Highlights

  • A Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection is arriving in March, which could be a wonderful building block in a renaissance for the IP.
  • A PvE Star Wars Battlefront game inspired by Helldivers 2 could offer intense missions and epic battles against overwhelming enemies.

If asked a little while ago, the future of the Star Wars Battlefront franchise would’ve been deemed entirely uncertain if not shelved entirely. But in actuality, the series may not be fully retired since it was announced at the Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase that a Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection is arriving in the middle of March.

Of course, this doesn’t mean Star Wars Battlefront will be exhumed or have a new modern entry in the works, though it does scratch an itch that could continue to be satiated if the collection is successful enough. A new Battlefront wouldn’t even need to have the same PvP structure necessarily, at least not exclusively. It might not allow for the same degree of customization or diversity in terms of which characters are playable, and yet a PvE Star Wars Battlefront title could be exhilarating with the same formula and aesthetic as Arrowhead’s Helldivers 2.

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Helldivers 2 is the Perfect Blueprint for a PvE Star Wars Battlefront Game

Star Wars’ Clone Wars Meet the Epic Standard of Helldivers’ Intensity

It’s true that Battlefront has had single-player campaigns and comparable game modes with PvE, but Helldivers’ specific focus on PvE in incredibly straightforward mission types is something Battlefront could learn from and excel with. It’s already a formula Battlefront could easily translate to its own intergalactic warfare, and it’s unsurprising that the animated Clone Wars series has been used to illustrate how hectic each firefight feels in Helldivers 2; clone troopers versus an unending horde of battle droids makes for an epic spectacle not unlike Helldivers versus an unending horde of Automatons.

There’s rarely a moment in Helldivers 2 not defined by humor or bombast and friendly fire alone in a PvE Star Wars game could offer the same.

A Helldivers 2-esque Battlefront Would Be Much Less Inclusive

The clearest outcome would be having players dropped in to confront battle droids as clone troopers, but nothing says that a four-player squad of rebels couldn’t also be dropped in to take on stormtroopers. Generationally, it doesn’t necessarily make a difference; Star Wars Battlefront’s traditional, epic PvP allows players to choose which side they wish to fight for, whereas a PvE game would need to pick a side.

Therefore, a PvE Battlefront would need to abandon the excellent catalog of customization options that its PvP counterparts offer in terms of character skins and models since stormtroopers, battle droids, and First Order stormtroopers would no longer be playable. Plus, it’s easier to maintain a level of parody in Helldivers 2 because the enemy is always either a monstrous bug or a soulless killing machine, while the enemies in Battlefront are far more human—even droids are humorous, for instance, and stormtroopers are still people despite being faceless facsimiles.

Star Wars Battlefront Has Had Microtransaction Woes in the Past

The likeliest reason why a Battlefront game emulating Helldivers 2 would be complicated, though, is due to progression being entirely wrapped around battle passes and microtransactions in Helldivers 2. Players return from each mission with at least one more medal than they previously had, which goes toward Warbond battle passes and grants them access to new gear, weapons, and cosmetics.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 had a notoriously disastrous delivery of microtransactions and loot boxes that had a hand in its reception being underwhelming, and therefore the next Battlefront game to follow it having its own battle passes and microtransactions could be a slippery slope. That said, if it could ensure players that its implementation of such live-service features would be identical to those in Helldivers 2, a PvE Battlefront game could thrive in that same environment, especially with the knowledge of mistakes made and rectified.