Home Gaming Friday Debate: What does your dream Mandalorian video game look like?

Friday Debate: What does your dream Mandalorian video game look like?

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I’ll be the first person to admit that the latest trilogy of Star Wars movies have been…kind of terrible. A ham-fisted anything goes approach without any real longterm planning in mind, the start of a new era in Star Wars has been a damp squib at best. The Force Awakens got the ball rolling and while it introduced a terrific new status quo and characters, it was a tad bit too formulaic. The Last Jedi? Beautifully shot and ready to rock the boat in an even wilder new direction, but also saddled with an unnecessary B-Plot and action sequences that looked like clumsy laser sword ballet.

Then there’s The Rise of Skywalker, which is massive, bloated, and without any balls as it felt like an expensive highlight reel of familiar characters, stories, and a last-minute dash to get the entire torrid affair over with. If the Dagobah swamp were real and the sequel trilogy was blasting off into space while the ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi looked on and declared it to be fandom’s last hope, then Yoda’s interjection that there “is another”, would be pointed straight at the best live-action Star Wars to emerge in recent memory: The Mandalorian.

Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni’s series has been a masterclass in storytelling so far. Taking place far, far away from the usual antics of Force-sensitive monks wielding space magic at each other, the show has been part western, part adventures in babysitting, and all good. A marvel of filmmaking with minimal assets, a brilliant cast, and fun callouts to the past, whenever a new episode of The Mandalorian has popped up it has resulted in a fandom that just won’t shut up about its latest plot beats.

Really guys, c’mon. Some of us like to binge-watch a series and you aren’t helping with your spoilers.

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Anyway! We’ve had two seasons so far, and a third is on the way. Spin-offs are in development, and the future of Star Wars lies in television as the films take a short break. So if you were given a chance to craft the perfect Mandalorian game, what would you make? I think the easy answer is the AAA approach. A third-person shooter, built around a massive sandbox where players can take on contracts, help locals out with various problems, and stop Baby Yoda from eating everything around him.

That’s perhaps too easy, and while I wouldn’t complain about IO Interactive being given a huge budget and a chance to make Hitman but in space, I’m after something more interesting. Noelle reckons a Telltale Games style experience where story comes first and action helps pepper the plot beats would be rad, while Brad wants a Mandalorian Metroidvania experience. Would that be a Mandavania game then?

As an example of out of the box thinking, just look at John Wick Hex. You could have easily put a wig on a Max Payne clone and called it  day with a game starring everyone’s favourite dog-loving assassin, but Bithell Games created a tense strategy game instead where every tick of the clock truly mattered. Where that game succeeded, was in how it nailed the essence of its source material.

So tell us: What’s the essence of The Mandalorian, and which game would you make if you were given an unlimited budget and your choice of studio? And don’t you dare say Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi 2.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Critical Hit as an organisation.

Last Updated: January 8, 2021

7 Comments

  1. Caveshen Rajman

    January 8, 2021 at 10:35

    In my head-canon, Star Wars 1313 was a Mandalorian story that started on Coruscant and ended on Mandalore.

    EDIT: Jesus, these ads.

    Reply

  2. Original Heretic

    January 8, 2021 at 10:53

    X-COM style

    Reply

  3. Skyblue

    January 8, 2021 at 10:53

    In a box on a shelf, never to to be opened so they can’t bugger it up.

    Reply

  4. Krabby Paddy

    January 8, 2021 at 11:24

    I’d do a RPG similar to how the Mass Effect trilogy was done.

    The focus needs to be the story. Provide fun RPG mechanics, gameplay that doesn’t feel like a chore and choices that matter with characters one cares about. Have varied locations that are well detailed but don’t make the game a huge open sandbox world. Keep the scope to something realistic that won’t take too many years to make and allows you to focus on delivering a high quality game that importantly will make the Star Wars fans happy.

    Know your target audience and always keep them in mind when creating the game. One can never please everyone.

    Reply

  5. HvR

    January 8, 2021 at 12:54

    Updated KOTOR style

    Reply

  6. RideBoks

    January 10, 2021 at 13:44

    Since the show takes influences from old school westerns, maybe Red Dead? could work

    Reply

  7. konfab

    January 12, 2021 at 04:25

    I would base it on Mass Effect 2 and 3, which pretty much have the best structure for story telling ever made.

    Game is divided into missions that can be played in a loose order. You have a hub world where you can buy weapons and armour, which is where missions are dispatched from. Each mission is a somewhat self-contained story that are varied in design. They can either be simple linear maps or have an open world element where you can choose your approach to complete the task. Each mission provides a bit to the main story arc.

    I would actually keep the story and conversations to be fairly linear cutscenes.

    RPG elements would be limited to weapon modifications and different attachments to suit. Modifications should be about picking compromise, not by increasing stats. All player choice should be vested in picking the right approach for a certain mission. This should be accompanied by making missions difficult.

    Reply

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