Fuse Games—the studio behind the upcoming Star Wars: Galactic Racer—is going to tap into its experience with working on classic Burnout games to help fuel similar “high thrills, high risk” experiences in its next game. In an interview with Eurogamer, creative director of Star Wars: Galactic Racer Kieran Crimmins spoke about including some Burnout-styled crashes in the game’s trailer, as well as the pedigree of the developers, since Fuse is made up of people who previously worked at Criterion and have a love of arcade racing.
“Fuse was made with a combination of people who have worked together for a fairly long time, there’s things we’ve loved in Arcade racing – visceral high-octane action and want to bring that to this game,” said Crimmins. “Those sensibilities and some of that DNA from previous games we’ve worked on, obviously that’s in this game because we want to bring that stuff. It’s the core of pick-up-and-play arcade racing with great depth, but also great thrill. There’s also certain game mechanics that are part of our DNA in there as well.”
Lucasfilm Games executive producer Craig Derrick also chimed in to talk about the “spectacular crashes” that players will get to be part of, cause, or avoid in Star Wars: Galactic Racer. “I’d jump in to say it’s high thrill, but also high risk! The spectacular crashes in Galactic Racer, there’s elements of that you see in the Burnout series and other racing games, but also the Pod Racing sequence in Star Wars Episode One,” he said.
“The fragility of these vehicles in this game, the scrappiness we’re implying in this era… They’re really just put together for racing, sort of inherently dangerous to race and in a place where crashes are gonna happen. We want to be able to show that! Cinematically in a fun way, but also lean into the arcade elements while emphasizing this is a dangerous sport you’re engaging in.”
Crimmins went on to note that these crashes will go on to form an important part of the Star Wars: Galactic Racer fantasy. This is thanks in large part to the dangers of this high-speed racing already having been showcased through Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and other films also featuring vehicle chases that often end up with several explosions. In gameplay terms, he also spoke about how these dangerous races come together to form their own stories.
“There’s a few different things from a play point-of-view,” Crimmins explained. “Putting our expertise and studio sensibilities into the Star Wars space, it has a rich landscape of vehicle fantasies. Some core pillar racing fantasy, but also as Craig said this used-universe of cobbled together vehicles. All those flavourings are key to that Star Wars vehicle fantasy.”
“So while we have our own studio sensibilities, we looked to our partners at Lucas to make sure we translate those into an authentic Star Wars experience. That means having high-octane visceral action with risk / reward mechanics, but also a breadth of experiences you can have in the game. Telling a story, you’ve got characters and a running storyline that feels like a Star Wars journey you’re going on. It’s why we’ve worked so closely with Lucas, so you get that Star Wars magic.”
Derrick also pointed out that Star Wars: Galactic Racer will focus on a smaller-scale story rather than the traditional epic space operas that the overarching franchise is known for. Thanks to this, the focus of the narrative is more about the competitiveness between the various characters.
“And it’s not galactic-wide stakes, it’s a local story,” he said. “There are stakes to each of these characters, they have agendas and reasons for why they’re doing what they’re doing. But it’s less life or death and more win or lose. So it’s strongly linked to the competitiveness of the story. The last thing I’ll say about authenticity is it’s all about aesthetics. It has to look like Star Wars. It has to read familiar as racing in that universe, and it’s also the sounds. The music, the engines and these vehicles crunching and hitting each other that’s grounded in some authenticity.”
Star Wars: Galactic Racer is coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S later this year. For more details, check out why the studio decided to avoid an open-world structure, and also take a look at its first gameplay trailer.
