Space battles and Jedi sound great to Star Wars fans – but only if developer Quantic Dream finally learns a few new gameplay tricks for Eclipse.
I love Star Wars. For me, Star Wars is still a new fascination that I am only now, long after I have seen the films, really getting into via comics, books, series and games. I’m all the more pleased that one of my favourite developers, of all people, is allowed to contribute something, now that the licence no longer lies solely with EA.
Quantic Dream is making a Star Wars game. After Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls or Detroit: Become Human, you can already very clearly conclude what that means: different heroes and their paths, tricky story decisions and quick time events that punish short reaction times with similar consequences as the wrong choice of words in a dialogue.
I actually like adventure games like this – even when they only make me think of the harsh consequences like Telltale does. A story can benefit greatly from letting me help shape it. The distance melts and everything feels more personal. However, for Star Wars Eclipse I still wish that Quantic Dream would finally learn a few new tricks and rather let me live through the most important story moments via the gameplay. Because I doubt that with their style so far, real Star Wars feelings come up – no matter how fancy Eclipse becomes.
Finger cramp instead of lightsaber fight.
Quantic Dream knows how to make everyday moments interactive. Of course, you can laugh at the fact that in Heavy Rain I first take a shower, brush my teeth or get dressed, while in Detroit: Become Human I dutifully tidy up and clean as a house android. None of this is demanding or dramatic, but these banal activities are controlled so directly that the virtual world becomes really tangible.
In tricky situations, however, this turns into the opposite: suddenly I have to literally knot my fingers, select umpteen different buttons or keys one after the other, hold them down at the same time and hammer quickly so that my game character doesn’t end up in the scrap press or rush into oncoming traffic. The number of hand cramps often reaches a level similar to my stress level and there is not much left of the up-close experience of the game world. The quicktime events require so much concentration and lightning-fast reactions that the feeling of being in the thick of things is lost.
This is exactly what can become a huge problem with Star Wars. At least if the trailer delivers what it promises. There is a constant hissing, humming and banging when lightsabres clash in elegant duels or spaceships fire laser bullets. I want to experience all of this first-hand, I want to be there, but I don’t want to be unnerved in front of the computer or TV with my eyes flickering back and forth between the screen and the controller or keyboard because I don’t want to mess up the input. Then all drama is lost, just like the pleasant tingling sensation that comes with such classic Star Wars moments in the cinema.
Star Wars needs impact
If Quantic Dream can’t get this right with Eclipse, they could completely take the wind out of what should be the best moments. Imagine a Jedi duel where you’re frantically tapping button combinations to counter blows, and compare that to the deadly precision of the combat system in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
It was smart of Respawn to take a cue from Dark Souls and Sekiro, which are known for offering sweaty melee duels where every punch has to be on point. So I really felt like I was wielding a laser blade with weight that can parry sword strokes and even deflect projectiles. In parallel, the Force twitches through my fingers and brings opponents to their knees in rows. This also creates heaviness and closeness because the developers leave room for every movement and every action instead of overwhelming me with umpteen QTEs. They merely create tension in a rigid situation in which I am only allowed to intervene minimally.
The same goes for the space battles: I want to be able to scrape my ship along another like in Star Wars: Battlefront 2, turn at lightning speed, spiral through narrow tunnels and fire from all guns before turning away a blink before impact. Most of the time this doesn’t work for me, but hey, practice makes perfect and at least my failure here doesn’t depend on whether I find the Q button fast enough.
Quantic Dream doesn’t have to completely deny its roots either. For me, Eclipse can mainly be an adventure experience that plays to the developers’ strengths in story and characters. But action accents with intense Star Wars sensations could elevate the game to a level denied to a Detroit or Heavy Rain even in its best moments. Still, Eclipse can learn from the strengths of those games.
Accusations against Quantic Dreams:
Developer Quantic Dream has been repeatedly accused of fostering a toxic work environment since 2017. Several journalistic publications cite testimonies from former employees who complain of problematic workloads, crunch culture, and sexist and racist behaviour. The debate led to a years-long legal battle that dragged on into 2021.
The true strength of the developer
With a bit more play in the interactive movie, Quantic Dream is defiantly a great choice for Eclipse for me. Because what the developer does really well is also a great fit for Star Wars: I experience each story from completely different points of view. I can be a secret agent hunting down a killer, a journalist doing research or the father of a missing boy. I slip into the role of an android who begins to dream of freedom or control a robot colleague who, on the side of the police, is supposed to prevent just that.
This fills the narratives with life and umpteen exciting perspectives and questions that I would never have asked myself with just one hero. I get to know, understand and eventually love all sides. This provides a perfect template for Star Wars, where I can accompany smugglers with blasters at the ready, but equally law-abiding Jedi at the height of their power, daredevil starship pilots, representatives of barely-lit alien races, or even ordinary people struggling to survive on some planet and, by chance, confronted with the repercussions of my actions in an entirely different role.
This is where Quantic Dream shines, and this is exactly what can become the great strength of Eclipse, if the developers show the courage to not just rely on it.
