Co-Op Star Wars RPG We'll Never Get To Play Leaks Online
Canceled Star Wars RPG Footage Features A Jedi And A Mandalorian Fighting The Empire
There are still a lot of new Star Wars games to look forward to, even though some have recently fallen by the wayside during development in recent years. That pile was actually one game bigger than anyone realized, as footage from a canceled Star Wars RPG being worked on by a now-shuttered studio has surfaced.
Star Wars: Magellan Gameplay Footage Leaks
This unearthed Star Wars game didn’t even have a confirmed name. However, as reported by MP1st, it was codenamed Magellan. The RPG was in development at Echtra Games, a Zynga-owned studio that was closed over a year ago. It would appear that the unannounced Star Wars game was in development at Echtra until the studio was shut.
The footage of the game comes from an ex-Echtra developer who was working on Magellan, although MP1st has not revealed their identity, presumably to mitigate the risk of them incurring Zynga and parent company Take-Two’s wrath. The video showcases gameplay from the canceled project, with most of it focused on two playable characters, one of which is a Jedi, and the other a Mandalorian.
The two characters have skill sets modeled after the way their kinds would fight in the wider Star Wars universe. The Jedi, referred to as Cleric, has a lightsaber and can use the Force, while the Mandalorian, codenamed Triggerman, has a blaster and a jetpack. Both are shown fighting various iconic Star Wars enemies, including Stormtroopers and larger droids, some of which appear to be the groundwork for what would have been the game’s boss fights.
A Co-Op RPG With Meaningful NPC Relationships
Magellan is described as a multiplayer ARPG looter shooter, perhaps suggesting that players could have worked together as the Jedi and the Mandalorian to take on the galaxy had the game ever seen the light of day. There were also plans to integrate an “NPC bond system”, allowing players to form relationships with the RPG’s non-playable characters. An ambitious task, but one that could have contributed to a pretty great and unique Star Wars game had Echtra been given the chance to pull it off.
Zynga acquired Echtra in 2021 and then closed it four years later, a period during which the studio didn’t have the opportunity to release a single game. Judging by how far along the gameplay looks in this Mangellan leak, it seems to me like the bulk of those four years under Zynga was spent curating what could have been a pretty great Star Wars game.
It’s starting to feel a little like we’re destined to never get a game where we play as a Mandalorian. That’s now two games featuring playable bounty hunters that have been canceled after Respawn’s project centered around Din Djarin, The Mandalorian, was canned before it ever saw the light of day. With the show seemingly winding down, and the Mando movie not performing well at the box office, the opportunity to strike while the iron was hot and release a Mandalorian game has well and truly passed.