Before I say what I’m about too, I need to preface that I really enjoyed Jedi: Fallen Order by Respawn Entertainment. I love the smooth introduction of new mechanics, I love the Metroidvania world design, and it had a solid story. With that being said…
When the first gameplay of Jedi: Fallen Order was shown off at E3 2019, I felt weirdly disappointed. Not because there was anything wrong with the game, but because it looked exactly how I expected a AAA Star Wars game to look. This feeling lead me to a realization about Star Wars video games as a whole: there is a massive amount of potential that nobody seems interested in utilizing.
The great thing about the Star Wars brand is that you can theoretically make a story of any genre and still remain true to both the world and the themes of the series, and this is especially true for video games. Let me give you an example: you might thing that the survival horror genre has no place within Star Wars, but it’s completely possible. Refugees escaping from an occupied planet or a Jedi stuck in a forest full of alien monsters. These would be cool projects that could expand the universe and draw in new fans as well as give a totally new experience to existing ones.
The thing standing in the way is the fact that only EA studios are allowed to make Star Wars games, and that narrows the type of games that EA likes to make; shooters, vehicle simulators, action games, and the occasional RPG. Those are all fun genres that have produced great Star Wars games, but could you imagine if EA let Platinum Games use the IP? Space wizards with glowing swords? Hideki Kamiya would be all over that. Or what if they let Ubisoft do some massive open world game, a point-and-click adventure about an imperial spy, or let House House make a game about an obnoxious Jawa? I would totally play that.
Whenever I see a Star Wars game, my mind rushes to all the different, crazy things you could create with the IP, and I can’t help but feel a little disappointed whenever a new game is announced that tows the line of what we think a Star Wars game should be rather then what it can be.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, let Greg Miller direct a platformer where you play as Watto. Thanks.
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