Highlights
- Star Wars Eclipse might break away from the established canon and allow players to make decisions that deviate from traditional events, giving the game a tremendous amount of freedom and replayability.
- Quantic Dream's signature branching narratives, where player actions determine the story and events, would be a refreshing change for the Star Wars franchise.
- Eclipse has the potential to be a unique and dynamic Star Wars game, offering a new era of cinematic interactivity while exploring different outcomes in the Star Wars universe.
Not every gaming franchise’s lore or continuity has been beholden to sacred linearity, with many choosing to retcon or simply reboot lore with huge overhauls or otherwise inexplicable lapses. God of War is one particular franchise that has certainly glossed over a monumental lapse in how Kratos was not only able to survive after seemingly being slain at the end of God of War 3, let alone find his way to another mythological plane entirely. That said, Star Wars lore likes to have a concrete and discernible continuity that Quantic Dream’s Star Wars Eclipse might be uprooting.
Especially with different corners of popular culture being dominated by multiversal storylines now, it’s becoming more difficult to tell one continuity apart from another. Star Wars has never truly had this problem, though, having its canon firmly established with anything not included in it being secluded to its Legends or Expanded Universe monikers now. Star Wars has since held to this and crafted its timeline around certain events meticulously, which is why Star Wars Eclipse might be a rejuvenating change of pace for the iconic brand whenever it ends up releasing.
Star Wars Eclipse is Sticking to What Makes Quantic Dream Unique
Quantic Dream’s games aren’t known for being the most mechanically innovative or impressive. Instead, where games like Detroit: Become Human, Beyond: Two Souls, or Heavy Rain are most interesting is in their approach to branching narrative paths triggered by the player’s actions—commonly thrown at players through QTEs and other rapid prompts—and dialogue choices.
The whole idea is that entire events can spiral into a narrative path that is only possible through a particular sequence of preceding events, and split-second choices can mean the life or death of a character. There are obviously ways to steer the game in the direction players would like, yet knowing that there are so many cutscenes, events, and lines of dialogue that players could miss out on in a single playthrough gives Quantic Dream games a ton of replayability.
That’s why if Eclipse is going to have Quantic Dream’s signature branching narratives, then this will be the first time in a long while that Star Wars’ story and events will be determined by the player’s actions rather than being fully scripted in order to adhere to the overarching lore it belongs to. Star Wars Jedi and the upcoming Star Wars Eclipse are games that seem stuck with narratives that need to neatly align with Star Wars canon, for example, while Eclipse will hopefully be profound in its ability to honor Quantic Dream’s traditional emphasis on player choice.
Star Wars Eclipse Having Branching Narratives Upends Traditional Star Wars Canon
If Eclipse is allowed to make massive branching paths that wholly disregard Star Wars canon, it would be incredible to see such iconic characters as Yoda perish due to a decision the player has to make. Knowing that it wouldn’t be following canon events to the letter gives Eclipse a tremendous amount of freedom that would be squandered if similar choices couldn’t be made, and thus the player’s actions would truly ripple through the Star Wars universe, even if it would never have an actual effect on Star Wars lore beyond Eclipse.
That would make Star Wars Eclipse genuinely exciting in an IP that has grown too comfortable with its classic iconography and fans’ nostalgia and make replayability a wonderful tool for seeing what different outcomes could look like. Moreover, since Eclipse is apparently taking more time in the oven to bake in an effort to expand its gameplay mechanics, Eclipse might be a Quantic Dream game that ushers in a new era of cinematic interaction in games as well as a Star Wars game that can truly be unique and dynamic in a way that others haven’t been.
Star Wars Eclipse is in development.