Back in January Ubisoft Massive announced that it was working on a story-driven open-worldStar Warsgame with Disney and Lucasfilm Games. Beyond that, very little has been revealed about the project, though the fact that EA would no longer be the sole publisher of the franchise’ games came as a surprise to many fans. As such, some are hoping that new studios might be more experimental with their stories.
The Ubisoft MassiveStar Warsgame could go down any number of paths, and there are some huge questions to be answered about the logistics of designing an open-world game set across multiple planets. One of the biggest questions is whether or not the upcoming project’s protagonist will be a Jedi.Star Warsstories have largely focused on force-sensitive characters in the past, though not exclusively. Here are the arguments for and against the upcoming game’s protagonist being a force user, and some of the opportunities and challenges that might arise from taking the title in a different direction.
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Force Users In Star Wars Stories
Despite so often being on the brink of extinction, theStar Warsuniverse is saturated with Jedi characters. Han Solo’s dismissal of “hokey religions and ancient weapons” inA New Hopenow stands out as particularly strange, with the series later establishing that the Jedi were a key part of a galaxy-spanning government within Han Solo’s lifetime.
Making the Jedi feel rarer than they’ve been in otherStar Warsstories could makeStar Wars’ universe feel mysterious again in the new game. At the very least, it could be an interesting perspective shift.Star Wars’ High Republicseries of novels, comic, and web series established that, during the height of the Galactic Republic, the Jedi were even spreading out among the planets of the Outer Rim.
The High Republic later declined, leaving many of the newer Jedi temples abandoned. The expansions and retractions of the Jedi order acrosstheStar Warstimelinegives Ubisoft Massive the chance to tell a story set in a part of the galaxy where Jedi remain relatively rare, but where they might have been heard of in a long-distant past likeA New Hopeimplies.
BioWare’s former development director Dorian Kiekenonce expressed the studio’s interest in telling aMass Effectstory from a different perspective. In an interview with TheGamer, Kiekan explained that it would be “like exploring theStar Warsuniverse without being a Jedi.” He clarified that although the idea was scrapped, it was motivated by the “ freedom you have in TV series likeThe MandalorianorFireflythanks to mercenaries of smuggler character archetypes.”
That storytelling freedom is something the realStar Warscould take more advantage of in the franchise’s games. The series’ focus on the Jedi and the battle between the light side of the force and the dark side of the force has certainly seen it struggle to tell new stories.Episode 7, while well received, was noted by many fans to follow much of the plot structure ofEpisode 4.The return of Emperor Palpatineand the reveal regarding Rey’s lineage later in the trilogy made many fans wonder if the franchise would ever be able to break free from repeating the same old tropes.
There’s already a well-established cast of smuggler and mercenary archetypes explored inStar Wars, put front and center in recent years withRogue One,Solo: A Star Wars Story, andThe Mandalorian. Part of the reason shows likeThe Mandalorianfound such initial success is likely because, at least at first, they were able to separate their stakes from a greater conflict between light and dark. This allowed them to focus on personal relationships while dwelling in moral gray areas that the franchise’s stories have rarely stayed in for too long.
It’s not just that the hero’s journey from nobody topowerful Jedihas been done many times acrossStar Warsmedia. The archetype has proven less flexible than some of the other options, even archetypes well-established in theStar Warsuniverse.
A game set in theStar Warsgalaxythat tells a story without a force-sensitive protagonist – perhaps even a story where the Jedi play an antagonistic role – could provide a fresh narrative instead of having players go through the same basic arc with a new protagonist. On the other hand, there are still plenty of arguments for a Jedi player character in Ubisoft Massive’sStar Warsgame.
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Star Wars Without Force Users
If Ubisoft Massive’sStar Warsgame wants tight lightsaber combat in the style of recent successful open-worldgames likeGhost of Tsushima, a Jedi protagonist is practically a necessity. Ubisoft Massive’sStar Warscould be blaster-based, taking inspiration from the quick-draw mechanics in games likeRed Dead 2, but there’s little denying that aStar Warsgame without those iconic lightsaber battles could struggle to draw in fans.
As well as lightsaber battles, a playable force user opens the door for the game to introduce many different force powers that could make it more mechanically interesting. Players might get a clearer sense of progression through the story if they’re able to unlock new force powers as they go, a natural progression that manyStar Warsgames likeKnights of the Old Republic,The Force Unleashed, andFallen Orderhave taken advantage of.
WhileStar Warsmay have overused the Jedi and made it harder to explore conflicts beyond the battle between the light and dark sides of the force, force-sensitive characters may also be fundamental to capturing that trueStar Warsfeeling. Shows likeThe Mandalorianmay not star force-sensitive protagonists, but the force is till central to the show through other characters likeGrogu, while the archetype of the Mandalorian himself remains rooted in the original trilogy’s Boba Fett.
Rogue Oneis similarly contextualized within the larger battle between the Galactic Empire and the rebels that the original trilogy focused on, and still had some force-sensitive characters among its ensemble. Ubisoft Massive’sStar Warsgame might only be able to strike out on its own so much before it begins to lose many of the elements that makesStar Warsunique.
Ubisoft Massive’sStar Warscould still take a fresh perspective while starring a Jedi player character. It could follow a High Republic Jedi who journeys to the Outer Rim, suddenly facing both curiosity and distrust from the people living there, for example. Whether the studio will be able to create aStar Warsstory which doesn’t feel like it’s retreading old ground remains to be seen, but fans will be keeping an eye out for details about the game’s development.
Ubisoft Massive’s open-worldStar Warsgame is currently in development.
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