Back in January, it was announced that Ubisoft Massive would be developing a new open-world game set in the Star Wars universe. This took the rights to the series games out of the hands of EA for the first time in years and has many fans excited to see what the studio will have in store for the galaxy far, far away.
This is far from the only Star Wars announcement to come out this year. Disney is preparing to release a myriad of new shows on its streaming platform, and has already begun releasing content for a newly established and mostly unexplored era in the history of the Star Wars universe, the High Republic. Because of this, Ubisoft Massive’s open-world Star Wars game should take advantage of the franchise’s expansion and be set in the High Republic Era.
The High Republic Era was an period in the history of the Star Wars universe which spanned from around three centuries before the events of A New Hope to just 82 years before the start of Episode 4. This in turn places most of the High Republic Era around 800 years after the fall of the Old Republic, meaning the High Republic Era was the height of the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order. During this time, Jedi activity throughout the galaxy was far more common, with members of the order building temples and training Padawans as far as the Outer Rim Territories.
One of the key events during this time was known as the Great Disaster, which took place 232 years before the destruction of the Death Star. A cargo ship named the Legacy Run collided with a Nihil Stormship in hyperspace while travelling to the Outer Rim Territories. Parts of the ship re-entered realspace throughout the galaxy, causing a huge amount of destruction including the annihilation of several moons. As a result, Hyperspace travel was temporarily banned in the Outer Rim Territories.
All of this lore is ripe for an open-world game. The events of the High Republic Era would allow Ubisoft Massive to place players in areas of the Outer Rim Territories which have yet to be depicted in any piece of Star Wars media. Players could meet new alien races and face unique threats and monsters, while the studio could tell a story isolated enough from the rest of the events of the Star Wars universe for player choices to have a significant impact.
The temporary ban on Hyperspace travel in the High Republic Era could allow Ubisoft Massive to explore the story of a frontier suddenly cut off from the heart of the Republic. In terms of the game’s world size this seems like the perfect compromise. Players would be free to roam the Outer Rim Territories, but there would be a good in-universe explanation for why they are limited to that part of the galaxy.
The High Republic Era would also be a great opportunity for the story of a Star Wars game to move away from the traditional Star Wars light side vs dark side conflict. The Jedi dominate the galaxy at this time, and an open-world game could present far more nuanced moral choices by showing exactly what it’s like when the Jedi are safely in control. If nothing else, it’s clear that both the Jedi and the Galactic Republic have expansionist principles similar to the Empire, and the fact that the Jedi aim to spread their religion across the galaxy certainly raises the possibility of some interesting ethical conundrums.
There are already some great locations set up in the Outer Rim during the High Republic Era which could be exciting to visit in an open-world game. The Starlight Beacon, for example, was a ginormous space station constructed in the unexplored dark zones of the Outer Rim Territories, releasing a signal which would help guide ships through the difficult and unmapped terrain.
One of the most interesting aspects of the High Republic Era helps to distinguish it from the Old Republic, which served as the setting for BioWare’s Knights Of The Old Republic RPGs. The High Republic Era was near enough to the events of the original Star Wars trilogy that it already includes some recognizable long-lived characters. Grand Master Yoda, for example, was present when the Starlight Beacon was officially opened in the wake of the Great Disaster. Seeing just how much of a difference several centuries makes could allow for some interesting twists on iconic characters.
Enough has been established about the High Republic Era so far to allow Ubisoft Massive to get a foothold in the period when crafting the setting of its open-world game. What makes the High Republic special, however, is that it takes place in a simultaneous golden era, and a kind of dark age. While the Galactic Republic is stronger than ever, this also allowed it to expand to completely unexplored corners of the galaxy, while the Great Disaster likely caused many of the newcomers to those areas to be suddenly albeit temporarily cut off.
While the High Republic is being fleshed out as new content is released, ultimately details about Ubisoft Massive’s upcoming open-world Star Wars game remain few and far between. For now, at least, that gives it a huge amount of potential that is matched by the storytelling flexibility of the High Republic Era. In a franchise that is currently releasing so much content that it risks saturation, originality could be the key to the new game’s success. To be truly original to the extent that is possible within the pre-established Star Wars universe, the game should tell a story in the unexplored regions of a mostly unexplored period in the franchise’s timeline.
Ubisoft Massive’s open-world Star Wars game is currently in development.
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