Next year's 'Star Wars: Battlefront' sequel will add much-requested campaign mode

By Gabe Gurwin Published December 9, 2016

Star Wars: Battlefront launched in 2015 to a pretty tepid critical reception. Though the gameplay was just as polished as anything developer DICE has ever produced and the visuals were the best interpretation of the Star Wars license to date, the game simply lacked enough content to keep players interested. A large part of this was the lack of a single-player campaign mode, but it appears that this will be changing in the sequel.

Speaking to Eurogamer, DICE producer Paul Keslin confirmed that a Battlefront sequel would introduce such a campaign when it launches next year — it looks to be the sole major shooter for Electronic Arts in 2017, as Battlefield, Plants vs. Zombies, and Titanfall all saw new releases this year.

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“Myself as a Star Wars fan, I want story, I want narrative, I want something I can play that immerses me in that world but gives me something to follow and chase,” Keslin said.

In the original (rebooted) Star Wars: Battlefront, the single-player content was limited to wave-based “survival,” which was also playable cooperatively. Mowing down waves of Stormtroopers was a ton of fun, but grew monotonous after just a few rounds.

“We’re partnering up with some folks from Motive — they have their own take on how things are — but we have a very close relationship with them, and we want everything to feel like a coherent experience,” Keslin continued.

Electronic Arts has certainly seen the benefits of a dedicated single-player campaign this year. After a lackluster story mode in Battlefield Hardline, Battlefield 1 delivered a nuanced, emotional, and varied campaign. Titanfall 2, which followed a game that featured no single-player mode at all, also features one of the best campaigns we’ve played in years.

Star Wars: Battlefront is out now for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Its latest DLC, based on the new film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, is available now to Season Pass holders.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…

Gaming

Star Wars Outlaws will support DLSS 3 when it launches this year

One character points a gun at others while gambling in a bar in the trailer for Star Wars Outlaws.

Nvidia revealed in a blog post that Ubisoft's Star Wars Outlaws will be on GeForce Now and use some of its proprietary technology when it launches sometime this year.

Specifically, Star Wars Outlaws will support DLSS 3 and RTX Direct Illumination to improve the game's visuals with ray traced global illumination lighting and effects. The announcement of these visual enhancements for PC and GeForce Now players is the first official update we've gotten on Star Wars Outlaws in a while. Ubisoft unveiled the game at the Xbox Games Showcase in June 2023, and it left a strong impression. The game will follow Kay Vess, a new character and smuggler trying to survive in a galaxy still dominated by the Empire during the time period between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi's events.

Gaming

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is the culmination of the series’ rocky gaming history

Jedi Cal Kestis.

I've played Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's Coruscant heist opening multiple times at this point, and every time I play it, I can't help but think about what could've been with Star Wars 1313, the franchise's most infamous canceled game.
The idea of an Uncharted-like game about Boba Fett fighting throughout the Coruscant underworld is such an excellent pitch that I've grieved the loss of a game I never even had a chance to play for over a decade. Playing through Survivor's opening doesn't elicit feelings of disappointment about 1313, though. Instead, I feel happy that at least some fraction of that idea was able to be realized.

Survivor's Metroidanvia-like level design and Lightsaber-and-Force-based combat are much different than what was promised from 1313. However, the idea of cleverly climbing and fighting across a seedy-looking level of Coruscant during a heist was still realized. Reflecting on the lost project ahead of this year's Star Wars Day, I had a revelation about Respawn Entertainment's latest game. Despite technically being a sequel to just Fallen Order, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor feels like the culmination of over a decade of Star Wars games, both released and canceled, that came before.
A walk through Star Wars gaming history
Growing up, two of my favorite video games were the original Star Wars: Battlefront II and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. To this day, 2005's Battlefront II is my favorite game of all time, not only because of all the great memories that I had with it but also because it feels like an authentic Star Wars simulator where multiple eras, planets, and characters are preserved in incredible detail. Survivor feels like it has the same keen attention to detail.
Players may not visit as many planets as they do in Battlefront II, but each location in Survivor is densely packed with content and immaculately packed with detailed environments and characters that faithfully represent the High Republic, prequel, and Imperial eras. While the aesthetics feel as detailed as Battlefront, the gameplay fantasy pulls more from The Force Unleashed.

Gaming

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor ending explained: What happens to Cal, Cere, and Bode?

Bode helps Cal up in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor finally launched on April 28, continuing the story of Jedi Knight Cal Kestis during the Reign of the Empire era. Its predecessor, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, ended with Kal, his mentor Cere, Nightsister Merrin, and Mantis pilot Greez destroying a Holocron with the locations of force-sensitive children on it. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor follows Cal five years after the events of that game as he struggles to balance his well-being with his fight against the Empire and uncovers a new threat linked to The High Republic and a mysterious planet.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a lengthy adventure as it takes over 20 hours to experience a story with quite a few twists and turns. Whether you’ve beaten the game and are looking for a recap or want to know how Cal Kestis’ adventures continue, this is a rundown of what happens in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and how it all coalesces into a somber ending.
This article contains spoilers for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
How does Star Wars Jedi: Survivor begin
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor begins with Cal Kestis seemingly captured on Coruscant. While it initially seems like he’s being turned over into the custody of a Utapauian senator, it turns out this is all part of an elaborate heist with a new crew that Cal has been running with since the Mantis crew from the first game disbanded. During this mission, Cal meets Bode Akuna, who tells Cal he’s fighting to protect his daughter Kata from the Empire.

They are eventually able to track down the Utapauian senator’s damaged ship, and all seems to be going well. Unfortunately, they are then ambushed by an Imperial Squad led by the Ninth Sister from the Fallen Order. Cal kills the Ninth Sister and escapes on the Mantis, but everyone but him and Bode is killed, and the Mantis is heavily damaged. With no other choice, he flies to the planet Koboh, where Greez is now living, and crash lands on the planet.
After fighting some of the Bedlam Raiders, led by a powerful Gen’Dai named Rayvis, Cal reunites with Greez. While Greez encourages Cal to settle down, Cal refuses and looks for a piece of technology in the caves beneath Greez’s Saloon. While doing this, he discovers an old ruin from The High Republic era, and frees a droid named ZN-A4 (or Zee) for short, who was sent on a mission by a Jedi Knight named Santari Khri during the High Republic era to find the “Key to Tanalorr.”
Cal investigates this, learning that Santari Khri and a Jedi named Dagan Gera found Tanalorr, a hidden planet beyond the dangerous Koboh Abyss, where they wanted to build a new Jedi base. Cal decides to free Dagan from his Bacta Tank, but he quickly betrays Cal after learning of the Jedi’s fall, adamant about retaking Tanalorr with the help of Rayvis, who owes him a life debt. Now, Cal, Bode, and Greez make it their duty to stop Dagan and potentially claim Tanalorr as a safe haven for themselves.
The quest to stop Dagan Gera
Following this encounter, Cal, Greez, and Bode, who found Cal on Koboh, decide to look for Tanalorr and make it their new home together. Looking for any existing information on Tanalorr, the group decides to go to Jedha, where Cal’s mentor Cere Junda is working with Jedi Master Edo Cordova to rebuild the Jedi Archives and support the Hidden Path, which protects force-sensitive people from the Empire.