With the action-adventure concept back in 2018, I’d talked of the four characters that would be a part of it and a brief idea of how they would play. Set one year after Revenge of the Sith, these four characters would be following their own stories which would intersect at certain points. With this article, I’m going to expand on all of that. To start with, the four characters.

You start the game by choosing one of the stories to play through. Those stories are a Jedi fighting against the early oppressions of the Empire. A citizen forced from their home intent on making a stand against the Empire. A Wookiee who works for the Empire. And a special ops ISB agent working to right injustices within the system.

Yet another Jedi who survived Order 66. Yeah, yeah. I hear you. But there’s going to be Jedi who weren’t surrounded by clones when the Order was given. Most Jedi who decided to keep fighting would have been killed or captured, but what if they were smart to hide their identity while keeping up the fight? After all, there’s plenty of ways to hide your identity. The only fear is revealing your Force powers.

For a year, they’ve been helping aid others against the oppression of the Empire. The start of their story here sees them undertaking one such mission to aid a village from the Empire’s assault. The commander has already made public claims that somewhere on the planet is a Separatist cell that is intent on taking control of the sector, but such claims are false. It’s instead Republic allies who have made statements calling out the Empire for controlling the galaxy in an iron grip.

Since the Jedi has disguised themselves, it would be foolish to expect them to use their lightsaber, right? But they do. Except it’s not their own. Aware of what the Empire would do to anyone who wields a lightsaber, they ask any Jedi to give their own up when helping them. It allowed them to spin a rumour that they had taken on a Jedi and won. While doing so is risky, it has given them access to a list of Jedi that the Empire wants brought in.

That information comes into play later in the story, but during this first mission, it’s a simple extraction of Republic allies. The Jedi will use their lightsaber to attack enemies in a hack-and-slash style of gameplay, where simple combos are the order of the day. They use the Force just for agility, allowing them to easily get around and over obstacles. When possible, they will use the Force for attack, at times where there are – or will be – no witnesses.

On a different planet, the citizen forced from their home. They have been hearing rumblings of the Empire’s presence becoming a full occupation and have been arranging for their leaving of the planet. While outside, walking to the place where a friend would be waiting, the sector governor declares in a system-wide broadcast that the enemies of the Empire would be dealt with. It’s an excuse to round up the pro-Separatist citizens hidden on the once Separatist owned system.

Thus, a battle breaks out between the citizens and the Empire. A battle the citizen intent on escape has to work through. There’s no avoiding it. A stealth-type gameplay, they can grab whatever they can to use as a weapon. While that does include guns, the citizen is the one who has the least amount of health of the four, so stealthing is the best way to play. Using found items, you can throw them at the enemy – or even close to them – to distract them so you can make a clean(er) attack.

Once the citizen gets to their friend to make that getaway, they talk things over with their friend, who agrees to help transport them to wherever they want to undertake their new mission – helping other formerly Separatist owned systems fight back against the Empire. Not openly, but taking down Imperial owned targets that could help any fighters within those systems bring about a victory over the Empire.

For the Wookiee, they openly declared love for the Empire, joining with them to fight the enemies of the Empire. But here’s the thing. They’re doing this to get in close and identify weaknesses from the inside, by being a trusted ally in the ranks of the Empire. It is their intention to then head to Kashyyyk once they know critical information on the occupation there and end it – or at least take out the commander in charge of the operation.

Since they are working for the Empire, they’re hunting the enemies of the Empire, and doing so how a Wookiee knows best. Straight in close-quarters with a single punch wiping anyone out. And with a bowcaster when they’re far away. Also for one hit. You’ll be slow, but able to take many hits from enemies, who will know not to mess with you if you get in close.

The story of how this Wookiee managed to be allies of the Empire is revealed in parts, as it relates to the current plot. Since, as well as hunting for weaknesses in the Empire’s forces on the planet, they’re also hunting for the one who had vouched for them to the Empire. Someone who had a secret of their own. And it is that secret that will eventually get the attention of all four of these characters.

As for the ISB agent, they’re in the thick of the action also hunting down enemies of the Empire, but also those within the Empire. Such means that you’ll be within the palaces of high-up officers intent on finding out their misdeeds and sorting them out – usually through arresting or elimination. Again, the stealth gameplay is here, but this time you’ll have a riot baton and blaster on hand at all times.

Eventually, they get caught up in the dealings of one sector governor who has been abusing their powers throughout the sector for their own gain, all while avoiding where they are meant to be. The ISB agent will be following the trail of those dealings in the hopes of dealing with the governor and stopping their plans.

Now, as said, the paths of these people will cross until they all come together for the finale. The interactions of those meetings have to be believable, so the characters will have reasons to work together and not kill each other. The Jedi, being in disguise, would come under no suspicion of the ISB agent. They’d figure it out, but respect for their help will mean they don’t turn them in.

While each character would only have one meeting with each of the others, the length they work with the other would vary. The Wookiee encountering the citizen while in a warzone would force the two together when a crime syndicate gets involved and attacks both sides. Having defended both sides from the attack, they then hunt down the syndicate presence on the planet to remove them from it.

Some of those meetings also include a boss battle within them, where the character whose story you are on will be the one you control. They’ll both be in the fight, working together to bring the larger enemy down, but there’s no swapping between characters, which means the perspective of the other in the fight will come when you get to their story. And because each character has their own fighting skills, those come into play with the bosses, making sure that a repeat of the boss in a different story doesn’t feel the same.

When it comes to the finale, that is dealt with as its own story, where all four characters come together. You’ll swap between them as the story requires, with the final boss of the game seeing all four come together to deal with it. As alluded to, all four characters will come to know the person the Wookiee hunts in the finale, since they have been captured by the one the ISB agent hunts as insurance. And that’s all I will be revealing of that finale.

The locations you’ll be visiting will be open, but you’ll be guided when necessary onto the correct path. All the environments you’ll be fighting or stealthing on will be urban areas varying in size depending on what the mission is asking of you. There’ll be little in the way of platforming in the action areas, which will have you cut through enemies to progress. Sometimes you’ll have allies alongside you to help, and sometimes you’ll be solo.

Which the stealth, think Hitman. As an ISB agent, you will have access to most areas, but the guards of your target will aim to block access to the more sensitive areas of the location. Guards will investigate distractions, so use them if you can, while also calling for reinforcements if they survive an engagement. Or encounter a felled comrade. You can pick them up to hide them, and the only ones who will find that suspicious are the guards or your target.

The citizen follows the same rules, but of course their access is more limited, and they have no disguises to utilise. When those alarms start ringing, you’ll be facing a lot more trouble – if they find you. Since they won’t stop with search patterns if the general alarm is sounded, it gives you a great opportunity to pick them off a group of two at a time.

Out of the three concepts, this one has evolved the most. I’d never envisioned including stealth elements to it, but as I got deeper into the concepting of it, it just made sense. Would I perhaps make this a full-on stealth game like Hitman? It could easily work as such, but I think two of the characters would suffer a bit for that. Besides, those two who do feature stealth gameplay aren’t fully utilising it in all their levels, so it still is an action-adventure.

With the end of this article, the expansion of those three concepts from 2018 comes to an end. Three genres, all focused on different eras of the galaxy. These ideas can hopefully come to fruition, even if not exactly as I envision. But while I would certainly like to see them, I’m just one person. How about you? Are these concepts something you’d like to see?

Expansion of Star Wars Games
Galaxy of Racing / Corrupt Bounty / Furtive Business

Images Taken From:
-The Book of Boba Fett S1.05, S1.07
-Star Wars Rebels S2.17