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Last week, I travelled to a galaxy far, far away to play Star Wars: Galactic Racer on the PS5 – well it was just Fuse Games’ head office in sunny Guildford, actually, but I needed an exciting intro.
If you don’t know about the UK games industry, Guildford – just outside of London – is a bit of a hotspot of talent. I noticed Baldur’s Gate 3 dev Larian has a space in the same office complex as Fuse Games, while the likes of Media Molecule and EA aren’t too far away.
Fuse Games was founded by Matt Webster, who previously headed up Criterion, the legendary studio behind Burnout – another Guildford-based icon.
That’s the main reason I was so excited to try Star Wars: Galactic Racer, because the pedigree speaks for itself. But after playing for almost two hours on base PS5 hardware, I found a more robust experience than I anticipated.
Here are five things that surprised me.
It’s Not Just a Racer – It’s a Roguelite
I knew Star Wars: Galactic Racer was going to have a single player campaign, but I didn’t realise this was going to resemble a roguelite.
The game is based on the Galactic Racer League, a kind of intergalactic F1 organised by a stubbled space creature named Darius Pax. Its star competitor Kestar Bool has designs on usurping the league’s organiser, and so playing as a character called Shade, you’ve been parachuted in by Pax to bring him down a peg or two.
Between races you’re able to explore each planet on foot, and enjoy facetime with some of your rivals. Sometimes these conversations will make you sympathetic to their plight; other times it’ll make you want to blast them off the track.
Fuse Games wouldn’t say the word “roguelite” when I asked them – they described the campaign’s format as “runs-based” – but it definitely has the building blocks of a Rogue Legacy or a Saros.
Essentially, each campaign sees you working your way through a roadmap of selectable events. These range from races to time trials to elimination events. Passing different criteria will allow you to select different components for your craft – better boost, for example, or higher top speeds.
As you move from planet-to-planet upgrading your vehicle, you’ll also be improving its performance. But if you get eliminated, you’ll have to start from scratch. You’ll earn Tuning Parts, however, which can be spent on raising the base performance of your chosen vehicle.
All very roguelite, eh?
One thing that really surprised me during my two hours with the game is that I actually lost a fair few times – unusual for a modern arcade racing game.
Director Matt Webster told me that the team’s goal was to “shake up” the racing genre entirely, and make it feel like every decision you make matters.
“Your build matters, your place matters, your racing style matters – that corner matters,” he pointed out.
“[Other racing games] have conditioned you to win every race. And we want those eighth and ninth place finishes to feel hard fought. So when you do win, it's like, f*** yeah!”
Actually, I only won a couple of times – the elimination races are particularly brutal – but I totally vibed with what Webster was saying. I did have a couple of fourth or fifth place finishes that felt extremely satisfying – unusual for the genre, but something that’s important in real motorsport.
The Planets Change How You Race
I’ll get onto the vehicles shortly, but I thought it was important to mention the planets themselves first. This is a Star Wars game, of course, so there is a broad spectrum of different locations you’ll be racing in.
I got to see a handful of the final destinations, including the glacial Ando Prime and the tropical Lantaana.
But one thing I was surprised to learn is that the game has climate-based elements, similar to PS3 classic MotorStorm: Pacific Rift.
This is best observed on Lantaana, for example, a volcanic planet that blends cooling streams with steamy caves strewn with lava. Said lava will cause your boosts to overheat, but passing through water will help with cooling.
Webster explained: “Most of the time in a racing game, you're thinking about a racing line. But in our game, what is the surface going to do to my vehicle? What is more broadly the environment going to do? And how can I use that to get ahead?”
The Racing Feels Incredibly Fast
A racing game is nothing without a sense of speed, and given all the ex-Criterion talent on deck, Fuse Games clearly understands that.
I’d best compare Star Wars: Galactic Racer to something like WipEout in terms of its feel, but its large open planets feel distinctly different to the futuristic corridors in Liverpool Studio’s legendary anti-grav racer.
The campaign has three main vehicles to choose from: traditional landspeeders, speeder bikes, and newly introduced skim speeders.
In terms of handling, the latter are the most unique, as they tilt on a 90-degree angle when you hit corners, which feels quite unlike anything I’ve experienced in a racing game before. It’ll certainly take some mastering, but I can see that being immensely gratifying once you overcome the learning curve.
There’s also podracing, of course, which I briefly got to try on the familiar surface of Tatooine. These jet propelled chariots move at dizzying speeds, and really make the “rollercoaster”-like track design sing.
I was really fascinated by how each location mixes huge open spaces with tiny little corridors, giving a real rhythmic-like flow to races as you ebb-and-flow between claustrophobic valleys and massive wide-open descents down mountainous spaces.
The game looked amazing on the base PS5, and I did ask about support for the PS5 Pro. I’m told that version looks even better, although the team wasn’t able to share any specifics. Webster did point out that it’ll run at 60fps on all PlayStation hardware, though – that’s non-negotiable for the team.
The Racing Is More Tactical Than I Expected
I’ve already touched upon the build crafting aspects of the campaign – and I’ve only really just started to scratch the surface of that – but I think the racing overall is a lot more tactical than I expected.
For example, while I was playing I immediately started speccing into speed and boost, but having reflected on my choices, I wonder whether I should have put more thought into my defence.
“Maybe you should have used that shield that you were given on your first build,” Webster beamed when I pondered this.
There is an evident depth here I don’t really recall seeing in a racer before: the Ramjet, a boost which enables you to smash opponents out of your way – complete with Burnout-style slow motion crash animations – is an extremely useful ability, but it comes at an overheating risk.
Of course, this is where you can start to pair this with the various facets of each track – remember the cooling water I mentioned on Lantaana, for example? While the core racing itself remains pick-up-and-play, there’s a lot more strategy than I anticipated here.
It’s a Proper Star Wars Adventure
Galactic Racer feels like a fully-fledged Star Wars story, as opposed to an arcade racer with a Star Wars skin.
I talked previously about how you can explore each planet on-foot between races, chat with your rivals, and even buy new components and upgrades.
But there’s more to it than that. Little picture-in-picture videos will appear in the corner of the screen while you race, commentating on what’s happening and bringing you closer to your rivals. Meanwhile, the cutscenes themselves are surprisingly well acted.
Webster told me that the team was inspired by Netflix series like Drive to Survive, which proved there’s just as much drama off the track as there is on it.
“We call it a racing adventure,” he explained. “We wanted to tell a story and immerse people in the world, and to feel like you're playing a new canon character in Star Wars.
“Every bit of story you experience in the paddock should make your races more intense, more personal, and more real.”
I came away from my time with Star Wars: Galactic Racer incredibly impressed – and I must admit, I’m not even the biggest Star Wars fan on the planet.
I think the combination of rapid, rollercoaster-like anti-grav racing with genuinely engaging story and the potential for player expression is a winning combination here, and it’s going to make Fuse Games’ debut a hit.
It seemed like a tough game, but intentionally so – the dev doesn’t want to just dole out rewards, it wants to make you work for each upgrade and position. That’s pretty exciting to me, and I think it’s going to make this game feel a lot fresher than others on the market.
We’re experiencing a bit of a renaissance of arcade racers of late, and I’m hopeful this game is going to contribute to that. It’s clear Fuse Games has thought deeply about how it can drive the genre forward here, and based on what I’ve played, I think it’s going to be successful.