I'm sure you heard the news earlier this week: Lucasfilm Games is back from the dead! The former home of classic Star Wars games like Knights Of The Old Republic, Republic Commando, Shadow Of The Empire, and Rogue Squadron will once again be working with developers around the world to create games set in the Star Wars universe.
We've already heard that Ubisoft is developing an open-world Star Wars game, and that EA's studios will continue to work on the franchise despite having lost its exclusive license. This is an incredibly exciting time for Star Wars fans everywhere - a new period where anything is possible, and any studio can make any game - provided they have the right pitch.
Speaking of pitches, the GAMINGbible team got together recently to share our own ideas for dream Star Wars games. Some of them are great, some of them are weird, and at least one of us clearly just wants Bungie to make Halo Reach 2.
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Words: Dean Abdou (DA), Ewan Moore (EM), James Daly (JD), Julian Benson (JB), Mark Foster (MF), Tom Ryan-Smith (TRS)
Darth Vader Survival Horror - Creative Assembly
If there's one thing more recent Star Wars media has done a great job of, it's establishing that Darth Vader is one scary son of a bitch. The most memorable moments in Rogue One and Jedi: Fallen Order were the scenes in which a Darth Vader, at the absolute peak of his powers, came barreling towards the heroes, lightsaber drawn and murder in his heart.
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I propose a game that makes us feel the way those Rebels at the end of Rogue One felt. Trapped. Helpless. 100% about to meet the pointy end of a Sith Lord's lightsaber. Imagine, if you will, an Alien Isolation-style horror game in which the player takes on the role of a Rebel soldier who is being relentlessly pursued by Darth Vader.
Survival horror is at its best when you feel completely helpless, and it doesn't get more helpless than being a completely average rebel armed with nothing more than a crappy blaster, expected to survive against one of the most fearsome monsters the galaxy has ever produced. Prepare to die - a lot. EM.
A Black Ops-Style Espionage FPS - Treyarch
Activision
Imagine a Star Wars game with a campaign that lasts around 7 hours where the story follows one of the clone troopers from the 501st Legion. You play one of the troopers who worked directly under Commander Rex and the story takes you through the events of the Clone Wars. It would include key moments such as the one where Fives finds out that all the troopers have a chip in their brain. It would play all the way through to Order 66 and you'd go through the emotional turmoil of betraying the jedi. DA
A Young Obi-Wan Adventure Game - Naughty Dog
Obi Wan
The Star Wars Jedi Apprentice book series explored the blossoming relationship between a young Obi-Wan Kenobi learning the ropes as a Jedi and the fatherly tutelage of Qui-Gon Jinn. They were extremely well regarded, but sadly lost from official canon when Disney took over the brand.
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Naughty Dog as a studio have had universal success with the Uncharted series, that follows a headstrong Nathan Drake and a grumpy, protective mentor (Victor "Sully" Sullivan) as they bounce from adventure to adventure uncovering the dastardly plots of some evil ne'er-do-wells and do you see what I'm getting at here? I'd pay excellent money to see Naughty Dog's take on Obi-Wan's story; just think of the jaw-dropping locations they could discover in the pre-Episode I galaxy. Yes. Please. MF
Darth Malgus Action Game - Arkane Studios
EA
My pitch is simple: take Arkane's excellent Dishonored formula and introduce Darth Malgus, the infamous Sith Lord from Star Wars Legends.
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This fierce warrior would fit perfectly into the bleak, desolate worlds Arkane Studios so expertly conjure. I know that, typically, Arkane craft games where the protagonist is outnumbered and outgunned, meaning stealth is often a valid method of play. However, the combat systems used in Dishonored would fit seamlessly into larger scale combat scenarios, which would perfectly accommodate a game where Malgus fights through waves of Republic soldiers.
As for the story, the game could follow Malgus in the attack on Coruscant, which ends in disagreement with his superiors. This political falling out could easily set the basis for a brand new, standalone story, where the player chooses how Malgus reacts. Basically, Corvo Attano but stronger, meaner, with more resources, and the ability to wield lightning. Sound good? JD
Mos Eisley Cantina Manager - Two Point Studios
Lucasfilm
Sure, on the surface Star Wars is all space wizards and laser swords, but we've enough games handling that side of things. I want to see Lucas' universe from a different perspective, from behind the bar of a cantina.
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Let me chat to sand-covered Tatooine patrons, get the jawas drunk, kick out the guy who keeps trying to sell your guests death sticks, comfort the storm troopers who just can't find the droids they're looking for. The cantina manager is a necessary fixture of planetary life.
It won't all be joshing with the locals, though. You'd have to keep the local hutt muscle happy, raising the money to pay down loans (hutts are, after all, basically Tom Nook in a slug outfit). And, while the bounty hunters who come for drinks and to negotiate jobs bring in a lot of cash, they are always primed for a fight about "who shot who first". Not to mention telling them that this is a bar and, as cute as their child may be, you can't serve them. You could lose your license.
Of course, you'll need to find some staff to help run the place. Not that it's easy to find hard workers on Tatooine. Every other droid is on a 'secret mission' or they're a deactivated HK-47 unit that could go on an anti-meatbag rampage at any point. Heck, even your average farmhand might drop sticks one day and run off to become the banner for the Rebel Alliance.
Yup, that's the game for me. JB
This Guy Just Really Wants A Sequel To Halo: Reach, I Guess - Bungie
Now, c'mon, someone make a new Republic Commando
Okay hear me out here, have you heard of Halo: Reach? Phwoar, yeah it's a banger, isn't it. Now another question, have you heard of Star Wars: Republic Commando? Yep - ANOTHER absolute banger.
Okay, so you've got the visual of these two games, take Republic Commando in one hand, Reach in the other and just smash them together. With Reach, Bungie managed to create a whole new Spartan team in the Halo universe and made us care about every single member as they were all picked off one by one on their mission that would ultimately set about the events of Halo: Combat Evolved.
What I'm pitching is simple, take every aspect that worked from Halo: Reach and swap it out with Star Wars - The planet Reach could be swapped with Kashyyyk and Noble Team switched out for a troop of Clone Troopers who get separated and stranded before the battle. Heck, they could potentially discover important intel that ties Palpatine to all the evil shenanigans going on, only to be picked off one by one trying to relay that message to the Jedi. The ending of course would have the one surviving member arriving too late as Order 66 is executed.
Alternatively, the game could be set during the Battle of Geonosis - a nice parallel to the original Republic Commando... it doesn't really matter. Think about it this way, Ghost = Speeder Bike, Warthog = an armed Landspeeder, Banshee = Any prequel era Starfighters. Thank you for attending my TED Talk where we ignore Destiny and focus only on the Halo era of Bungie. TRS.
Featured Image Credit: Disney/EA/Lucasfilm