Just a week after the surprise reveal of Star Wars: Squadrons (and confirmation of full VR support on PC and PSVR), we’re already getting our first glimpse of gameplay. What’s more, it won’t be long before you can hop in your spaceship; the Star Wars: Squadrons release date is set for October 2nd.
Star Wars: Squadrons developer Motive says that the game is built around the “spiritual core of the best Star Wars flight games of the past.” Today the studio revealed the first gameplay trailer which offers a full breakdown of the game’s ships and modes.
While combat looks arcade-centric compared to more simulator-focused flight combat games, developer Motive says that there’s depth—like the ability to focus your shields, transfer power between ship systems, and deactivate flight-assist to pull tricky momentum-based meanuvers.
The trailer also shows detailed cockpits which appear to be different for each of the game’s ships which are broken into four classes: Interceptor, Fighter, Support, and Bomber (each side of the conflict gets a unique ship for the class, leading to a total of eight ships in the game). The studio says the cockpit will give players critical information about their ship and enemy ships.
Star Wars: Squadrons will include a single player and multiplayer mode.
The single player mode will see the player jumping into the flight suit of a pilot on each side of the conflict, alternating perspectives as the story is told. Motive says the game’s story takes place after Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983), and the studio promises that players will see some familiar characters.
Multiplayer will be centered around five vs. five battles spanning several modes.
‘Dogfight’ is a straight-up five vs. five face-of between squadrons. ‘Fleet Battles’, which the studio call’s the game’s “signature mode,” is an objective-based gametype which starts with a dogfight scenario where the victor takes the offensive in the next stage. The winner of the dogfight stage advances and then need to take down two medium-sized capital ships. If they win that stage, the final objective is to take down the opposing team’s massive flagship.
The game will also feature ship customization, both cosmetic and functional, which can be used to tweak the capabilities of your ship to give you an edge in combat.
What’s more, Motive is promising full cross-play between all platforms, including between VR and non-VR players. Star Wars: Squadrons will support PC (VR optional), PS4 (VR optional), and Xbox One. The studio has also confirmed HOTAS support (though this may be restricted to PC players).
The Star Wars: Squadrons release date is set for October 2nd; the game is priced at $40 and already available for pre-order. If you missed it last week, check out the game’s reveal trailer.