Star Wars: Galactic Racer sounds like a midi-chlorian-heavy MotorStorm, something I didn't know I craved

Mud Podder

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All right, I've definitely got a weakness for Star Wars games which shift the camera away from all the glowy sword fights and space politics, instead zooming in on galactic ne'er-do-wells getting up to mischief. I blame my dad's influence. Star Wars Outlaws stuck that chord for me, and Star Wars: Galactic Racer looks like it'll combine similar appeal with the trump card of chaotic off-road racing.

Announced during last night's Geoffs, Galactic Racer's a speeder speedfest from Fuse Games - a new studio led by ex-Criterion devs with Burnout and Need For Speedy flavour to their CVs. Though, watching its trailer and reading through an interview Fuse co-founder Matt Webster and Lucasfilm Games vice president Douglas Reilly have given to the official Star Wars website, my brain's been taken to a different racing place.

The trailer shows off packs of landspeeders and speederbikes swooping and slamming as they hover through trails that wind through the likes of a ship graveyard on desert world Jakku and the snowy wilds of Ando Prime. It's obviously leaning into the podracing vibes we've seen videogamed in Star Wars Episode I: Racer, even starring Phantom Menace speedster Sebulba, but in practice, the action sounds like Evolution Studios' old PlayStation mud-fests.

"We’ve drawn real inspiration from runs-based games so the player will have meaningful, consequential decisions to be making on how they chose their path to become an elite racing pilot — from the vehicle they choose to start with, the upgrade choices they make to create a build that really suits their playstyle and what events they select in determining their path to become champion of the League," Webster said in the interview. "Along the way you’ll compete with rivals, journey to new planets, and master different classes of repulsor craft — or speeders — each with their own distinct capabilities.

"We have a range of racing repulsorcraft for players to discover in the game, each of which have unique handling characteristics to master. Speederbikes, for example, are fast and ferocious, you’ll be braking heavily into corners, really leaning in and then massive drops of acceleration as you power your way through the exit. Also notice that in many of our events, our different speeder classes race at the same time, with exciting physical interactions as those differing racing lines come together."

Given the off-roady courses, that last bit about routes aimed at the different strengths of different craft diverging and coming back together is the aspect that's put my mind back in Monument Valley. Obviously, it's not like Galactic Racer's floaty rides will be getting stuck in the mud or splattering through it with chunky tyres, but cutting through narrow chasms in your nimble skim speeder to avoid being side-swiped by a bulkier landspeeder on a more open track definitely is.

All in all, the prospect of battling through the underground racing scene as Shade - "a lone racer with a dream of glory and revenge" - has definitely got my engine running at this point.

If the same applies to you, Star Wars: Galactic Racer's wishlistable on Steam.