working with Bit Reactor to bring the game to life.
According to Bit Reactor, this Star Wars title is inspired primarily by turn-based games like XCOM, so we can likely look forward to something along those lines in the future. One of the most beloved Star Wars games is Star Wars: Republic Commando, a first-person strategy game, so there’s definitely room to slow things down and get tactical in the swashbuckling universe of Star Wars. Bit Reactor hasn’t yet announced a title, platform, or release window for this game.
Star Wars Eclipse
Star Wars Eclipse is an upcoming Star Wars game set in the High Republic period of Star Wars history, in development at Quantic Dream. The High Republic period is the period set from about 500 to 100 years before the Star Wars era we’re most familiar with. Anakin Skywalker wasn’t born yet, and the Sith seemed like a distant memory.
Quantic Dream is the studio best known for Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human, both of which are interactive adventure games focused heavily on player decision and branching storylines, rather than more typical game mechanics like action and strategy. With those two pieces of information in mind, we can assume that Star Wars Eclipse will look pretty different from other Star Wars titles.
With that said, Quantic Dream hasn’t shown much other than a vibes-heavy trailer. We don’t know what the game will play like, when it will release, or what platforms it will release on. Quantic has previously been a PlayStation-first developer, but Star Wars games are rarely platform exclusives—so we’ll see.
Knights of the Old Republic remake
This one is on the list primarily because it hasn’t been officially canceled. A remake was announced in 2021 as a timed exclusive for PlayStation 5, with Aspyr Media working on the remake. Aspyr has been porting and re-releasing Star Wars games for over 20 years, including the latest Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars Battlefront re-releases, so it seemed like shoo-in.
Embracer Group, the owner of Aspyr Media, shifted the game to another of its studios, Saber Interactive last year, and just recently announced that it sold Saber Interactive. According to Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, this remake is going along with Saber Interactive in the sale, but that doesn’t shed any light on if and when it’s coming out. The game has not been officially canceled as mentioned, but you should consider it on the backburner for now.
Untitled Star Wars Jedi 3
After two critically acclaimed Star Wars Jedi titles, we can say with some certainty that EA and Respawn are working on a third entry. This hasn’t yet been officially confirmed, though; actor Cameron Monaghan, who plays protagonist Cal Kestis, has said that the game is in the works. That’s not enough to call it official just yet, but it’s worth keeping an eye on.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order released in late 2019, and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (shown) released in early 2023; that’s less than 3 years of development on a full-sized, well-received sequel, in a time when games stay in development for upwards of five or more years before releasing. So if we’re going to hear about a new game in the series, we imagine it’ll be soon.
Untitled Star Wars Game
Of all the games on this list, the untitled Star Wars game from Skydance New Media is the one we know the least about. The game is being led by Uncharted 2: Among Thieves director Amy Hennig, who is also directing the Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra game for the studio.
Hennig previously worked on a canceled Star Wars game for Electronic Arts with the working title of Project Ragtag. With Hennig currently helming that Marvel game, we expect this one to be quite a ways out, and the studio hasn’t said yet what kind of game it will be or given any indication of when we can expect it.
Editor’s note: All of the games above are expected to be traditional or “Web2” games without crypto or blockchain elements.
🔥 Hot Take: Exciting Times Ahead for Star Wars Gaming! 🔥
With a new era for Star Wars games on the horizon, fans can look forward to a variety of exciting titles set in the beloved galaxy far, far away. From action-packed heists in Star Wars Outlaws to intense player-vs-player battles in Star Wars Hunters, there’s something for every type of gamer. The upcoming untitled Star Wars strategy game from Bit Reactor promises a turn-based experience reminiscent of XCOM, while Star Wars Eclipse takes players back to the High Republic period with its focus on decision-making and branching storylines.
Although details are scarce, the Knights of the Old Republic remake and the possibility of an Untitled Star Wars Jedi 3 offer hope for fans of previous installments. And with Amy Hennig leading an untitled Star Wars game at Skydance New Media, there’s even more anticipation building.
So get ready to embark on new adventures and create your own Star Wars stories as these games transport you to a galaxy filled with excitement and wonder. May the Force be with you!
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