At EA Play Live 2020, EA and Motive finally lifted the curtain on Star Wars: Squadrons. Showing off nearly six minutes of gameplay, Motive gave fans a look at what to expect when Star Wars: Squadrons launches in October.
Players will be able to take part in both a single-player campaign and squad-based multiplayer. The campaign has players creating two characters, one New Republic and one Imperial, who they’ll control in alternating missions.
Set shortly after Return of the Jedi, the plot of Star Wars: Squadrons seem to focus on a group of Rebels/New Republic pilots known as Vanguard Squadron, Imperials known as Titan Squadron and the continuing threat of the Imperial Fleet, even after the destruction of the second Death Star. Throughout the story, Motive says players will meet a diverse cast of characters, along with some familiar faces.
Motive didn’t go into detail about the length and depth of the story, but judging by the price of Squadrons, the single-player is going to be a warm-up for the multiplayer. Think Star Wars: Battlefront II.
Star Wars: Squadrons
Multiplayer, it seems, is where the meat of Squadrons gameplay will be. Players will group up, in squads of five, and battle against other squads, in space. Star Wars: Squadrons will launch with full cross-play support so PC, PS4 and Xbox One players will all be able to play together.
Star Wars: Squadrons also supports VR and the entire game, both single and multiplayer will be playable in VR. VR players will also be able to join in on the cross-play fun, so nobody will be excluded.
Power Management is going to be critical in Star Wars: Squadrons. Players will need to shuft power between their shields and blasters as required as well as shifting the focus of their shield to different areas of their ship. If a player is being tailed, they’ll need to shift their shields to the rear of their ship, whereas, in a frontal assault, they’ll want their shields strongest up front.
There are eight ships for players to choose from in Star Wars: Squadrons. These are;
- Tie Fighter
- X-Wing
- Tie Interceptor
- A-Wing
- Tie Reaper
- U-Wing
- Tie Bomber
- Y-Wing
Each of these ships has a specific strength. Interestingly, the support class ships seem to be able to heal or repair allied ships and disrupt enemy ships. This makes Squadrons seem like it’s a hero shooter, in space, with ships instead of heroes. Though it’s still too early to say for sure.
As you play, you’ll unlock a huge range of cosmetics for both the pilot and ship, including the Ewok bobble! EA and Motive made sure to confirm that unlocking cosmetics comes simply from playing the game, which is music to our ears. In addition to cosmetics, players will unlock over 50 components that change their ship in a variety of ways.
In total, there are 60 (revealed components) and they are;
| Laser Cannon | Rotary Cannon | Burst Cannon | Rapid Fire Cannon | Plasburst Cannon | Auto-Aim Cannon | Guided Rotary Cannon | Guided Quad-Cannon | ION Cannon | Concussion Missile |
| Turret Mine | Seeker Mine | Quick-Lock Missile | Goliath Missle | Rockets | ION Missle | ION Torpedo | Multi-Lock Missile | Cluster Missile | Proton Torpedo |
| Proton Bomb | ION Bomb | Automatic ION Cannon | Beam Cannon | Baradium Torpedo | Repair Droid | Repair System | Tractor Beam | Assault Shield | Mimic Beacon |
| Tactical Shield | Targeting Jammer | Targeting Beacons | Supply Droid | Squadron Mask | Seeker Warheads | Chaff Particles | Sensor Jammer | Sensor Inverter | Ferrocermaic Hull |
| Reinforced Hull | Light Hull | Laminasteel Hull | Dampener Hull | Deflector Hull | Reflec Hull | Deflector Shield | Resonant Shield | Nimble Deflector | Fortified Deflector |
| Ray Shield | Scrambler Shield | Conversion Shield | Overload Shield | Sublight Engine | Propulsion Engine | Thrust Engine | Microthrust Engine | ION Jet Engine | Slam Engine |
Motive says players will need to figure out their loadout based on their team’s composition and strategy as well as which mode they’re playing. Announced modes are;
- Dogfight
- Fleet Battles
Fleet Battles are Squadrons‘ main mode and are multi-stage battles. Players can go it alone against or with a team of five. The first stage is a dogfight in the centre of the map, followed by an attack of defence wave. Players will either need to attack or defend two “medium-sized capital ships,” finally, players will need to destroy the enemy’s flagship.
At the end of each stage, depending on how successful you’ve been, your team will either push forward on the attack, or fall back to defend.
According to Creative Director Ian Frazier, Squadrons won’t have any microtransactions.
Our mindset has been very old school. We’re trying to say with this game that we have a $40 price point, we want to feel generous to players, and we want it to feel like a complete experience. Like ‘You gave us your $40. Here’s a game that you will love. Thank you.’ That’s it. This isn’t something we are building around a live-service strategy. It’s built around a game that is complete and great in its own right. That’s not to say we will never add anything, I guess we could, but it’s not presented as a live service.
At launch, there will be six locations for players to battle in.
- Yavin Prime
- Esseles
- Nadiri Dockyards
- Sissubo
- Galitan
- Zavian Abyss
Each of these locations is set in space, so it seems as though there will be no planetary fights in Star Wars: Squadrons. They may surprise us later, but for now, Squadrons takes place exclusively in space.
Star Wars: Squadrons will launch for PC, PS4 and Xbox One on October 2, 2020.
