Massive’s Star Wars Game – 5 Eras We Would Like It To Tackle

EA’s exclusive rights on the Star Wars license are soon coming to an end, and the recent announcement that Ubisoft is working on a new Star Wars game has been met with a lot of excitement. To be fair, the last couple of years of Star Wars under EA have been rather good, with Fallen Order, Squadrons, and a resurgent Battlefront 2 (and EA certainly isn’t done with Star Wars just yet- a Fallen Order sequel, for instance, is pretty much inevitable), but the prospect of a story-driven open world Star Wars title made by the people behind The Division is a salivating one.

Star Wars is a massive property, and there’s a lot of room for storytelling here, with countless interesting settings and eras in this universe that are ripe for the plucking. The possibilities for Ubisoft’s Star Wars game are endless, and though it’s going to be a while before we hear anything official about it, like everyone else, we certainly have some theories (or wishes, to be more precise). Here, we’re going to talk about five eras and settings in the Star Wars universe, and why we’d like to see Ubisoft’s game take on any one of them.

THE OLD REPUBLIC

Let’s get the obvious one out of the way first. BioWare did something truly magical with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic in 2003, and ever since then, The Old Republic has been one of Star Wars fans’ favourite eras. It’s a rich setting, full of interesting lore and conflicts, brimming with fascinating places and characters to tackle, and it’s an absolute shame that we haven’t seen an awful lot of it in recent years. Which parts of the Old Republic era are and are not canon in the new Star Wars continuity is a question that many have asked, but we’d sure love to find out.

Set thousands of years before the central Empire-Republic conflict that has defined much of Star Wars, the Old Republic era is a goldmine that’s waiting to be tapped. An open world galaxy-spanning game that lets us explore this era of the Star Wars universe to our heart’s content could pave the way for some excellent storytelling. The potential for world-building and lore here is boundless, and we’d love to see Ubisoft Massive do something with it.

MANDALORE

The warrior race of Mandalorians has been a major part of the Star Wars universe since the days of Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back, and has only grown in popularity as time has gone on. Before Disney acquired Star Wars, the series canon was full of rich Mandalorian lore, spanning thousands of years and multiple fascinating conflicts, and though much of that has now been rendered non-canon, the Mandalorians themselves still remain an important part of Star Wars (thanks to The Mandalorian, Clone Wars, and Rebels). And we’d love to play a game focusing on them.

There’s so much Ubisoft could do with them. They could go into ancient (fictional) history and focus on the early years of Mandalorian culture. They could jump ahead and cover the conflicts between the Mandalorians and the Jedi. They could focus on how the planet of Mandalore was scorched from endless wars. They could focus on the Great Purge, an event we’ve heard a lot about in recent years and would definitely like to see more of. Even if you’re not interested in the narrative stuff related to the Mandalorians though, the chance to play as one of these badass armoured warriors would still be an exciting one.

SITH ORIGINS

So much of the rich, massive history of the Sith Order from the Expanded Universe is no longer considered canon, but it goes without saying that there’s endless potential for telling captivating stories there. We know for a fact that the Sith were originally a splinter faction of the Jedi Knights who were lured by the powers of the Dark Side, but other than that, their canonical origins are pretty murky.

Whether or not Disney will want that story to be told in a game remains to be seen. Frankly, it seems a little unlikely, but we can still dream, right? Getting to play as a Jedi or even a proto-Sith thousands of years before the Galactic Empire was established and getting to live through the formation of the Sith Order would be a dream come true for many a Star Wars fan.

POST-EMPIRE

There’s been no shortage of Star Wars stories set after the events of Return of the Jedi in recent years, from the sequel trilogy to The Mandalorian to Battlefront 2, and there’s a very good reason for that. Clearly, there’s a lot of stories to be told in this era (the potential is literally endless- there are no limits to what Disney and those they work with can come up with here), so it’s quite likely that Ubisoft’s Star Wars game will also be set in this era.

From the formation of the First Order and how they regain the powers of the Empire to the early days of the New Republic and how they re-establish control over the Galaxy, there’s a lot of interesting stuff Ubisoft can focus on. This is also a time when Luke Skywalker is at the peak of his powers and is training a new generation of Jedi Knights, and that in particular is something we would love to see explored a bit more. How about a game where you play as one of those young Jedi, and get to go up against the First Order, Ben Solo, and the Knights of Ren? Sign us up.

HIGH REPUBLIC

Disney have recently kicked off The High Republic, a new era in the Star Wars series that promises to tell completely new stories in a time in the universe’s canon that hasn’t been explored a great deal. Set two hundred years before The Phantom Menace, the Galactic Republic is at the peak of its powers at this time, while the Jedi Knights, too, are stronger and more influential than they have ever been (and ever will be). Obviously, the High Republic is an era that’s going to have a big role to play in Star Wars canon going forward, so there’s a strong chance that the Ubisoft game could be set in this time.

What’s exciting about the High Republic era is how much it focuses on the expansion of the Republic into the Outer Rim and the exploration of that largely uncharted territory of the galaxy. From a storytelling perspective, it can pave the way for completely new threats and conflicts, while diving into an era in the universe that hasn’t been done to death over the years is also an exciting prospect. What a High Republic game would look like remains to be seen, but we’d certainly be interesting in seeing what Ubisoft could do with this period of the Star Wars canon.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.