Released three years afterWing Commander, the firstStar Wars: X-Winggame may not have been the first space flight sim, but it was certainly a pioneer of the genre. Similarly, theStar Wars: Rogue Squadronserieswas far from the first arcade-y dogfighter, but its cinematic and technical qualities were unmatched at the time. Naturally, then, there was a lot of excitement when EA announced a sort of spiritual successor back in 2020:Star Wars: Squadrons.
Developed by EA Motive,Star Wars: Squadronsreceived favorable reviews across the board from critics, with many praising the game’s core flight mechanics and its authentic atmosphere. However, a common complaint ofStar Wars: Squadronswas the amount of content in the game at launch. ThoughSquadrons' initial sales were solid, players quickly started to drop off, and now 5 years later,Star Wars: Squadronshas been largely forgotten about. But there’s still a lot of potential in anotherStar Wars-themed flight sim, it would just need to do things a little differently.
A Star Wars: Squadrons Follow-Up Could Work Under The Right Circumstances
A Star Wars: Squadrons Successor Would Need to be More Consistent With Post-Launch Content
Star Wars: Squadronswas not marketed as a fully-fledged, full-length AAA experience, nor was it priced as one. That being said, $40 is still a decent amount to pay, andStar Wars: Squadrons' short single-player campaignand two multiplayer modes left many fans wanting more.
The content that was there was enjoyable, butStar Wars: Squadrons' lackluster progression systems and severe lack of modes didn’t do much to incentivize players to keep coming back. There was an attempt to encourage players to return toSquadronsabout a month after launch with the release of thefree B-Wing and TIE Defender updates, but subsequent updates didn’t really add any new content to the game, and players soon started to look elsewhere for their space sim kicks.
Fans can’t know for sure, but ifStar Wars: Squadronscontinued to receive substantial content after launch, it may have lived a lot longer, and it’s something that a potentialSquadronsfollow-up would need to at least try. New modes, new ships, new story content, and new unlockables are all something that could have kept fans invested inStar Wars: Squadrons.
A Star Wars: Squadrons Successor Could Do Better If It Was Attached to Other Star Wars Projects
But probably the easiest way to make aStar Wars: Squadronsfollow-up succeed is by attaching it to a pre-established piece of theStar Warsuniverse. For example,Squadronsfeatured a cameo fromStar Wars: Rebels' Hera Syndulla, and aSquadronssuccessor could lean all the way into that and be aRebels-focused video game where players pilot the Ghost or fly an X-Wing alongside the rest of Phoenix Squadron.
Alternatively, aStar Wars: Squadronsfollow-up could take players on a greatest hits tour of the Skywalker Saga, letting players pilot Jedi starfighters inthe Clone Wars, Rebel A-Wings in the battle of the second Death Star, and Poe’s New Republic X-Wing in the attack against Starkiller Base. Though standaloneStar Warsvideo game stories can be great, a space flight sim would benefit from being attached directly to key characters and moments from the franchise that wider audiences are aware of.
