2026 is a landmark year for Star Wars games. Not only did Star Wars: Zero Company review incredibly well, with many arguing that it's one of the best Star Wars games in many years, but Star Wars: Galactic Racer does not fall short of it in quality either. Both games deliver unique Star Wars experiences, and with Star Wars: Galactic Racer, fans finally have a brand-new racing game set in a Galaxy Far, Far Away.
Of course, "racing game" is a broad term—developer Fuse Games defines Star Wars: Galactic Racer as a high-stakes, runs-based racing game. Roguelite is a word thrown around a lot due to its unique game modes and overall structure, but it makes sense to call Star Wars: Galactic Racer something other than a Roguelite. To its benefit, it's a hard one to pin down. Perhaps the simplest comparison is that it is Burnout set in the Star Wars universe, complete with a destruction cam, where every race, victory, and loss is a constant balance of risk and reward. Whatever someone decides to call Star Wars: Galactic Racer, no one can call it a "bad racing game."
At a glance, too, Star Wars: Galactic Racer is deceptively simple. It features four core game modes—Campaign, Scenarios, Arcade, and Multiplayer—and many would be forgiven for thinking this was a simple, quick-and-dirty racing game. They'll be quickly taken by surprise by the amount of depth to each of these modes, as well as how the moment-to-moment gameplay sets up each one for success. Many racing games can be trivialized by a skilled player who understands the basics, but there is no coasting on the basics in Star Wars: Galactic Racer.
Everything revolves around Star Wars: Galactic Racer's unique campaign structure. Players take on the role of Shade, joining the Galactic League to help its director and foil an old rival (and take satisfaction in doing it). There is some more depth to the campaign than that, but anyone looking for a major Star Wars space opera story won't find one. There are new and familiar characters, a few returning faces, and plenty of Star Wars flavor, but the strongest story moments come from the simple, street-focused idea of watching an entitled rich kid get humbled.
The campaign is divided into Acts, each requiring players to retain a League Token while completing "Tours." Players can hold multiple Tokens, but repeatedly wrecking a vehicle in a race or losing key events such as Elimination Races costs one. Losing a Token resets the Act, sending players back to its beginning with a plethora of new features unlocked (and some credits, for their scrapped vehicle). At every reset, players can better prepare for their next Tour:
Meanwhile, players have as many options to tweak during a tour when they transition between each planet in Star Wars: Galactic Racer. Between planets, players can upgrade parts and abilities, encounter Rivals, accept tasks from Backers who fund their progress, and much more. After that, though, it's off to the races. Races award credits and upgrades based on performance, with some rewards carrying little risk and others offering bigger payouts at the cost of potentially ending a Tour. With so many interconnected systems, Star Wars: Galactic Racer can sometimes feel as much like a racing management game as a traditional racer.
Those systems would mean little without strong racing, but Star Wars: Galactic Racer delivers in spades. Handling is tight, acceleration feels responsive, and the impact of each build is noticeable on the track. The differences between the three vehicle types can sometimes feel minor, although the gap between standard vehicles and pod racers in Star Wars: Galactic Racer is much more substantial. Every second matters, and most races come down to the wire. Losing is always a genuine threat; at least twice, I reached the final leg of a Tour only for one bad crash or Takedown to end the entire run.
In that is the biggest risk and potential reward for Star Wars: Galactic Racer as well. Some fans are not going to like how much one mistake can derail an entire run. Losing an hour or more of progress because of a split-second mistake can be frustrating, especially with how many races fill each Act, but the same system makes Star Wars: Galactic Racer unusually tense for the genre. Few, if any, racing games make every decision feel this consequential, and those decisions range from which vehicle players choose for the Tour to the upgrades they pick to the reactionary, unconscious choice on the track. For example, I chose to equip a bunch of cheap, beaten-up Legendary Parts that have Faults (drawbacks) on one run with the belief I could fix them at my next planetary stop. Unfortunately, the faults were dangerous, and I constantly set my own vehicle on fire. I did not make it much further in that run.
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