I’m already loving Star Wars: Hunters’ cast of misfit weirdos

digitaltrends.com:

Every year is a big year for Star Wars these days considering its power across every form of media, but that’s especially true in 2024. In addition to Disney+ shows likeThe Acolyte and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, the sci-fi franchise is getting some high-profile games this year. The headliner is Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws, but there’s another canon game coming before then. Star Wars: Hunters launches on June 4, bringing the series into free-to-play mobile and Nintendo Switch territory.

Though Star Wars has had plenty of multiplayer shooters before, Hunters is doing something a little different. It’s a 4v4 hero shooter that draws some clear inspiration from Overwatch. It’s not a fan service dream filled with familiar characters either. Instead, it introduces a wholly original cast of heroes that draw on the series’ deep well of alien races and factions. It may be the most inventive Star Wars game in years. But will that be enough to win over mobile and free-to-play skeptics?

Based on what I’ve played already, it just might. I went hands-on with Star Wars: Hunters ahead of its launch, playing all five of its launch game modes and trying several of its 13 initial heroes. Though its glut of live service hooks and battle pass rails can be overwhelming at first glance, Hunters already feels like an approachable, family-friendly shooter that fuses the best ideas from Overwatch and Halo. And it does that while creating some of the most fun characters and lore I’ve ever seen in a Star Wars game.

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Enter the arena

While you’d think that a round-based multiplayer shooter wouldn’t fit into the series’ expanded universe,Star Wars: Hunters fully exists in canon. That’s thanks to a clever setup that gives the development team a lot of flexibility. Taking place around the time of