On Friday, details were leaked about a new upcoming Star Wars video game from EA called Star Wars: Squadrons. Following the info dump, EA decided not to play coy, and instead responded by confirming the game's existence, and then promising interested fans a look at the game. While odds are EA was planning to reveal the game at its EA Play event later this week, instead, the first trailer arrived today, and if you're looking for some X-Wing dog fighting fun, then Star Wars: Squadrons looks perfect.
While the cinematic trailer is a bit lacking in details, we see classic Tie Fighters and X-Wings in space combat. While it's clearly the Empire, the trailer makes reference to the New Republic, which indicates the game will be set in the days following Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi, with the rebels, now the Republic, looking to clean up the last of the Empire, but the Empire is not giving up without a fight.
As with so many modern games, the focus of Star Wars: Squadrons is clearly multiplayer. 5v5 combat multiplayer space battles are the name of the game. Both strategic campaigns to take down enemy flagships and ship to ship dog fighters are the name of the game here.
However, the game will also have a single player campaign that will allow players to fight from either the perspective of the New Republic or the Galactic Empire. While the game will focus on original characters, EA is promising cameos from well known Star Wars characters as well. There was even a shot in the trailer of somebody who was maybe Wedge?
Back in the 1990s, LucasArts released a series of Star Wars: X-Wing video games that many still believe are some of the best video game titles to ever use the Star Wars name. Since then we've seen other popular space combat games like the Rogue Squadron series, but it's been a while since we've seen a full scale, high production value, space combat game set in a galaxy, far, far away. While the trailer for Star Wars: Squadrons is certainly only a taste, and it doesn't really show off any gameplay, it certainly looks amazing.
Star Wars games have been a somewhat difficult nut to crack as the franchise has continued to expand under Disney. The Star Wars: Battlefront games, especially the sequel, have drawn specific criticism for its "loot box" mechanics which are designed to get players to spend more money on the game after purchase. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a single player game set following the prequel trilogy, was met much more warmly by both critics and fans. With a strong multiplayer focus, it feels like Squadrons is looking to be more like the next Battlefront than the next Fallen Order, but we'll have to wait and see.
We won't have too long to wait for Star Wars: Squadrons as the game will launch October 2 on Xbox One, Playstation 4, PC and VR. Flying X-Wings in VR? Yes, please.
