The official Star Wars Battlefront II reveal has now happened and it’s an exciting prospect for Star Wars fans. You’ll actually be playing as an Elite Forces Stormtrooper, battling on behalf of the Empire, rather than the rebellion — a big reversal from most Star Wars games.
EA Games first teased the game at its EA Play event at E3 2016 and showed some of the game’s concept artwork and some potential playable characters, including a return for Lando Calrissian. But at Star Wars Celebration, we got given a much better look at the game, its storyline and the multiplayer tweaks. So read on and make sure to bookmark this page for the latest on Star Wars Battlefront II.
“With Star Wars Battlefront, we really wanted to be able to bring people into the world of Star Wars like never before,” said Sirgurlina Ingvarsdottir, Senior Producer on Star Wars Battlefront. “What excites me now is bringing in more characters, more planets, more environments, more eras and that’s why we’re super happy to have both Motive Studios and Criterion contributing in significant ways.”
When’s the Star Wars Battlefront II release date?
EA Games has revealed the Star Wars Battlefront II release date, which will be November 17, 2017. It’ll launch on Xbox One, PS4 and PC.
Will there be a single-player campaign?
Sound the klaxons of joy, because Star Wars Battlefront II is going to have a single-player campaign and it’s looking to be a unique story. EA Games actually confirmed earlier this year that the plan was to introduce a single-player component into the Battlefront sequel.
“Our next Star Wars Battlefront will be even bigger, taking players into more locations, and allowing them to play with more heroes and characters across multiple Star Wars eras,” explained EA CEO, Andrew Wilson in a company earning’s call. “There will be new ways to play, including an all-new single-player campaign, and much, much more that we are excited to share with our players in the months ahead.”
It comes as a welcome relief for fans disappointed with Star Wars Battlefront‘s exclusively multiplayer focus. The 2015 game’s only single-player component was a short tutorial. The rest of the game was solely dedicated to huge multiplayer battles, with a tiny section dedicated to two-player co-op.
In fact, a single-player campaign was something especially requested by John Boyega himself, who plays Finn in The Force Awakens.
@EAStarWars Will fans get a full on offline story mode? It's more of an enjoyable way to learn controls.
— John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) March 2, 2016
Thankfully, it seems EA and DICE have heard Boyega’s plea, and it seems to echo their own feelings.
“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,” said DICE Producer, Paul Keslin in an interview with Eurogamer.
What will the story be?
In a rather awesome twist of fate, Star Wars Battlefront II will see you go to the Dark Side with a storyline taking the Imperial point of view. You’ll play as a brand new character called Iden Versio, who’s the Commander of the Inferno Squadron. That’s a brand new Elite Forces team created in conjunction with LucasArts, so this is proper Star Wars canon.
From the looks of the full Star Wars Battlefront II trailer reveal, the campaign will follow Iden and her crew as the second Death Star is blown up at the end of Return of the Jedi. Iden is on the forest moon of Endor as the Death Star explodes and DICE thought it would be interesting to shift the perspective to someone who sees that event as a failure.
Part of the story will take place on Iden’s homeworld, Vardos, which was brought into the Imperial rule willingly by her father. It’s a brand new planet for the Star Wars universe, which is no small feat to creat. Based on her upbringing, the Empire is a very personal thing to Iden, which is why she’s so invested in its success.
The story seems to cover all of Iden’s experiences from the end of Return of the Jedi to the start of The Force Awakens. If you want to learn more about Iden and the Inferno Squad, there’s a book called Star Wars Battlefront II: Inferno Squad arriving on July 25, which will give you a heck of a lot of backstory.
Who will you be able to play as in Battlefront II?
Although the full roster of heroes, villains and other playable characters for Star Wars Battlefront II hasn’t yet been unveiled, we can make some educated guesses as to who’ll we see in this sequel. In the leaked teaser trailer, the closing screen states that anyone who pre-orders the game will get access to the Star Wars: The Last Jedi heroes, which should include previously unplayable characters such as Rey, Finn and Poe Dameron. Rey’s even seen in the screenshot below from the trailer.
Interestingly, there are some other characters who pop up in the Battlefront II leaked trailer, who weren’t in the previous Battlefront: Yoda, Darth Maul, Kylo Ren and, as we’ve mentioned, Rey.
EA Games has confirmed that during the single-player campaign, you’ll be able to play as Kylo Ren and Luke Skywalker along with our new heroine, Iden.
If this game is going to span all the Star Wars eras, there are some big characters from the prequel trilogy who haven’t yet made an appearance in the new Battlefront series, including Obi-Wan Kenobi, Padme Amidala, Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu and perhaps even Jar Jar Binks, just to make the internet explode.
We’d be very surprised if DICE doesn’t bring back characters that featured in 2015’s Star Wars Battlefront too. After all, it’s a lot of work to create a character that’s authentic and respective to its source material. There were 14 heroes and villains available in the original game, which are as follows:
Heroes: Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Lando Calrissian, Nien Numb, Chewbacca and Jyn Erso.
Villains: Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Greedo, Dengar, Bossk, Emperor Palpatine and Orson Krennic.
What are the differences going to be in the multiplayer?
The Star Wars Battlefront II multiplayer is going to be both broader and deeper in scope. Modes will support up to 40 players and maps are set across iconic locations from all three Star Wars eras.
But also, EA Games is introducing customisable character progression across heroes, villains, troopers and starfighters.
Galactic-scale space combat is also being brought to life in Battlefront II, thanks to the work of Criterion. Think refined handling, weapons and customisation option and having the ability to drop into the cockpit of the most iconic Star Wars ships as you weave through asteroid fields and fight in space battles.
And, for the first time, you can actually ride tauntauns too. How awesome is that?!?
What multiplayer maps are there going to be?
EA Games has said that the multiplayer portion of the game will explore locations “across all eras”, so that opens up the potential map settings to plenty of planets and their moons. The new game could have maps from The Force Awakens locations like Luke’s hiding place of Ahch-To, Takodana or Hosnian Prime, but there are a wealth of locations from the prequel trilogy to discover too. Those could include Naboo, the Wookie homeworld of Kashyyyk, Utapu and Kamino.
Maps on Yavin 4, Mos Eisley and the Starkiller Base have all been confirmed so far, but there’s no doubt going to be plenty more to come.
In the teaser EA released in June last year, there was a brief glimpse of a planet, which we think could be the tiny, volcanic planet of Mustafar, which is where Obi Wan and Anakin clash.
The first Star Wars Battlefront game included maps set in the following locations, which could all make a return:
- Bespin
- The Death Star
- Endor
- Hoth
- Jakku
- Scarif
- Sullust
- Tatooine