Star Wars has long been one of the biggest entertainment franchises ever, with its reach spanning across films, television, merchandise and video games. For decades now, licensed Star Wars games have captured the attention of gamers, producing some iconic games. However, despite the franchise's deep history in gaming, it has still yet to reach its full potential for one glaring reason: the focus on the exploits of the Jedi leave a lot of potential for telling different Star Wars stories on the table.
A majority of Star Wars video games overwhelmingly focus on the Jedi and their battle against the dark side of the Force. From the iconic Knights of the Old Republic series to the most recent hit Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, the heroic Jedi and its lightsaber-wielding paragons of virtue often provide a virtuous base for a great video game good versus evil story. However, like the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story proved so successfully, the Star Wars world doesn't always need the Jedi to make something special.
There are plenty of non-Jedi characters who already exist in the Star Wars canon who would make great video game protagonists. Characters like the iconic Han Solo, a smuggler who rises to become a heroic general for the Rebellion, or Rogue One's Jyn Erso, a criminal who becomes a hero in her exploits against the Empire. In the extended universe of books and comics, there are even more great characters to draw from, with many heroes and villains with plenty of potential as gaming protagonists.
Just when considering the franchise's bounty hunters, there are two figures who stand out: the mysterious Din Djarin, better known as The Mandalorian, and the iconic Boba Fett. The two are seasoned warriors currently starring in Disney+ shows whose stories could translate well into an interactive entertainment experience. With their combat prowess, ultra-cool Mandalorian armor and jetpacks, both of these characters are begging to be a part of a big-budget third-person shooter adventure.
Some of the most popular Star Wars games have focused on fresh stories and gameplay ideas that exist independent of existing characters and Jedi. Games like the Star Wars Battlefront series put players in the shoes of everyday soldiers fighting in the galaxy-spanning conflicts of the film series to the delight of fans. Star Wars: Republic Commando took this idea even further, allowing players to be an intimate part of a Republic unit of clone troopers in a game that many still hold to this day as one of the best Star Wars games ever made. Fans have embraced such games, which is all the more reason to create more like them.
Star Wars games don't even have to shun the idea of the Force entirely either to tell a great Jedi-adjacent story. Take Kyle Katarn from the Star Wars: Dark Forces games as an example. In the expanded universe lore, Kyle was introduced as a former Imperial soldier who defected to the Rebellion and later found himself to be Force sensitive. While he did eventually become a Jedi in later games, the first two Dark Forces games featured pure first-person shooter action as he carried out missions against the Empire. These games have held a special place in fans' hearts, and a new game that focused on this early period could be a refreshing experience that still allows for some Force influence to affect the gameplay in interesting ways.
Just like the Force needs balance, so too does the world of Star Wars licensed games. Developers would do well to give fans a different kind of experience now and then. While there are plenty of Star Wars gaming experiences announced or rumored to be in the work, the best way for developers to tap that great wealth of potential that galaxy far, far away holds is to use it to tell new and unique stories.