Ubisoft and Massive's open-world Star Wars game is still, likely, quite a long way off. There's next to nothing concrete known about the game yet, but fans are clamoring for every bit of news that can find.
Ubisoft is one of the most prolific developers and publishers out there with hundreds of titles under its belt, so there is a ton of inspiration from its own games it can borrow from for this new Star Wars game. One game that should definitely be on its radar when it comes to inspiration is Rainbow Six Siege.
Siege's Tense Combat
Something that Rainbow Six Siege has always excelled at is its incredibly tense combat. There's something about the way that Siege is constructed that makes each and every round feel intense, even if there's nothing particularly special about the round itself. Part of this is due to the unpredictability of Siege, combined with the downtime in between rounds and the fact that, when a player dies, they have to wait until the next round to have a chance to play again.
Recreating this kind of tension in a single-player game (if that is indeed what this Star Wars game ends up being) could prove difficult, considering certain elements of that tension rely on the fact that there are other players in the game. But creating a similar kind of close-quarters, slim margin of error gameplay is still possible, and would still make combat pretty tense. There are a lot of games out there that throw dozens upon dozens of enemies at the player; maybe it's time for a game where each enemy represents a real challenge. Let's make stormtroopers actually feel dangerous, let's make combat feel rough and dirty. This game could be The Mandalorian to Star Wars video games, and there's no question that there's an appetite for that after the success of the show.
Siege's Creative Gadgetry
Rainbow Six Siege operators feature unique gadgetry. These operators all do spectacularly different things, filling wildly different roles. It's part of what makes Siege so engaging and unpredictable; it's not easy to tell what's going to come next. It's also a reason that the gameplay in Siege stays fresh. Players can always switch up the operator and role they're playing in order to stay interested.
Implementing this amount of differents gadgets in Ubisoft's open-world Star Wars game could add a lot of opportunities for unique situations. If a ton of gadgets are available to use, each player is going to come at each situation a little bit differently. Other games do similar things to this, specifically in the RPG circle. Skyrim is a good example, where instead of gadgets, players can come at a situation bringing a wide variety of different weapons, magic, or shouts for the occasion.
There are plenty of gadgets already in the Star Wars universe that could be used for this, and with a little creativity, this game could add some of its own into the Star Wars universe, too.
Siege's Dynamic Environments
An aspect that is unique to Siege is the level to which its environments are malleable. There are a select few walls and floors/ceiling in Siege that are indestructible, but the vast majority of the interior is destructible. This leads to a massive amount of complexity and variety, with the playing able to experiment and try some truly ingenious things out by changing the map to their liking.
This type of destructibility is difficult to accomplish, but having something along these lines would further allow each and every player to have a unique experience with this game. Each gadget could interact with the environment in a different way, leading to different possibilities depending on what gadgets the player chooses to bring along. Or, if the game happens to be an RPG, what gadgets the player has access to depending on what kind of character they've decided to build.
Ubisoft and Massive's open-world Star Wars game is currently in development.