Star Wars: Galactic Racer, the first game from UK developer Fuse Games, has launched on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Amazon Luna.
According to a release, Secret Mode published the racing game in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games, the video game arm of Star Wars owner Lucasfilm. PC players can buy it through Steam or the Epic Games Store. Amazon Luna is Amazon's cloud gaming service, which lets people stream games without a console or gaming PC.
The Standard Edition costs $59.99 (£49.99/€59.99) and the Deluxe Edition costs $79.99 (£64.99/€79.99), with both sold physically and digitally. The game carries a Pan European Game Information (PEGI) rating of 12 in Europe, and an E10+ (Everyone 10+) rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) in North America.
What is Star Wars: Galactic Racer?
The game takes place in the Galactic League, an unsanctioned racing circuit that started in the Outer Rim, the lawless edge of the Star Wars galaxy. Darius Pax set the league up, but its current champion, Kestar Bool, is described in the release as 'underhanded and well-connected', and he has no plans to give up his title. Pax turns to Shade, a lone racer with a personal grudge against the Bool family, to end Kestar's run at the top. Players take control of Shade.
Fuse Games has described the campaign as 'runs-based'. In practice, players choose which events to enter as they make their way through the league, with new unlocks and challenges appearing as they go.
Races use four types of repulsorcraft (the hovering vehicles seen across Star Wars): landspeeders, speeder bikes, skim speeders and podracers. Each class has its own physics and handling, and players can build and customise their vehicles. Contact is part of the racing too; players can ram and take down rivals, and the release says riskier driving brings bigger rewards.
Alongside the story campaign, which the release says involves 'shifting alliances', there are player versus player (PvP) grudge matches where a racer's reputation follows them from event to event. The game supports one to twelve players, and climbing the league rankings unlocks further rewards.
What the companies said
According to the release, the game is part of Lucasfilm Games' wider plan to create original Star Wars stories made for games. The companies also said it was designed to be easy to pick up, so it could act as a way in for newcomers while still catering to existing fans.
Douglas Reilly, Vice President and General Manager of Lucasfilm Games, said: "We're always looking for new ways to bring fans deeper into the Star Wars galaxy through original interactive stories, and Star Wars: Galactic Racer gave us a chance to explore the racing culture fans have loved for years while letting players live out the fantasy of piloting some of the franchise's most iconic vehicles." Reilly added that Fuse Games and Secret Mode's "love of Star Wars and passion for racing games" helped produce "an original story-driven adventure that feels right at home in the galaxy."
Matt Webster, Co-founder and CEO of Fuse Games, looked back at how the studio started. "Three and a half years ago, Fuse Games was a handful of people with a big idea scrawled on a whiteboard. Today we launch our debut game, set in a galaxy far, far away," Webster said.
Webster explained that making a game of this size as a small independent studio meant the team had to change how it worked, and who it worked with, throughout development. He thanked Secret Mode, and above all Lucasfilm Games, "for trusting our team with such a legendary galaxy." He added: "We can't wait for players to enter the league and see the wonderful vehicle builds they create to get to the top."
James Schall, Co-founder and Chief Publishing Officer at Secret Mode, said it had been "an honor and privilege" to work with Fuse Games and Lucasfilm Games on the project. "As a devoted Star Wars fan, I am so excited to see our players' reaction to this amazing game. We're thrilled to be bringing racing back to the Star Wars galaxy!" Schall said.
Who is behind Star Wars: Galactic Racer?
Fuse Games is an independent developer based in Guildford, UK, and Galactic Racer is its first release. According to the release, the studio is led by key figures from the Burnout and Need for Speed racing series. It describes its approach as pairing close attention to how a game feels with 'blockbuster spectacle'.
Secret Mode is a UK publisher run by CEO Ed Blincoe and Schall. It published Still Wakes the Deep, which the release says won three British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards. The company has since taken over publishing rights to co-op titles Chained Together and Escape the Backrooms. According to the release, Escape the Backrooms has added more than 5.5m players since it launched on consoles in May.
