After briefly teasing fans with a cinematic Star Wars Squadrons trailer earlier in the week, EA finally offered a look at how the game plays with a Star Wars Squadrons gameplay trailer during EA Play. On top of that, the trailer also confirms Star Wars Squadrons won’t have microtransactions and offers a robust single-player mode, alongside the multiplayer suite and VR support we already knew about.
Star Wars Squadrons‘ gameplay is classic space-combat action mixed with ship management. You’ll need to optimize your ship’s loadouts before going on missions, with all upgrades and cosmetics unlocked through gameplay only — no microtransactions.
During the missions, you’ll manage your craft’s power levels, shields, and more through the ship’s onboard user interface for the best chances of staying alive and completing your assignment.
Single-player mode includes a meaty campaign that includes pilots from both the Imperial fleet and the New Republic fleet, though it’s not yet clear how their stories intertwine.
Star Wars Squadrons‘ Fleet Mode, what EA calls the game’s signature mode, can be played single-player or in multiplayer. You and four other pilots, either AI or human, take on an enemy fleet, working through their fighters, defense ships, and finally trying to take out their flagship.
Of course, there are regular multiplayer dogfights as well, focusing squarely on one-on-one action. Any of these modes, including single-player, can be played fully in VR too.
All this unfolds across numerous systems from the Star Wars universe, and each location offers unique challenges and has some kind of story significance to either the Empire or the New Republic.
There’s Yavin Prime, the planet around which the Rebel base on Yavin IV orbited, and an icy Imperial outpost — that isn’t Exogol — called Esseles. The Zavian Abyss has electrical storms and asteroids as hazards for all who enter, while the remote moon of Galitan has molten chunks floating everywhere after a nebula ripped the moon apart.
You can check out each planet and some additional info on the game’s official site. We’ll hopefully be hearing more about Star Wars Squadrons as we near its October 2 launch date for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, so stay tuned to GameSkinny for more Star Wars Squadrons news as it develops.
