Star Wars finally has a racing game critics are falling over themselves for. Star Wars: Galactic Racer launched on Oct. 6 and is sitting at a Metascore of 88 on PlayStation 5, a number no Star Wars game has beaten since 2003’s Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
Galactic Racer is the debut game from Fuse Games, a small independent studio, and it is published by Secret Mode in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games. According to the game’s official launch announcement, it is out now worldwide on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. The standard version lists at $59.99 on Steam.
The game is set after the fall of the Empire in the Galactic League, an unsanctioned racing circuit in the Outer Rim. Players race as a pilot named Shade, trying to take down league champion Kestar Bool, across runs that work like a roguelite: build up your vehicle, survive a string of races, and start over when it goes wrong.
Breaking Down the 88
That 88 needs some context, because Metacritic tracks each platform separately. The PS5 version, which has the most reviews by far, sits at 88 based on more than 60 critic reviews, with 64 of the 66 scored reviews rated positive, two mixed and none negative as of Oct. 8. The Xbox Series X version is at 86 from 12 reviews, and the PC version is at 84 from 22 reviews. Those are three separate scores, not an average, and the smaller samples can move as more reviews come in.
The franchise comparison holds up, with two asterisks. The original Knights of the Old Republic scored a 94 on Xbox in 2003. Its 2004 sequel, The Sith Lords, landed at 86 on Xbox. More recent big swings came in lower, with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor at 85 on PS5. The asterisks are both from 2013: Star Wars Pinball: Balance of the Force also carries an 88, from just 10 critic reviews, and the iOS port of Knights of the Old Republic scored an 88 from 17. So Star Wars: Galactic Racer is tied for the best Star Wars score since 2003, and it is the only one of the three that is a new game, on a far larger sample.
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For a studio’s first game, that is a remarkable result. “Three and a half years ago, Fuse Games was a handful of people with a big idea scrawled on a whiteboard,” co-founder and CEO Matt Webster said in the launch announcement. “Today we launch our debut game, set in a galaxy far, far away.”
What Critics Are Loving
The praise centers on speed, track design, and the roguelite structure that gives each run real stakes. Eurogamer and VGC both gave it perfect scores on Metacritic‘s PS5 list. VGC wrote that the game “absolutely nails what it is trying to do,” calling it “a high-octane racer that’s endless fun to play.” Eurogamer singled out courses that run from Jakku’s dunes and wrecked Star Destroyers to Crait’s white crystalline surface. Push Square called it a “thoughtfully designed triumph” in its 9/10 review.
The vehicle lineup is a big part of the appeal. Players choose from landspeeders, speeder bikes, and skim speeders, a brand-new vehicle type created for this game, and those three race against each other. Podracers, the stars of The Phantom Menace, run in their own separate races because of their speed and size. Online multiplayer supports up to 12 players.
It is not unanimous. A couple of critics landed in the mixed range, and the PC and Xbox scores trail the PS5 number. But with no negative reviews on the PS5 list, the overall verdict is about as strong as Star Wars games have seen in a generation.
Are you jumping into the Galactic League this week, or does a Star Wars racer need more than an 88 to win you over? Sound off and let us know!
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