Since Lucasfilm's acquisition by Disney in 2012, there has been no shortage of mobile based Star Wars freemium games. From Star Wars Galactic Defender, to Star Wars Commander, and even a trading game endorsed by Topps called aptly, Star Wars Trading Cards. The quality of these games varied from amazing to "why bother" but the latest title, Star Wars: Uprising looks to change the scape and set the bar for any other mobile based Star Wars game to come.
Developed by Kabam, Star Wars: Uprising is a mobile based freemium RPG which inlcudes "official story details about what happens after Return of the Jedi". Former Knights of the Old Republic dev Daniel Erickson, Senior Designer of Design at Kabam shared a brief overview of Uprising's plot and other details about the title. Lucasfilm helped Kabam to write the story for Uprising to "ensure its canon is consistent with other official Star Wars stories" including December's The Force Awakens and the newest novel, Aftermath.
The plot details shared by Daniel make this sound like one of the best Star Wars RPG's of all time, if not one of the best mobile RPG's of all time:
After Return of the Jedi, word of the Emperor’s death quickly spreads throughout the galaxy.
When the news reaches the Anoat sector – which contains classic Star Wars movie locations like Hoth and Cloud City – local Imperial Governor Adelhard locks down the entire region. This “Iron Blockade” stops all incoming and outgoing space traffic and communications, trapping the people within. Adelhard denies all “rumors” of the Emperor’s death and kills anyone who speaks otherwise.
According to Erickson, Adelhard is a “true believer who mourns the death of Vader and cannot imagine that somebody would want to live in chaos.” In his own private world he’s made for himself, the Empire is still all-powerful. Life is normal, and he maintains control with his enforcer, Commander Bragh, the leader of the Purge Troopers.
The Rebels were chased from the Anoat sector following their defeat on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back, and their presence in this part of space is still relatively weak. Instead, Erickson said, “the smuggler groups, the local assassin groups, the different crime cartels, and the former nobles of the sector have all banded together to form this very unlikely uprising – a rebel group of their own.”
The game is being described as a "dungeon crawler" where the player will explore discrete game levels, killing enemies with gesture based actions all while finding increasingly powerful gear. Players will also be able to take part in team based "large-scale battles" which unlock more of the games storyline for ALL players. Its a unique play on storytelling that could reshape the mobile RPG genre if done well. "...All players are members of this uprising...and we're the Empire"
A closed beta testing period is likely to happen in the coming weeks with a large launch anticpiated in the coming months. We will have more from Star Wars: Uprising as we get it but this is turning out to be one of the biggest Pre-E3 mobile game surprises. The force is defineitely with Kabam.