The EA Play Live 2020 event was mostly a dud if you were looking for flashy new reveals, but one upcoming title did bring the thunder. Fans got their first look at Star Wars: Squadrons gameplay, which showcased a little bit of how the single-play campaign will play out, and revealed the signature multiplayer mode “Fleet Battles,” a tactical 5-on-5 experience that sounds exactly as one brilliant PlayStation LifeStyle writer described yesterday. *COUGH* Even if they were outlined in the original press release announcement earlier this week.
Check out the trailer.
There appears to be an on-boarding flow in regards to learning the ropes of Squadrons, with the player’s journey beginning in single-player mode. Creating both a Rebel and Empire pilot, players will swap back and forth between the two. This post-Return of the Jedi story that takes place over numerous iconic Star Wars locations. Once single-player is finished, the player is ready to go online, according to the video.
Two main multiplayer modes feature in the video: Dogfights, which appears to be straight-up 5-on-5 deathmatch style piloting, and Fleet Battles, a strategic team-based mode that EA called the game’s “signature mode.” In Fleet Battles, players will join up with their team in a lobby to coordinate ship loadouts and strategy before blasting off to a battlefield consisting of multiple phases.
A dogfight skirmish at the center of the map will dictate the flow of battle, which leads to two larger ships on both team’s side that become target objectives. After that, your squadron will press on to attempt to destroy the other team’s Flagship, which appears to come in the form of a Super Star Destroyer for the Empire or what appeared to be a Corellian Battlecruiser for the Rebels/New Republic.
More details will surely come as we inch closer towards that October 2020 release date, but for now this gameplay video and look at the first-person cockpit should tide most of us over. I’m looking forward to seeing more of the customization unlockables, as the trailer shows different paint jobs, potential races for your pilot, and even in-cockpit knick-knacks like a sweet bobblehead. Look at him go.
Star Wars Squadrons releases October 2, 2020 for $39.99 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It will be VR compatible and feature cross-play across every single platform. Preorder your copy now.
