Video games based on a certain galaxy far, far away were once all the rage, spanning multiple genres with deep RPGs such as Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic and flight combat simulators like the Rogue Squadron series. Unfortunately, not long after Disney acquired the Star Wars brand and games based on the franchise were placed in the hands of EA, interactive entertainment based on this franchise slowed down exponentially.
Fans sensed a great disturbance in the force, with the only real output of content being the rebooted Star Wars: Battlefront games, which although technically impressive, were littered with controversial microtransactions by EA. This dark age ended with Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order in 2019, a solid action adventure game with Soulslike, Metroidvania design and clear passion for the franchise, ushering in a new renaissance for games set in this iconic sci-fi universe.
Earlier this year, Ubisoft announced an open world Star Wars game as an upcoming project, immediately generating huge amounts of hype from both gamers and Star Wars fans alike. While more quality games set in this franchise are a positive thing, the upcoming Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2 may have some competition from a talented studio like Ubisoft in order to stand out as the premier Star Wars experience.
The Appeal of Open World Games...
Nowadays, it seems if it isn't a battle royale or multiplayer shooter, the go-to genre for a triple-A game is being an open world in order to reach the widest audience possible. No developer understands this better than Ubisoft, with an approach and formula to its game design that permeates within all of its most popular franchises. From Assassin's Creed and Far Cry to Watch Dogs and the stunning new IP Immortals: Fenyx Rising, Ubisoft has become comfortable crafting huge interactive sandboxes for players to explore.
With these years worth of experience in creating such massive open worlds and combining it with one of the most rich universes in all of fiction, there are obvious reasons to be excited. Star Wars stories span across geographically different planets, inhabited by strange extraterrestrial creatures all with individual cultures and personalities. Ubisoft has been known for filling its open world games with locations that feel lived in, whether by thoughtful character writing or simply the aesthetic and interactivity or each environment.
Now that Ubisoft has access to a massive assortment of pre-existing lore and locations to play with, it's only a wonder how the studio will add its own creativity to the mix. Furthermore, with Ubisoft open worlds only becoming more detailed as gaming generations have progressed, it is sure to be a feast for the eyes how the developer will take full advantage of the power of next generation gaming to create even more immersive settings. If the technology being used to create the open world in Beyond Good & Evil 2 is any indication, it is sure to be a spectacular sight to behold once completed.
…versus the Metroidvania/Soulslike
Of course, the punishing difficulty of the Souls genre made popular by FromSoftware with the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games does have a large, devoted fan base in the gaming community. In fact, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order turning out to draw inspiration from these games turned out to be a huge and welcome surprise for players who were just expecting a more straightforward action title. It came with its own twists, of course, but the combat has roots in a Soulslike experience
However, the difficulty of these kinds of games can be a turn-off for some players who prefer a more straightforward gaming experience. While gaming preferences are completely fine, the choice for a more casual and less crushing video game may sway a majority of Star Wars fans in favor of Ubisoft's upcoming release as opposed to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2. The original game, similar to the aforementioned FromSoftware titles, was a demanding experience, but it did have difficulty options to counteract this.
To compare, while open-world titles are by no means laughably easy, the more open-ended freedom they present isn't quite as strenuous an experience as what is found in Dark Souls or in this case, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Fans who want to be fully immersed into this world may not want to invest time into such a game that pushes back so much, as opposed to a vast, fully explorable Star Wars universe that can be enjoyed at each player's own individual pace.
This, of course, does not spell doomsday for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2. Considering just how massively popular the franchise is as a whole, both it and Ubisoft's new game will find an audience. But with Star Wars games once again branching out into various genres with said Ubisoft title and the recent Star Wars: Squadrons being an excellent VR experience, the landscape of games based on this series is more richer than it has been in years, leaving starved fans with more potential choices than just the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order sequel.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 2 is reportedly in development.
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