We’ve played Star Wars: Galactic Racer, and we can’t believe how good it is

A long time ago in a boardroom far away, some quite clever game developers dreamed up a racing game to coincide with the release of 1999’s summer blockbuster, Star Wars Episode 1: The Discarded Jar-Jar Binks Lunchbox. That game was so good that, we are left to infer, the industry agreed that it shouldn’t even attempt another one like it for the next 25 years.

Now that the mandated quarter-century has passed since Episode 1 Racer, it’s Fuse Games who takes on the considerable task of releasing the next brilliant racer from that cinematic universe. Star Wars: Galactic Racer is a lightning-quick arcade experience set in George Lucas’ imagination, it’s got pod racers in it, and it’s rich with lush alien environments. So on that level, it’s absolutely staying on target.

Vehicles are broken down into four categories: land speeder (think: floaty rally car), skim speeder (more like a low-flying stunt plane) speeder bike (you don’t need help with this one), and the famous pod racer, which returns as a kind of ultimate carrot-dangle. The fastest machinery in the game, and the hardest to handle for that very fact.

What we didn’t expect was that it’d also lay out a blueprint for an entirely fresh type of arcade racing game. It’s A New Hope for the genre as a whole.

The big idea is this: rather than fall back on the same dependable old structure driving games have used for years now – buy cars, enter events, win them to earn cash to buy cars – Star Wars: Galactic Racer turns each championship into a roguelike run.

So instead of entering a series of standard issue races, here you choose between branching paths across planets. Race one might be a typical three-lap affair, but after that might be a choice between piloting a prototype in a time trial while using as much boost as possible, or it might be an elimination event where the last-placed racer is kicked out of the race at regular intervals.

The rewards and penalties for each event differ, too. That means you can pick risky sequences of events that reward you greatly, but which you might not complete, because failing to meet an event’s objective costs you a championship token. Run out of tokens, and that’s that. Championship over, right back to the start again.

We love this structure. It means there’s real jeopardy to each race, and more meaning to those mid-pack finishes which most racers aren’t as reactive to. As you get deeper into a championship you become very aware of your remaining tokens, and your mindset shifts towards survival, rather than domination.

We love pretty much everything else about the build we played, too. The most obvious strength here is the grand, cinematic, ultra-glossy presentation of it all. It unquestionably captures the swashbuckling and wondrous nature of the universe, and has an unnerving knack for making every race look like a carefully plotted movie set piece. Explosions, stomach-troubling jumps, dramatic surges into cavern corridors, across lakes, or through lava pits, seem to happen right on cue.

Every track seems a mile wide while you’re racing it. There are multiple paths through certain sections, and a vista that stretches far beyond the driveable area. The first few times you visit each location, you feel like you’re deciding the race route on the fly, reactively, and could just have easily zigged when you zagged back there.

But the bits in between races are just as fun. Entering each planet’s paddock, you’re treated to an out-of-vehicle moment complete with chats with NPCs, and each of these areas feels teeming with life and lore.

Then your attention turns to upgrading. Events pay out in credits, upgrades and parts, and these are randomly generated. That gives a Balatro-like quality to each roguelike campaign run, and the potential for those ultra-rare, totally improbable item pulls that make you untouchable.

Adding still more RNG goodness, your loadout has slots for an equippable racer style and three favours so you can really lean into being strong at one particular element: cornering, booster cooldown, looking cool, etc.

Fuse Games has just packed enjoyment into this game. Even before you start the race, there’s an enjoyable series of sequences where you start your engine, afterburners and shields by completing QTEs. Then there’s a Mario Kart-style rev timing boost mechanic, then you’re off.

There’s a nice risk-reward aspect to using your boosters, too. Once you engage them, you’re entering a game of chicken with yourself because if you disengage them early, you lose all the remaining boost meter and need to start recharging from zero until you get more.

The most effective use would be to just hold it down until it’s empty, except your engines overheat while the boosters are active and if you keep them engaged too long you’ll blow up. Oh, Star Wars: Galactic Racer. How roguish of you.

Environments play an active role in how you use that boost, throwing elemental effects into the mix. Drive over water and you’ll increase your cooldown. Drive across lava, and you can guess what happens. Even ducking into a sheltered section of track for a few seconds, out of the sunlight, can bring your boosters back to operational temperatures quicker.

With all that going on, it hardly matters whether you like Star Wars or not. This is simply an excellent racing game, and one that just happens to be set in a different galaxy and time. We can’t wait for more.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer releases 6 October for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. It’s made by a team of Need For Speed alumni, and it’s gone right to the top of our most wanted list.