During EA Play's 2020 presentation today, we got a ton of new details on Star Wars: Squadrons, the upcoming starfighter-based game by Motive Studios.
Motive's Ian Frazier and a gameplay trailer spilled the beans on this new game. The featured image above is Ian Frazier's own drawings from his childhood. He created it when playing the old Star Wars simulation titles, and says that there are a lot of huge fans of the series behind this title. You might even consider Squadrons to be a spiritual successor to the past Star Wars flight sims from the 90s.
Frazier mentions that Squadrons is easy to get into but difficult to master; gameplay will soon open up opportunities to pull of insane maneuvers and will have a high skill cap, much like games from the 90s.
The gameplay trailer for Squadrons (see below) opens up with outlining singleplayer. In this mode, players will experience a story with two player-created and customizable pilots. One pilot is on the Rebel's side, while the other is on the Empire's. The story will alternate between the two, and the trailer hinted that players can expect to see familiar faces from the Star Wars series.
Multiplayer also has a helping amount of content. In addition to the ability to customize and create your own pilots and cosmetically enhance your ships, the trailer explains that there are over 50 components which can be used to amplify and alter your ship's abilities. There are also a total of eight different ship classes. The ones we know so far are: fighters, interceptors, support, and bombers.
For multiplayer modes, we have a five-versus-five Dogfight Mode. The "flagship" mode, however, is called Fleet Battles. Fleet Battles can be played by yourself or with others in multiplayer. The objective is to take out ships on the opponent team's fleet. First, you'll need to win a fight in the center of the map. The next objective is to take out two medium-sized ships on the opponent's side; lastly, the conflict ends when one team destroys the other's huge flagship.
Star Wars: Squadrons also supports crossplay across all platforms. Even those with VR will be able to play with others. The game releases on October 2, 2020 on Steam and consoles.
Quick Take
This game might just be my most anticipated title for 2020. The gameplay trailer completely sold me on it. I was a little hesitant on the "all space" gameplay, but it looked too good to pass up. I'm quite interested in the campaign and seeing how it can contribute to the Star Wars lore. I can't wait to blast some Rebel scum.
Are you going to play Star Wars: Squadrons? Let us know in the comments below!