Author: Trafficblast

With Lucasfilm’s announcement that all video games based on its properties will now live under the “Lucasfilm Games” umbrella, it appears that a new age is about to begin for the company’s video games ambitions. We already got a glimpse of what this new strategy is with the reveal of a new Indiana Jones game by Bethesda’s studio MachineGames. And more recently, Ubisoft confirmed that it’s making an open-world Star Wars game, which is all the more surprising, given Star Wars titles have been predominantly developed by Lucasfilm’s longtime video game collaborator Electronic Arts for the last few years.

With Star Wars and other Lucasfilm properties handed off to competing publishers and developers, it seems like EA will no longer have exclusive rights to the property’s gaming-related projects. A shift in strategy like this now makes it open season for just about any notable developer in the industry to work with Lucasfilm properties. All this echoes how Marvel’s games division approached making games based on its IP, where there was a greater emphasis on matching the right developer with the right property instead of handing off the entire catalog to one company.

Naturally, all of this got us thinking about Star Wars games that we’ve always dreamed of being made. And because of Lucasfilm’s new strategy, any developer can now potentially helm projects based on any Star Wars or Lucasfilm-related property, so this has our imaginations running wilder than ever before. Below, you can read about our dream Star Wars games and who want to make them.

A Jedi Knight VR Game By Valve

Valve will do what Valve wants to do, but in our fake world of imagination, we’d love to see what it could do with the Star Wars Jedi Knight series template in VR. As we saw with Half-Life: Alyx, Valve can make a gripping adventure in VR with multifaceted and intuitive gameplay mechanics that come together seamlessly as a whole. With expert level design, the game never feels like a series of segmented set pieces. And with the backing of a big franchise (Half-Life, Valve’s own), we got to see a world we thought we knew up close and personal. Now imagine all that in the context of a Jedi Knight game.

While we’ve had The Force Unleashed and Jedi Fallen Order, the last proper Jedi Knight game was Jedi Academy in *checks notes* 2003. Before that, Dark Forces and Jedi Outcast set the bar for single-player action-focused Star Wars games, which gave us exciting levels across many planets, tense firefights, and most importantly, wild lightsaber battles. With Valve’s sensibilities proven through Half-Life: Alyx, those elements of the Jedi Knight games could thrive like it hadn’t before in VR and bring us closer to the Jedi experience.

With Vader Immortal: Episode I, the potential for a Star Wars game in VR has already been shown, but it more or less feels like a VR showcase than a full game (although we’d like to see what future episodes have in store). If we could dream up a collaboration, though, the Jedi Knight series in VR by Valve would be something else. — Michael Higham, Associate Editor

Chewbacca’s Big Adventure By Young Horses

The unsung hero of all of Star Wars is Chewbacca. Wookiee general, Rebel secret agent, Millennium Falcon co-pilot, protector of young Jedi–Chewbacca has about as great a direct and indirect impact on the galaxy far, far away as any other single person, barring maybe Emperor Palpatine himself. My favorite part of his character is how often he plays into the whole “I’m a seven-foot screaming monster who rips people’s arms off just because I feel like” idea of a wookiee, when he’s demonstrably a big softie.

Chewie has never had a game of his own, and it’s high time that situation was remedied. But I don’t want a story about Chewie the warrior from Revenge of the Sith or Chewie the crime sidekick from Solo: A Star Wars Story. I want the Chewie from The Empire Strikes Back–the regular dude who happens to be huge, super-strong, and impossible for most people in the galaxy to understand. Chewie’s Big Adventure is a comedy game in which Chewie tries to do some Rebel spy stuff, or maybe just some regular smuggling business, with the added struggle of being a wookiee.

Imagine choosing dialogue options like, “I’m the co-pilot of the fastest ship in the galaxy” but having it come out as a series of shrieks and growls that send people screaming and scattering in fear. Life for Chewbacca can be tough and frustrating when everyone thinks you’re huge, dangerous, and nearly unstoppable, but you also have unique talents that let you gather information for the Rebellion, get your best bud out of life-threatening scrapes, and poorly repair droids. Give Chewbacca’s Big Adventure to a studio like Bugsnax and Octodad developer Young Horses, turn it into a story-driven semi-stealth game, and let Chewbacca finally get his due. — Phil Hornshaw, Editor

Knights Of The Old Republic Remake By Larian Studios

My fondest Star Wars experience isn’t one of the original movies; it’s Knight of the Old Republic from 2003. It’s what made me a Star Wars fan, and with BioWare’s RPG-making chops, KotOR soared as one of the greatest games of its generation, but also one of the best Star Wars games of all time. You didn’t really need to know anything about the franchise to get into it since it was set 4,000 years before the original trilogy’s timeline. KotOR eased you into the world effortlessly with a captivating standalone story, a strong cast of original characters, and the Light/Dark morality system that made you conscious of every choice you make in the game, big and small.

A developer that has made its mark in the RPG world as of late is Larian Studios, best known for Divinity: Original Sin and Baldur’s Gate 3. Larian’s penchant for in-game decision-making and the seemingly infinite possibilities of consequences–whether it be good, bad, or anything in between–is what makes its games so fascinating. Games have moved past binary morality systems more or less, so an exciting KotOR remake would require some creative liberties to subvert our expectations. KotOR was also rooted in pen-and-paper Dungeons and Dragons gameplay systems, and that’s Larian’s expertise, which would allow our dreamed-up KotOR remake to evolve gameplay-wise while staying true to its original design.

I believe Knights of the Old Republic largely holds up today because of its sharp RPG systems that stand the test of time and because it’s a unique Star Wars story that provides its own spin on all the things you expect from the franchise. Some of KotOR’s best moments come from sidequests or the multiple ways you can resolve main quests through dialogue and action, and Larian would be well-equipped to bring those things to new heights today. — Michael Higham, Associate Editor

Star Wars Musou By Omega Force & Koei Tecmo

Say what you will about the Dynasty Warriors series and its spin-offs, but it has consistently done well with leveraging its settings and familiar gameplay loop to offer up some satisfying large-scale brawler action. While your enjoyment of the series can be something of an acquired taste, I always managed to find the fun pretty quickly in a great Musou-style game. With its recent releases, Hyrule Warriors and the upcoming Persona 5: Strikers, it doesn’t seem like there’s any sign of developer Omega Force letting up with its signature approach to action, and I truly believe that the Musou genre could shine in a galaxy far, far, away.

I want to see a Star Wars-Musou game. Getting to play as the many heroes and villains throughout the sci-fi franchise’s history, leveling them up, outfitting them with new skills and weapons, and exploring massive maps to take down tons of enemies has all the makings of a great time. While the Dynasty Warriors series can be formulaic, I genuinely believe that’s something of an advantage in the case of Star Wars. The fans generally want to have those moments of fan-service and to relive iconic events throughout the saga’s history, and that’s undoubtedly what Musou-style games do best. Darth Vader would essentially be this hypothetical game’s Lu Bu, a similar big bad who tore his way through the battlefield, and that has me feeling excited for what could be. Just imagine playing as Darth Vader using his red lightsaber and force powers to score up to 100 KOs against rebel soldiers–it almost seems too perfect.

While I recognize that Lucasfilm Games would probably just want to focus on only AAA games for the Star Wars series, I still feel that a game that exists outside of the canon and lets the fans cut loose with their favorite characters has potential. A couple of years ago, I actually spoke with the president of Koei Tecmo Hisashi Koinuma, and he stated that the one IP he had the chance to work on would be the Star Wars series. The interest is there, and right now, the ball is in Lucasfilm Games’ court. Let’s make this happen. — Alessandro Fillari, Editor

An RPG Starring Asajj Ventress By Ninja Theory Or Obsidian Entertainment

My favorite Star Wars character is Ahsoka Tano–her evolution into a talented Jedi before becoming a traveling rōnin-like figure is stellar. But a very close second for me is Asajj Ventress, who almost feels like the dark foil to Ahsoka. Her story is one of tragedy, one that leads to her becoming the personal assassin and dark apprentice of Darth Tyranous/Count Dooku. And much like Ahsoka, Asajj is cast out by her allies and pursues a more neutral path between the dark and the light, becoming a bounty hunter. If Ahsoka is the story of finding purpose after leaving the Jedi, then Asajj is the story of finding purpose after leaving the Sith.

Getting a video game about Asajj Ventress covering her story following her failed attempt to assassinate Dooku and her decision to become a bounty hunter sounds awesome. Asajj is a fascinating character. She’s a good person, but the trauma of her abusive upbringing has compelled her to keep even her closest allies at arm’s length. Though Asaji knows she’s stunningly beautiful, she only flirts with others as a means of disarming them, not because she believes someone would genuinely want to be with her.

Though Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order touches on it with Cal Kestis, Star Wars video games do very little to explore the trauma of folks growing up and living through war. It’s a huge part of the novels and TV shows that just haven’t crossed into the games yet, and Asajj’s story presents an ideal way to finally dig into that. Plus, she’s a badass bounty hunter with Force powers and such a commanding presence that she can charm or threaten her way through most problems without needing to draw her weapon–the ideal protagonist for a narrative-focused action RPG. I’d love to see Ninja Theory or Obsidian Entertainment take a stab at a game like that, especially if the studio works with writer Katie Lucas and author Christie Golden to capture the right tone for the game’s story–both made Asajj Ventress into such an incredible character throughout The Clone Wars, Kindred Spirits, and Dark Disciple. — Jordan Ramée, Associate Editor

A Star Wars Space RTS By Relic Entertainment

Real-time strategy is something we’ve seen Star Wars dabble in before with Empire at War, but it’s been a long time since we’ve had a game of that sort, and Relic is just the studio for a comeback. While it is best known for Company of Heroes, Relic first rose to prominence on the back of the Homeworld games–two terrific RTS games set entirely in space. These featured a blend of small, agile fighter-sized ships and huge capital ships, the most iconic of which is the Mothership that is used to produce most everything else.

It’s easy to see how this formula could work for Star Wars, letting you command both the biggest ships in the Empire and Rebel fleets alongside the X-Wings and TIE fighters we’re more accustomed to controlling in the context of action games. My one concern with a Star Wars RTS is the prospect of it being simplified to work on consoles, but I want this to be every bit as complex as the RTSes that Relic is known for on PC, controller support be damned. — Chris Pereira, Senior Editor

Star Wars: Mercenaries By Respawn Entertainment

If The Mandalorian has proven one thing, it’s that the day to day life of the Star Wars Universe is woefully unexplored in modern video games. Jedi are extremely rare given the size of the galactic civilization where most people would never actually encounter one. The average citizen is just trying to survive day to day without getting caught in the crossfire between the Empire, Rebels, and various crime factions. The Clone Wars series touched on this in the episode “To Catch Jedi,” which was set in Coruscant’s lower levels and followed a character whose parents were collateral damage to Jedi action. I would love an open world ground-to-space immersive sim focused on the daily life of someone just trying to get by. Think Firefly, but in the Star Wars universe.

Specifically, the Star Wars game I’d love to see would be a cross between Wing Commander: Privateer and Mass Effect. Mechanically, the dream would be to seamlessly go from drinking in a cantina to flying into space, landing in the hanger of a Capital ship, and then fighting your way to the bridge. I’d love tons of ship and vehicle customization inspired by the Incredible Cross-Sections books. But I don’t mean cosmetic–I mean dealing with full-on parts and components or cobbling together a speeder bike from scratch after being stranded on a desert planet. Let us not only do things like walk through an AT-AT but build a mobile base out of one like we saw those ex-Clone Troopers do in the Star Wars Rebel series. Let us crash on planets and navigate local wildlife, slavers, and bounty hunters to survive.

I can’t think of a more creative or exciting studio to do this than Respawn Entertainment, who made Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Titanfall. Respawn has proven themselves capable of adapting and reinventing genres in new ways and testing gameplay mechanics to sweet perfection. The studio has also shown that it can grapple with deeper themes, like how it tackled the trauma of the Clone Wars in Fallen Order. Bring on Dave Filoni as a story advisor who has single-handedly shown us the best Star Wars has to offer, and this game will be a dream come true. – Aaron Sampson, Senior Producer

Evil Genius: Star Wars Edition By Rebellion

As a fan of classic Bond movies since I was a little kid, Evil Genius has always felt like a game designed just for me: a strategy game in which you design and run the hidden headquarters of a Bond-style villain. But I see no reason why this Dungeon Keeper-esque formula couldn’t also work for the Star Wars franchise, letting you design a base to fend off unwanted visitors and allow you to initiate offensive missions of your own. It’s easy to imagine this letting you design your own Death Star when playing as the Empire, which would be an exciting proposition.

Many of Evil Genius’s elements could even carry over directly here, like allowing you to capture enemy agents who attempt to infiltrate your base and then torturing them. But you could just as easily play as the Rebels, who might require a base that is designed less for defense and more set up to enable your troops to go out and stick it to the Empire.

Aspects of the Dungeons series could also be integrated here, allowing you to control units in the style of an RTS when they leave your base to go on missions. But I’m most interested here in the strategic element of designing and running your headquarters. Rebellion feels like the right studio given its past involvement with Evil Genius and work on the upcoming sequel. — Chris Pereira, Senior Editor

Star Wars: Galactic Dance Battle By Harmonix

Perhaps one of the most underrated Star Wars experiences of all time is Kinect Star Wars. Developed by Terminal Reality, the studio behind The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, Def Jam Rapstar, and a whole bunch of other guff, the Xbox 360 title used the console’s ill-fated motion peripheral to present a bunch of mini-games set in the Star Wars universe.

They were of questionable quality, but Galactic Dance-off, admittedly, was one of the best things to happen to Star Wars ever. It allowed players to pick from a selection of iconic characters and then used the Kinect camera to task them with dancing in sync, kind of like Dance Central. Why is it good? Well, because it did not take Star Wars overly seriously, which is one of the things I wish Lucasfilm Games starts to embrace. Yes, Star Wars is important to many people, but also, let’s just have fun with it. I think we all deserve that after the last few years of tiring Star Wars discourse.

Galactic Dance-off had a version of Jason Derulo’s Ridin’ Solo that had been modified for Han Solo, and it was just incredible. It featured lyrics like, “I’m feelin’ like a star, you can’t stop my shine // I’m lovin’ Cloud City, my head’s in the sky // I’m Solo, I’m Han Solo // I’m Han Solo, I’m Han Solo, Solo.” Come on; that is just inspired. And then, “I’m pickin’ up my blaster, puttin’ it on my side // I’m jumpin’ in my Falcon, Wookiee at my side // I’m Solo, I’m Han Solo.” Also, he dance battles Lando while a Storm Trooper absolutely cuts up the dance floor in the background, and C3P0 stands there, paralysed as if he’s having a flashback to one of those many battles where he spent all his time looking like a butler power walking through a field of landmines.

We need more of this. And I think Harmonix, the studio known for making Dance Central and numerous other superb rhythm games, is the ideal candidate for it. They’ll know what to do. – Tamoor Hussain, Managing Editor

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.

Following the rocky launch of Cyberpunk 2077 in December, developer CD Projekt Red has released a statement from studio co-founder Marcin Iwinski in which he offers a personal explanation of what happened in the days leading up to the game’s release.

“Despite good reviews on PC, the console version of Cyberpunk 2077 did not meet the quality standard we wanted it to meet. I and the entire leadership team are deeply sorry for this, and this video is me publicly owning up to that,” Iwinski said.

“Please, don’t fault any of our teams for what happened. They are all incredibly talented and hard-working. Myself and the board are the final decision-makers, and it was our call to release the game. Although, believe me, we never ever intended for anything like this to happen. I assure you that we will do our best to regain your trust.”

Iwinski proceeds to dive deep into the specific issues with the last-gen console versions of Cyberpunk 2077. He said the technically complex nature of the game led to some issues. In particular, he said the “main culprit” for the issues was related to how the team had to constantly improve the in-game streaming system for old-gen consoles. The hard drive bandwidth of the last-gen consoles was a constant challenge for the developer.

The studio’s own testing of this streaming technology showed improvements, and the studio felt the last-gen edition may be in a good place with the Day Zero patch, Iwinski said.

The executive pointed out that issues related to COVID-19 and working from home led to some further complications and problems for Cyberpunk 2077.

CD Projekt Red has already released three hot fixes for Cyberpunk 2077, but the company isn’t stopping there. The goal is to fix more bugs and crashes, and the next update will arrive within the next 10 days, Iwinski said. Another, more significant update is coming in the following weeks.

In addition to that, CD Projekt Red still plans to release free DLC packs for Cyberpunk 2077 later this year, while the free next-gen update for PS5 and Xbox Series X is planned for the second half of 2021.

A FAQ page posted to CD Projekt Red’s website has some further insight on what the studio is doing to make things right. In particular, the studio says it is trying to avoid crunch–the industry term for developers working long hours to finish a project–for the upcoming patches. “The team is working to bring relevant fixes to the game without any obligatory overtime. Avoiding crunch on all of our future projects is one of our top priorities,” the studio said.

Additionally, CD Projekt Red said it hopes to be able to work with Sony to bring the PS4 edition of Cyberpunk 2077 back to the PlayStation Store soon.

“We are working on fixes and updates, and are working with Sony to bring Cyberpunk 2077 back to PlayStation Store as soon as possible,” the studio said.

Despite the issues, Cyberpunk 2077 was one of 2020’s biggest games commercially, selling 13 million copies–and that includes refunds.

Cyberpunk 2077 FAQ

Q: Why is there such a gap between PC versions of Cyberpunk 2077 and old-gen consoles?

A: Cyberpunk 2077 is huge in scope, it features a multitude of custom objects, interacting systems and mechanics. In the game, everything is not stretched out over flat terrain where we can make things less taxing hardware-wise, but condensed in one big city and in a relatively loading-free environment. We made it even more difficult for ourselves by first wanting to make the game look epic on PCs and then adjusting it to consoles — especially old-gens. That was our core assumption. And things did not look super difficult at first, while we knew the hardware gap, ultimately, time has proven that we’ve underestimated the task.

Q: What was the main issue that made development for consoles that difficult?

A: The main culprit was having to constantly improve our in-game streaming system for old-gen consoles. Streaming is responsible for “feeding” the engine with what you see on screen, as well as the game mechanics. Since the city is so packed and the disk bandwidth of old-gen consoles is what it is, this is something that constantly challenged us.

Q: Didn’t you test old-gen consoles to keep tabs on the experience?

A: We did. As it turned out, our testing did not show many of the issues you experienced while playing the game. As we got closer to launch, we saw significant improvements each and every day, and we really believed we’d deliver in the final day zero update.

Q: Why was there a gap between PC and console reviews?

A: We started sending out PC review keys to start the review process in the first week of December. Come December 10th, launch day, we had a really good start with PC reviews, and while it’s not perfect, this is a version of the game we were, and still are, very proud of. When it comes to the review process for consoles, at the same time PC codes were sent out we were still working hard to improve the quality of the game on old-gen consoles. Every extra day that we worked on the day zero update brought visible improvement — that’s why we started sending console codes for reviews on the 8th December, which was later than we had planned.

Q: What have you done since launch to make the game better?

A: Our top priority since launch has been to fix bugs in Cyberpunk 2077. We have already released three hotfixes which have improved the game, but these are just the beginning.

Q: What are you going to do going forward to fix Cyberpunk 2077?

A: We are focused on fixing the bugs and crashes players are experiencing across every platform. You can expect more in the way of patches — both small and large — to be released regularly. The first update will drop in the next 10 days, and it will be followed by a larger, more significant update, in the weeks after. Our plans for supporting Cyberpunk 2077 in the long-term are unchanged, and we will continue to introduce updates and patches to give all players across all consoles and PCs a better experience with the game.

Q: You have said there would be free DLC for the game in ‘early 2021’, will this be impacted by improvements?

A: We’re still planning on releasing free DLC for the game, just like with The Witcher 3. However, we have decided that our priority is working on the most important fixes and updates. We will be releasing free DLC afterwards — we’ll have more to say about that in the coming months.

Q: When can we expect the next-gen update for Cyberpunk 2077?

A: For those who are playing the game on next-gen consoles via backwards compatibility, we are planning the free, next-gen update for Cyberpunk 2077 on Xbox Series consoles, and PlayStation 5, this year. We’re aiming for the second half of the year and we’ll reveal more when we have more to share.

Q: Are you making the team crunch to work on the patches?

A: The team is working to bring relevant fixes to the game without any obligatory overtime. Avoiding crunch on all of our future projects is one of our top priorities.

Q: When is the game coming back to PlayStation Store?

A: We are working on fixes and updates, and are working with Sony to bring Cyberpunk 2077 back to PlayStation Store as soon as possible.

Q: What is the status of the Help Me Refund initiative?

A: The initiative is progressing according to plan and we just sent out the first wave of reimbursements.

Now Playing: Cyberpunk 2077 — “Our Commitment To Quality” Statement

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Moon Knight, one of many upcoming projects waiting in the wings slated for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has added May Calamawy (Hulu’s Ramy) to the show’s cast in a key role. The casting choice was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, although what this role is remains unclear and not even a character name has been revealed.

Calamawy joins a still largely unannounced cast that includes star Oscar Isaac in the titular role (who is also reportedly set to play Solid Snake in Sony’s upcoming Metal Gear Solid movie). For those who are unfamiliar, Moon Knight is a cult favorite C-lister vigilante who suffers from identity disorders that give him a laundry list of alter egos.

It was previously announced that the project would be helmed by Mohamed Diab (Crash) and Jeremy Slater (Umbrella Academy), and further aided creatively by indie auters and directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (the team behind the 2019 sci-fi horror film Synchronic). Benson and Moorhead are known for their eerie and surreal sensibilities, so that is at least somewhat of a clue to what direction Moon Knight might be taking.

No mention of the MCU this week would be complete without a nod to the upcoming WandaVision, which is set to premiere on Disney+ on January 15. In addition to having the distinction of being the first entry in the MCU in over a year, the show kicks off Marvel Phase 4. If you need to familiarize yourself before the show debuts, the previous link will get you up to speed.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is about to move into Phase 4, finally, as the Disney+ original series WandaVision debuts with its first two episodes on Friday, January 15. However, before the show hits the streaming service, there will be a virtual launch event featuring the cast.

The event will kick off on Marvel Entertainment’s Twitter at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET. The actors featured in the announcement tweet are Paul Bettany (Vision), Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda), Teyonah Parris (Monica Rambeau), and Kathryn Hahn (Agnes).

While details about the virtual launch event are scarce, fans can most likely expect the cast talking about their experiences on the show and maybe we’ll even get a new clip before the series airs.

WandaVision will be a bit of a departure from what fans of the MCU are familiar with. Aside from the fact it is the first Disney+/Marvel original series, the show will bit a bizarre. The series follows the titular characters who are stuck in a sitcom that is jumping between decades, recreating some iconic TV atmospheres, and that includes a nod to Full House–a series that starred Elizabeth Olsen’s older sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley.

Early audience reactions have arrived, and they’ve been mainly positive. GameSpot’s Chris E. Hayner tweeted, “this show’s dedication to the bit of resembling shows like Bewitched, I Love Lucy, and The Brady Bunch had me staring at it dreamily.”

And because this show pulls from many classic American sitcoms, you may wonder what shows the series pulled from. Director Matt Shakman mentioned I Love Lucy, My Three Sons, Bewitched, and quite a few other notable sitcoms in a recent interview.