Electronic Arts officially announced Star Wars: Battlefront II at this year's Star Wars Celebration, showing off a trailer that focuses on the upcoming shooter's single-player campaign.
The sequel to Star Wars: Battlefront will be released on Nov. 17 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, and was also previously reported to be coming to Microsoft's Xbox Project Scorpio.
'Star Wars: Battlefront II' Focuses On The Other Side Of The Story
One of the main criticisms against Star Wars: Battlefront is the lack of a single-player campaign. Electronic Arts is now emphasizing that particular game mode for the sequel, with players taking on the role of Iden Versio.
Versio is the commander of the Inferno Squad, which is an Imperial Special Forces unit. She vowed to take revenge against the Rebel Alliance after she witnessed the destruction of the second Death Star from Endor. As such, the single-player campaign will be focused on the other side of the story, as Versio seeks to eradicate the Rebels in service to the Empire.
Versio was raised in the newly revealed planet of Vardos, where she was under the guidance of the Empire. After watching the second Death Star explode, she sets off on a journey that spans the timeline between Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.
The story in Star Wars: Battlefront II will be canon, further expanding Star Wars lore. Versio will be the primary character that players will control, but there are certain points in the campaign that will also have players controlling Luke Skywalker, Kylo Ren, and other important characters in the franchise.
More 'Star Wars: Battlefront II' Details
While the addition of a canon single-player campaign to Star Wars: Battlefront II is one of the game's major selling points, the shooter's multiplayer experience has also been improved to cover all trilogies so far for Star Wars, including the Clone Wars spin-off. Among the playable characters, in addition to Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren, are Darth Maul, Yoda, and Rey.
Players will also be given the opportunity to upgrade their heroes and give them new abilities, similar to the system for traditional troopers in Star Wars: Battlefront. The same improvement is being applied to vehicles, many more of which will be made available in the game and with easier controls. Another missing feature in the first game, space battles, will be making its appearance in Star Wars: Battlefront II.
Most multiplayer games will have players start as traditional troopers, but acquiring vehicles and heroes will no longer be done by picking up power ups. Instead, players need to achieve certain goals to unlock vehicles and heroes. Traditional troopers may even acquire special hero-like abilities.
Another major change coming to Star Wars: Battlefront II is that the game will not have a season pass, which is a discounted bundle of future DLC's for the game. The reason behind the decision is because for Star Wars: Battlefront, there was a wide segmentation of players as not everyone was able to purchase a season pass or the released DLCs for the game. This made finding matches involving DLC content difficult.
Players who will preorder the game will receive add-ons related to Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, including new costumes for Kylo Ren and Rey, new heroes from the upcoming movie, the movie's Millennium Falcon and the not-yet-revealed First Order TIE Fighter.
