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Don’t let how cool the Star Wars Eclipse trailer is trick you: this game will not be goodFool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me… you can’t get fooled again.
Fool me once, shame on - shame on you. Fool me… you can’t get fooled again.
When I heard thatQuantic Dream are making a Star Wars game, I felt much as I did when I found out my home town Swindon had been twinned with Disney World: you’d have expected Disney toGoogle some stuff first.
Still, last night atThe Game Awardswe all got a first look atStar Wars Eclipsein the form of a cinematic trailer. And let’s be honest: that trailer is cracking. It’s really good. And it’s so good that I think we all need to remember that there is absolutely no way QD aren’t going to spectacularly boot this.
Star Wars Eclipse – Official Cinematic Reveal Trailer | Quantic DreamWatch on YouTube
Star Wars Eclipse – Official Cinematic Reveal Trailer | Quantic Dream
Like, credit where it’s due. That trailer is magnificent. The pounding chorus of drums, the bustling alien market, the asteroid fields, the ships, the battling jedi… it all screams not only “Star Wars!” but “well cool!”. I got excited and watched it a few times in a row. But well all have to remember that after the screams die down there is a faint whisper of “David Cage is involved in this somewhere.” Imagine his glee at being allowed to work with an IP that canonically has the choice between evil and good baked into it.
Because making games that look cool has never been Quantic Dream’s problem! Look at Bryan Dechart licking up robot blood in Detroit, and be amazed! Then remember the rest of the content ofDetroit, and grow concerned. And let me be clear: I am inordinately fond of Quantic Dream games. They are very adept at making games that play well, and look good while they play.
And this Eclipse is going to be a story-heavy game, right? QD don’t make combat games, so you’re not going to be actuallybeinga jedi like in KOTOR (although, on the Star Wars Eclipse Bingo Card that writes itself, one square will definitely have “QTE lightsaber fight” on it). According to theofficial site, Eclipse is set during the High Republic era and I am told it will “build upon Quantic Dream’s expertise in delivering deeply branching narratives”, with an emphasis on player choice affecting the story. So that sounds like the most recent QD games, right enough.
Master Anakin, I am beginning to think that the real monster… isyou.
So don’t be fooled. It doesn’t matter that this is a Star Wars game. It doesn’t matter that the trailer is cut together really well. This game is going to to be ridiculous and terrible, unless someone has wrested creative control from David Cage in the same way you would gently take a mouse away from Lennie Small. If Eclipse comes out and there isn’t a scene where a Twi’lek woman has a shower then I believe it will only be because someone at Quantic Dream saw this post and was like, “Aw man, we have to take the shower scene out or she’ll post about how she was totally right about the shower scene.”
Look, I’m not trying to be a Scrooge. This game is going to look great. I reallywantit to be good in other ways. If it is I will come back here and eat all the space crow you want. But it will be less psychically damaging for all of us if we accept, right now, that Star Wars Eclipse is going to be bad.
