After Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith hit movie theaters, there were a good few years when Star Wars hype died down almost completely. While long-time fans were still obviously avid supporters, Star Wars faded away from the mainstream, just as it did after Return of the Jedi. But when Disney took over, the franchise got an adrenaline shot, and now everyone's feed is constantly flooded with Star Wars movies, Disney Plus shows, and video games. Of all the upcoming Star Wars projects, Respawn's Star Wars strategy game may just be the most intriguing.
Back in January of this year, EA and Lucasfilm Games announced a slew of Star Wars video game projects, most of which had just entered the very early stages of development. Along with another Jedi game, which ended up being Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and a new Respawn first-person shooter, Respawn also announced that it was working alongside new studio Bit Reactor on a brand new Star Wars strategy game. With the last few years of Star Wars games being exceedingly action-heavy, a new strategy title could be a real standout.
Star Wars Strategy Games Have Always Been a Breath of Fresh Air
Star Wars has had a very long history in the gaming landscape, with its very first game, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, appearing on the Atari 2600 in 1982. Since then, the video game market has seen a Star Wars release nearly every other year, with flight simulators, first-person shooters, third-person action games, and even FMV games all getting their hands on the Star Wars license. While some of these genres have come and gone, the strategy genre has always been a standout when paired with the Star Wars brand.
The first strategy game from a galaxy far, far away was Star Wars: Rebellion, released in 1998. Though it was an incredibly ambitious 4X strategy game, Rebellion was a little too complicated for newcomers, and its mechanics didn't mesh with the Star Wars license all too well. The same issues would arise in Star Wars: Force Commander, an overly complicated real-time strategy game released in 2000.
Just a year later, however, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds would release, delivering on the potential of a Star Wars strategy game. Though it copies the vast majority of its mechanics from Age of Empires 2, Galactic Battlegrounds is an intuitive RTS and base-builder that acts as the perfect introduction to the genre for newcomers, while also including some advanced mechanics for genre aficionados. Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds sold very well, and it lives on today as one of the most underrated Star Wars games ever made.
Following Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds was a tough task, and it would take another five years before Star Wars returned to the strategy game genre, but when it did, it broke new ground. Star Wars: Empire at War released in 2005 for PC, and shone through accessibility. Gameplay is split into three distinct segments, starting with an overview of space, where players move their units to different planets and manage each system's structures and resources. There are then two different attack phases, one focusing on ground combat, and one on space, each with unique units and objectives. All three gameplay segments are kept extremely simple, with only a slight amount of strategy determining the victor. Though hardcore strategy game fans were disappointed with Empire at War's simplicity, it was ideal for those new to the genre.
Star Wars: Empire at War also acted as a breath of fresh air at the time of its release. In the mid-2000s, to coincide with the release of the prequels and all the new Star Wars hype, Star Wars video games were being pumped out at an incredible rate. The original Star Wars: Battlefront games, the Jedi Knight series, Star Wars: Republic Commando, and the movie tie-in games all released within just a few years of one another, with a lot of overlap. The market was flooded with Star Wars games, most of which were action-based titles. In this crowd, Star Wars: Empire at War managed to stand out, which is exactly what Respawn and Bit Reactor's Star Wars strategy game can do.
Now is the Perfect Time for a New Star Wars Strategy Game
Right now, the Star Wars gaming landscape is looking a little similar to how it did back in the mid-2000s. With the hype of the Disney Star Wars movies dictating development schedules, the last few years have seen a flurry of Star Wars video games, not all of which have been of equal quality. While the Star Wars: Battlefront duology had some great ideas, EA's microtransaction practices left fans rightfully disappointed. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was a good step up, offering some surprisingly difficult but rewarding Sekiro-inspired combat. Star Wars: Squadrons was a solid flight simulator, but didn't quite capture the attention of the mainstream, and LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga was an impressive outing for a LEGO game, but had its fair share of flaws.
One thing ties all of these Star Wars games together: their place in the action genre. Though each title has its own specific gameplay type, the overarching theme is that each one is heavily based around fast-paced action, whether it's a first-person shooter, a third-person action game, or a dogfighter. Right now is the perfect time for a Star Wars strategy game to come in and break the mold.
Respawn and Bit Reactor's new Star Wars strategy game is being helmed by ex-Firaxis devs, some of whom have had over two decades of experience in the industry, specifically working with strategy titles. While this new strategy game is sure to include plenty of intense battles, it should also hopefully offer plenty of downtime, where players can plan out their next move, and hopefully manage an entire galaxy's worth of troops and ships. This layer of strategy gameplay should be distinct enough from the Battlefront series, and the other Star Wars releases over the last few years, that it stands out from the crowd upon its eventual release.
Respawn Entertainment's Star Wars strategy game is in development.