‘Star Wars’ Action RPG In Development At EA And Visceral Games

Gamers who have seen the record-breaking movie Star War: The Force Awakens may be wondering what games will be following the release of Star Wars: Battlefront to the PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The first concrete details of what Electronic Arts is planning next cropped up in a Visceral Games job listing and appears to be much more than the Uncharted-styled title previously rumored.

While a new Star Wars title from Visceral Games has been anticipated since Disney announced the partnership with Electronics, an opening for a senior game designer position has provided the clue on which way the game is going.

“Bring your system game design skills and savvy and your love of Star Wars to Visceral Games, embracing and contributing to the project vision in areas of hero control/mechanics, AI behaviors, combat/weapons, class design, skills/progression, enemy design and boss encounters,” the senior game designer job listing reads.

The only previous clues to the game that were available was Assassin’s Creed producer Jade Raymond and Uncharted producer Amy Hennig were both attached. The Uncharted-styled game suggestion eventually came from Nathan Drake voice actor Nolan North during a MetroCon 2015 panel.

“If you’re a big fan of Amy Hennig and her style of story, the big thing about her is she’s gone to EA and is going to reboot a brand new Star Wars franchise in the style of Uncharted,” he said, as covered by Inquisitr. “I happen to know a lot about it and it’s going to be awesome.”

Another interesting aspect to the question about where Visceral’s Star Wars might go came from a recent Slash Film interview with Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy. She revealed that the Star Wars 1313 game which was canceled following Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm might live on in some form.

“So our attitude is, we don’t want to throw any of that stuff away. It’s gold,” Kennedy said when the topic of Star Wars 1313 concept art came up. “And it’s something we’re spending a lot of time looking at, pouring through, discussing, and we may very well develop those things further. We definitely want to.”

Star Wars 1313 had the full attention of the gaming press and community thanks to its promised exploration of the Coruscant underworld in a galaxy far, far away. Leaks of the canceled third-person later revealed that it was a gritty look at Boba Fett’s early time as a bounty hunter.

It’s entirely possible Star Wars 1313 could be used as the basis for Visceral’s Star Wars game, but the job listing indicates that it will likely be something more than a third-person adventure-styled shooter. The “class design” and “skills/progression” are definite indicators of role-playing elements with different gameplay paths. Another important detail from the job posting includes a mention of economy and more.

• Experience working on 3rd person action/adventure games, demonstrating major contributions in the areas of hero control schemes, enemy design, navigation mechanics, and combat.
• Experience working with a game engine and using scripting tools to assemble heroes, enemies, AI, and interactive objects by collecting and implementing animations, models, audio, and effects into one complete system.
• Extensive understanding of the systems design process including motion models, weapons tuning and feel, enemy concept and design, tools/upgrades, economy, balance, testing, etc

These details along with others indicate Visceral’s Star Wars game will be an action role-playing title at the very least. Could it be an open-world game as well? That is certainly a possibility, but the senior game designer opening and other job listings don’t provide any information toward that assumption yet.

Still, this is definite departure from Visceral Games’ typical releases. The studio is best known for third-person action games in the Army of Two and Dead Space franchises, with the most recent effort being the disappointing Battlefield: Hardline. A full-blown open-world RPG is more in BioWare’s wheelhouse, but an action-RPG is within the realm of possibility for Visceral.

What kind of Star Wars games would you like to see after the release of The Force Awakens? Sound off in the comments section below.

[Image via IGN; H/T: Geek Nation]