Summary
Star Warsgames were rarely ever phenomenal—meaning their influence would play a crucial role in game development thereafter—besides a handful of seminal titles likeKnights of the Old Republic. That streak of middling games ended recently, though, withStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Orderstaking its claim asone of the betterStar Warsgamesin a while. Like other enormous properties,Star Warshas been known to fall into licensed iconography trappings, but shifting away from that has brought the IP into a new light in gaming.
BetweenStar Wars Jedi’sFallen OrderandSurvivor, Respawn’sStar WarsFPS andStar Warsstrategy game,Amy Hennig’sStar Warsgame,Star Wars Outlaws, andStar Wars Eclipse, there is no shortage of the franchise coming any time soon. However, what all these games potentially share is a unique story that is obviously still contained within the larger timeline, but still celebrates new characters and events fans haven’t seen before, and that has helped usher inStar Wars’ gaming golden age.
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Star Wars Games Seem to Hit All the Right Notes Lately
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguemay end up subverting fans’ current expectations of it, but Rocksteady’s newest game might also end up being a poorly timed result of what happens when gaming trends are predicted and turn out to be a blunder. Gaming trends are fairly unpredictable as it is, and what fans enjoy now might be terribly unpopular in a few years’ time.
Because development time can now take several years for big-budget games, these trends are highly unreliable to rest any laurels on or to hold as a pillar of any singular game. That said,Star Warshas somehow been able to keep its thumb on fans’ pulses for the last half a decade, and it seems capably conscious of what players want from games nowadays. FromSoftware is easily one of the biggest names in gaming, for example, and forFallen Orderto ride the wave of emerging Soulslikes was a terrific idea that also happened to be emergent and refreshing forStar Wars.
Fallen Ordereven made an effort to advertise itself as single-player and story-driven, which at the time were also gaming subclassifications that seemed sparse at the time.Star Wars Outlawswill now be an open-world game with a scoundrel angle and even hasspaceship flight elements thatStarfieldsorely lacks, further demonstrating howStar Warsappears to be fulfilling fans’ gaming wishes at every opportunity lately.
Star Wars Games Deserve a Chance to Branch Out with Genres
EvenKnights of the Old Republicis supposed to be returning with a remake, though there’s not much to go on in regard to that, and it’ll likely be a long while before fans hear anything more about it. In the meantime, it’s great to be able to have a bunch of diverseStar Warsgames to look forward to. Indeed,Star Warscould’ve even had another multiplayer live-service game on its hands if it wanted to with a thirdBattlefrontinstallment, but it’s understandable why one was canceled when it was, keeping it out of potential hot water.
Either way, exploring the genre market for ways to make the franchise more robust in games is fantastic, whether that’s through Soulslikes, strategy games, or any other trendy niche that fans adore.Star Wars Eclipseapparently won’t be out for a long time, too, but what’s known about it so far is equally exciting for its distinct time period and Quantic Dream’s open-ended story paths.
Star Wars Jediwill flourish now with its Soulslike games,Outlawswill flourish as aStar Warstake on engagingGrand Theft AutoandRed Dead Redemptionsystems, andEclipsewill be an exploration of player choice from a canon that isn’t known for allowing a lot of creative freedom. IfStar Warscontinues to put out associable games that satisfy these genres and show how creative and intuitive the franchise can still be, then its future in gaming is going to be particularly bright.
