Star Wars Bandits has a Grand Theft Auto style desired system that can be pushed to the limit.
Speak with GamesRadarlead systems designer Matthieu Delisle and lead gameplay designer Fredrick Thylander provided additional insight into the open world Star Wars the game’s desired system, ahead of its release in August.
According to Delisle, the wanted system reaches level six and can be a tough challenge early in the game. The duo also describe the wanted system as a “toy” that players can “mess around with” and push “as far as you want.”
“It’s definitely a lot of fun to get it (the wanted level) to level six and see if you can survive,” Delisle said. “And spoiler alert, it’s very hard, especially early in the game. But as a kind of endgame challenge for yourself, it works really well. It’s also a very different experience depending on what planet you’re on. Because the Empire has a different presence on different planets and in space. Same with the Syndicates.”
The developer continued by saying that players may find themselves in chaotic situations, with multiple syndicates hunting you down if you have a “terrible reputation” with them, similar to the Empire.
“So that’s kind of the ultimate open-world playground of self-imposed challenge, because when you take it that far, you’re really looking for it,” Delisle added. “But yeah, we have mechanisms to help you get out of a tight spot, we have different tools to improve your reputation, get contracts, there’s data that the syndicates are interested in that you can trade for reputation. So there’s lots of ways to get out of a tight spot. But if you want to challenge yourself (you can).”
Thylander also made it clear that while you can have a bad reputation with the Empire, you can never have a good one. He explained that the team had a “hard line” where they didn’t want Kay Vess (the playable protagonist) to be an ally of the Empire, since it was the ruling power and Kay was a villain.
“They’re trying to be the law and you’re trying to be the element of chaos,” Thylander added. “So we felt that matching them up was a really fun way to play with a villain archetype. And it also opened the door for a lot of emergent type moments.”
Star Wars Bandits will launch on August 30, 2024 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Pre-orders are also available now. Players can also expect two additional expansions post-launch, including the day one exclusive mission, Jabba’s Gambit.