Great racing games have an x-factor that sets them apart from their peers, but you could argue that the genre hasn’t meaningfully evolved over the decades. Star Wars: Galactic Racer aims to change that perception, as the new title from developer Fuse Games looks to other genres for inspiration. While it might look like a spiritual successor to 1999’s Star Wars Episode 1: Pod Racer, Galactic Racer adds in some roguelite flavor and a dash of Burnout to its take on high-speed competition in a galaxy far, far away.
“Our intention was actually to move the genre forward,” Fuse Games CEO Matt Webster said to GameSpot. “We’ve made a lot of racing games in the past, and we love racing. This game came together because of a shared love of racing and Star Wars, but we needed to evolve. It needed to change; it needed to be something to push it forward and modernize it. It’s probably the last sort of major genre that hasn’t really had a transformative stealing of different types from different genres into racing.”
“And so, that’s what we did here. We wanted to make a racing adventure where story and character are very important. But we’ve wrapped it up inside a runs-based structure. Runs-based games are games that are designed for infinite replayability, and we think racing thrives on replayability. Our assertion was that those things were going to be a great mix, and now, as that comes to life, people are coming for the Star Wars arcade racing action, but there’s a boatload of depth in there.”
That all sounds like a fun recipe for single-player fun, but what about multiplayer? Online competition is a vital part of any racing game, and with a roguelite-influenced structure, you’d imagine that this wouldn’t translate well to multiplayer racing. Fuse Games says that it has found a great balance for players who want to race against their fellow humans, as Galactic Racer’s multiplayer leans heavy into the underworld aspect of Star Wars and allows you to place bets on how well you’ll do in competitions.
“Multiplayer is amazing in this game, because what we’ve done is we’ve taken that sort of run-based chase, and we’ve compressed it into about 25, 30 minutes,” Webster explained. “So, in Speeder Tours, there are 12 players, Pod Racing Tours has eight players, and the tours follow the same structure, which is six events. The first five events are a build chase, so your finishing position determines what rewards you get and what parts are available to you. But importantly, you bet on your finishing position. If I’m confident, I’m going to go all in, I’m going to say I’m going to come, I’m going to place in the top three. If I achieve that, I get an epic reward. If I don’t get there, I don’t get as good a reward. Or you might say top nine.”
“If you achieve that, you get a decent part drop. So, every time, there’s a decent opportunity for you to progress, and that solves a great challenge that we have in the past where if you didn’t come first in a series of races online, you’re kind of like, ‘Well, I’m done. I’ll just try my bet somewhere else.’ Now, everybody has a chance, and I’m serious, where we’ve seen this, everyone has a chance to claw that back victory because the first five events are about building the best vehicle you can for the showdown event. The very last event is one where you put it all on the line, and there you’re betting on who’s going to win.”
Star Wars: Galactic Racer launches on October 6 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
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