“We at Secret Mode are delighted to announce Plaion as our trusted physical distribution partner to help deliver global success on our recently announced game, Star Wars: Galactic Racer,” said Secret Mode publishing commercial director Alison Fraser in a statement. “We have full confidence in their experience and expertise and look forward to working together to bring this exhilarating racing game to both new and long-standing fans of the beloved franchise.”

“We are delighted to partner with Secret Mode to bring Star Wars: Galactic Racer to the global physical market,” said PLAION Partners CEO Craig McNicol. “Securing the mandate for worldwide physical distribution of such an exciting title underscores the strength of our retail relationships, our expert teams around the world and our extensive experience within the physical games space. We are committed to delivering top-tier products to players everywhere and look forward to a strong global launch.”

While this essentially guarantees a physical release for Star Wars: Galactic Racer, more details about whether we can expect more expensive Deluxe editions, or whether the standard editions will come with any physical goodies haven’t yet been revealed.

PLAION is no stranger to working on physical releases. The company had confirmed all the way back in August 2025 that it was partnering up with Pearl Abyss for a similar release of upcoming open-world action game Crimson Desert.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer was announced back in December, and is currently in development for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The title was unveiled with a trailer that, unfortunately, didn’t really showcase any actual gameplay. The studio behind it, Fuse Games, is known for its pedigree in the racing genre, with many of its developers having previously worked on titles across the Burnout and Need for Speed franchises.

February saw the release of another trailer, giving us a look at the high-speed, high-stakes action-packed racing gameplay. The main story of the title will revolve around taking part in an unsanctioned racing league in the Outer Rim, referred to as the Galactic League. The league is dominated by Kestar Bool when you first get there, thanks in large part to his connections with the seedy underworld, as well as his own use of underhanded tactics. The player, in the role of lone racer Shade, will take on Bool throughout the campaign.

Creative director Kieran Crimmins has spoken about the gameplay features of Star Wars: Galactic Racer, and how the studio had a focus on making sure that the crashes feel just as fun and destructive here as they did in the classic Burnout games.

Studio CEO Matt Webster has also recently confirmed that Star Wars: Galactic Racer “is a premium release,” and as such, will not feature a season pass. “We have our campaign, and we have arcade mode, and we have multiplayer, and it’s a self-contained thing,” he said.

“No. This is a premium release, right?” said studio founder and CEO Matt Webster to IGN in a recent interview. “We have our campaign, and we have arcade mode, and we have multiplayer, and it’s a self-contained thing.”

Of course, this is still Star Wars – a franchise that’s constantly growing with new media and additions. So, Webster says the team can recognize “that the landscape of Star Wars evolves and changes over time, and so do games as they go. So we see an opportunity for us to tap into more Star Wars or new Star Wars over time, but in terms of us outlining what we think post-launch is going to look like, that’s not something that we see. The only reason I say a blind no to it is, in my head, season pass is connected to free-to-play games, and that’s not what we are making.”

Creative director Kieran Crimmins agrees. “Our mindset right now is a premium release, to try and get an amazing experience out of the box. Obviously, we wouldn’t close the door to doing something later, but that isn’t what we are really thinking about right now. We just want it to be the very best game it can be, and we want it to be complete when it comes out.”

Interestingly, the sentiment of providing a premium release echoes Pearl Abyss with Crimson Desert. Despite offering pre-order bonuses, marketing and strategic planning expert Will Powers affirmed that there’s no cash shop for cosmetics or such because, “This is a premium experience.”

As for Star Wars: Galactic Racer, it’s coming to Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC this year. Focusing on the mysterious racer Shade, the story follows their journey through the Galactic League in an attempt to unseat Kestar Bool. Players can select multiple vehicle types and build them out to their liking with tracks spanning planets such as Ando Prime, Jakku and Sentinel One.

It’s not an open world, however – Fuse Games is keen to deliver something “high consequence, high action, high replayability” to create “player stories that you wouldn’t have seen in other games.” With no season pass, it should be interesting to see how Fuse Games pursues additional content.

“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.

However, it’s developed by Fuse Games, comprised of former Criterion developers with no shortage of experience on open-world titles such as Burnout. Even with the popularity of the genre in the racing space (see: Forza Horizon), it opted for a more track-focused approach because it not only fit the Star Wars universe but offered that “replayability loop that expands over time.”

“The reason we’re a track-based racer is because we wanted to have that replayability loop that expands over time,” said creative director Kieran Crimmins to IGN. “All those benefits people learn in the tracks, the more they play, learning the handling, that familiarity getting them better rather than just a massive smorgasbord of a thing, which is a slightly different kind of ‘play with the toys’ experience.

“This is high consequence, high action, high replayability and something that creates player stories that you wouldn’t have seen in other games. And I don’t think we could do that if we would go in and say, okay, we’re also going to do this open world thing. That’s a whole set of different challenges.”

Studio CEO and founder Matt Webster agreed. “You can also say, well, this is the Galactic League, right? This is sport, and we’ve seen racing as an activity and as a sport in Star Wars has been around in many forms, right? Episode 1’s podracing we all know and love, Bad Batch’s riot racing in Season 2 was just awesome. Star Wars Resistance has got the Aces and low-altitude starfighter racing. Racing as a sport and activity is something that’s inside Star Wars, and tracks lend themselves to that really well at an action level. And the other thing we realize more broadly is we are inside Star Wars. And Star Wars fans crave the characters and a story.

“So we wanted to go there as well, in a way that frames the racing action. So, you play as a character who is racing, as opposed to it being a racing game. We’ve made plenty of racing games where you’re just a faceless silhouette in a car. Now you’re inhabiting Shade, you’re a canonical new Star Wars character. You walk down one of the shots in the trailer, you’re walking down the ramp of your starship, you’re going into a paddock.

“And this is a really interesting addition here where the paddock gives us a place, a low-intensity space where we can get up close with our Star Wars stuff, we can move a narrative on, we can see characters inside there. It gives us a low-intensity space as a counterpoint and a contrast to the super high-intensity racing. And I think it’s a really important distinction for us now as we call this a racing adventure.”

Regarding Shade, they’re hired by the Galactic League’s founder, Darius Pax, to help take down Kestar Bool, the current frontrunner (and general no-good scum). Interestingly, they also have an axe to grind against Bool, the reasons we’ll likely find out over the course of the campaign.

As for the tracks that players will race on, they include locations like Sentinel One, Ando Prime and Jakku. While you can choose from different classes, there’s also a heavy emphasis on modifying your vehicle and making it your own.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer launches later this year for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Check out the first gameplay trailer here.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer will revolve around an unsanctioned racing league in the Outer Rim, dubbed the Galactic League. At the start of the game, the Galactic League is dominated by Kestar Bool thanks to his underworld connections and underhanded tactics. The player takes on the role of Shade – a lone racer with a grudge against the Bool family – to take on Kestar.

The developers have noted that Star Wars: Galactic Racer will feature an “immersive campaign” that offers several branching paths that will allow players to unlock new parts, tools and upgrades. The vehicles will also be available in a number of different forms, from skim speeders and speeder bikes to the classical Phantom Menace-styled podracers.

On the multiplayer front, it will feature support for up to 12 racers in a single event across multiple game modes. For players that want to jump into the action quickly, there will also be an Arcade mode that focuses on time trials and precision driving, as well as a Scenarios mode that presents unique race conditions.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer is coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S later this year. In the meantime, check out its announcement trailer from back in December.

However, for those worried that Galactic Racer wouldn’t feature one of the more iconic activities from the prequel trilogy, never fear – Fuse Games CEO and co-founder Matt Webster told GamesRadar+ that pod racing is confirmed.

“You can’t really make a Star Wars racing experience and not have Podracing, can you? The core fantasy of the game is becoming an elite racing pilot in the Galactic League, and Podracing is a pinnacle of speed and racing in the Star Wars galaxy.

“However, when we set out to create Galactic Racer, we wanted to do more – to lean into multiple vehicle types and multiple expressions of speed to give players a breadth of experiences. Galactic Racer offers players the ability to pilot vehicles they know and love, alongside ones they won’t have experienced before, across a range of solo and multiplayer modes.”

These include the Landspeeder (which Luke Skywalker piloted in A New Hope on Tatooine) and the Speeder Bike (made famous by the chase in Return of the Jedi on Endor). However, other notable repulsorlift vehicles were spotted in the reveal trailer, and you have to think that Fuse Games has some secrets in store. Regardless of your choice of ride, however, there will be more than one perspective.

“We spend an enormous amount of effort on this camera in particular, as it drives so much of our game feel,” says Webster of the third-person perspective. Others will bring players “closer to the vehicle” for “the sense of speed and, of course, situational awareness that you need when close-in racing.” First-person is also included, though, so don’t worry.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer launches later this year for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. The story focuses on Shade, who joins the Galactic League in the Outer Rim to seek “revenge and glory.” You can customize various kinds of repulsorcraft and participate in PvP matches alongside Story Mode.

With the knowledge of franchises like Burnout and Need for Speed powering the experience, this one’s set in a galaxy where the Empire has fallen, and the Crime Syndicate has created an underground racing circuit in the Outer Rim. With tracks located in places old and new that are spread across the galaxy, along with a single-player campaign, branching paths through each track, and PvP options to offer, this one looks like it could be a lot of fun.

Oh, and let’s not forget that since it’s run-based, crashing your pod could come with some very undesirable consequences. If this title has caught your eye, you’re going to be quite happy to know that it drops sometime in 2026 for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5.

Anyone who even vaguely knows about the game can guess – a mysterious, potentially alien entity has infiltrated the rig, causing massive damage. There were more questions than answers left afterwards, which is why there’s some appeal to Siren’s Rest. What really happened? Well, you’re not going to find out here.

The story focuses on Mhairi, who leads a saturation dive into the wreckage, deep in the trenches, to find any remains of the crew and their possessions to return to their families (alongside obtaining the rig’s data logger). While the depths are visually good-looking, swimming across the ocean floor is also appropriately harrowing, with lone flares pointing the way until you’re on your own within the ruins, where most of the story unfolds.

"It’s pretty straightforward, and even the puzzle-solving doesn’t amount to much more than “Cut through this rusted bit” or “Move this heavy object.” The fact that many of the interactive parts are painted yellow, further dulls any real sense of challenge or tension."

There are two chapters in total, each encompassing different dives. Still, the overarching gameplay is relatively the same: Swim through the winding wreckage, breaking open doors, drawers, and cabinets to collect Mementos and photograph the remains of the crew. Some familiar names and interesting bits of lore drop, especially surrounding the rig’s boss Rennick, but it’s nothing that massively impacts the story (outside of the big reveal around Mhairi’s identity, which you’ll likely have guessed early on).

While there’s nothing inherently bad about the gameplay – swimming feels responsive enough, and propelling through narrow corridors is fine – it also feels dull. Maybe I got easily bored with popping things open or cutting through rusted hinges to open doors. After a point, the latter occasionally felt less like a mechanic that would be expanded upon and more like the trigger for loading the next segments. Siren’s Rest eventually mixes things up with air pockets, which Mhairi can venture into, oftentimes disconnecting her umbilical cable.

These sections offer more boots-on-the-ground exploration and light platforming alongside the occasional quick-time event. I wasn’t the biggest fan of jumping across gaps to grab onto ledges since it often felt like Mhairi would cease all momentum before an edge, thus causing her to drop like a stone upon jumping. Eventually, it became clear that I had to slightly fall off and then jump, as weird as it sounds. It’s not something that came up a lot, but with that in mind, one would think it’d feel less awkward.

Otherwise, most of the tension arises from the rig falling apart, effectively sealing off the initial entrances and prompting you to find another exit. It’s pretty straightforward, and even the puzzle-solving doesn’t amount to much more than “Cut through this rusted bit” or “Move this heavy object.” The fact that many of the interactive parts are painted yellow, further dulls any real sense of challenge or tension.

It’s not long before things get trippy, and Chapter 2 kicks off with Mhairi venturing into even greater depths, where the entity itself is still seemingly alive. Some hallucinations are mixed into the exploration, eventually revealing Mhairi’s purpose for undertaking the dive before culminating in hide and seek from a monster. The emphasis on flares over the flashlight also made for tenser proceedings, with environments illuminated just enough to proceed but with more than oppressive darkness. And to be fair, the few sequences with the monster can be tense, given its speed.

"The bugs were more immersion-breaking, from the umbilical cable constantly clipping through walls to Mhairi remaining stationary in the water after missing a jump. Another bug caused voice lines to overlap while identifying a crew member’s remains, completely muddling the moment."

However, even while stopping around and reloading a few times because of bugs, the DLC took less than two hours to clear. While it’s what the developer promised, it only left me with more questions. It feels like more of an epilogue, one more focused on closure and moving on than actually solving any mysteries.

The ambiguity of the entity was a big appeal for Still Wakes the Deep – much like The Thing, not knowing its purpose and simply fearing its spread was enough (even if The Chinese Room’s execution of the concept wasn’t nearly as great). Siren’s Rest pretty much distills it into just a scary monster that you need to avoid (or run into because, hey, free Achievement/Trophy). Even the hallucinations don’t serve much purpose here. You leave with pretty much the same conclusion, except there’s some unnecessary open-endedness about how much of it was real.

While I can appreciate the voice acting, especially that of Lois Chimamba as Mhairi, there are some rather annoying plot contrivances. After some terrible occurrences to close out Chapter 1, she insists – or is encouraged, rather – to skip her safety list, simply diving into something much more dangerous than before, which just felt baffling. I also wasn’t a big fan of her suddenly screaming like she missed grabbing onto a ledge, especially since it made that one jump where she landed perfectly look ridiculous.

The DLC does have some admittedly good-looking visuals, just like the base game, though it’s not the best when it comes to facial expressions. Gazing down into the inky darkness and dropping a flare, watching it tumble along the way before hitting the bottom, was cool, limited as such moments could be.

Performance was also good on Epic settings at 1440p, with DLSS set to Quality, but there were some noticeable jaggies. Bringing the settings down to High and opting for DLAA didn’t completely remove them, but it certainly helped, even with noticeable performance drops. The bugs were more immersion-breaking, from the umbilical cable constantly clipping through walls to Mhairi remaining stationary in the water after missing a jump. Another bug caused voice lines to overlap while identifying a crew member’s remains, completely muddling the moment.

"Mhairi’s pursuit of answers takes over the plot yet doesn’t feel developed enough to inspire much empathy. And that’s with Chimamba putting in a strong performance throughout."

There are also weird instances where straying too far from the fixed path triggers a warning. Another path required going somewhere else and acquiring the flares first since my flashlight wouldn’t work. How did the development team communicate this? By covering my screen in the entity’s effects and promptly killing me. It’s the most video gamey way of saying, “No, not this way yet,” that I’ve seen in a long while. That same “no, no, no” attitude pervades the use of the underwater camera. Want to take pictures of anything but human remains for whatever reason? Well, you can’t.

At the end of it all, I’m not entirely sure how to feel about Siren’s Rest. Mhairi’s pursuit of answers takes over the plot yet doesn’t feel developed enough to inspire much empathy. And that’s with Chimamba putting in a strong performance throughout. In the same vein, I don’t really have any greater answers about the Beira D tragedy than before, and the relatively tame gameplay for much of the experience doesn’t help. If you’re really keen on revisiting the world of Still Wakes the Deep, Dicaprio-pointing at your screen upon recognizing some names while casually swimming around, it’s not the worst DLC. However, for its price and what it does and doesn’t offer, you could skip it without much consequence.

This game was reviewed on PC.

Siren’s Rest retails for $12.99 on all platforms, and you can start playing it immediately, though the developer recommends completing the base game first (if you haven’t already). It’s estimated to last 1.5 to two hours – you can check out some more extensive gameplay here. While it doesn’t reveal too much beyond exploration, something is seemingly waiting below the depths.

Still Wakes the Deep and Siren’s Rest are both playable on Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. You can check out our review for the base game here. We gave it a seven out of ten, praising the story, characters, and visuals but criticizing the simplistic gameplay.

How will it play out in comparison to the base game? Some extensive new gameplay is available featuring new protagonist Mhairi as she swims through the wreckage. You’ll pop open drawers, recover photographs and even take pictures of corpses. There’s trepidation about disrespecting the dead, though her colleague Rob assures her that it’s the opposite.

A set of flares is available on the ocean floor to help guide the player as Mhairi picks up a cutting arc to slice through a rusted door. It doesn’t provide a “deeper look” into the terrors lying below the surface, but there is a palpable tension throughout.

Still Wakes the Deep: Siren’s Rest will be available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. For more details on the base game, check out our review.