Star Wars: Galactic Racer Is a Roguelite Racer With a Podracing Skin

Star Wars: Galactic Racer launches on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S on October 6, 2026. Pre-orders opened in April with the $60 standard edition and a $160 physical collector’s edition. The game is built by Fuse Games, a studio founded in 2023 by former co-founders and lead developers at Criterion, the British team behind Burnout Paradise and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.

Two hands-on previews published this week, one in Engadget and one on Xbox Wire, frame Galactic Racer as a Burnout-style combat racer wrapped in a podracing skin. The runs-based Galactic Tour campaign resets the player’s progress after too many crashes, and four vehicle classes span the chassis catalog. Both hands-on takes land on the same read: the Star Wars paint covers a Criterion-style arcade racer with a roguelite structure bolted on. Pre-orders are open at the Galactic Racer pre-order page listing all four editions.

Built by Burnout Veterans, Wearing a Podracing Skin

The pitch is a runs-based reinvention of Star Wars racing. The design choices trace back to the studio behind some of gaming’s most replayed arcade racers. IGN’s December 2025 announcement coverage pegs Fuse Games to a 2023 founding by former co-founders and lead developers at Criterion, “the EA-owned veteran British outfit behind some of gaming’s most beloved racers, such as Burnout Paradise and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.”

Criterion itself was folded into Battlefield Studios, freeing the team to chase a new racing project. The Galactic League is the frame: an unsanctioned, syndicate-backed circuit in the lawless Outer Rim, set after the fall of the Galactic Empire and the slow rebuild of the New Republic. There is no Force, no prophecy, no chosen one. The official blurb reads, “No Force. No prophecy. Just skill, strategy, and the will to rise.” The pitch to racing fans is direct: speed, risk, and a long list of things that can explode.

The recent hands-on previews, on Engadget and Xbox Wire, both frame the experience around its combat and progression loops. The Drive’s preview reads the game in the lineage of MotorStorm, “not merely from the lush environments, but also the incorporation of different vehicle weight classes, from speeders to larger craft.” The result is a racing game where the lines between vehicle types matter as much as the lines on the track. Every hands-on to date has stressed the same thing: the Star Wars paint is real, and the game underneath is a Burnout-style combat racer with a roguelite structure.

• October 6, 2026: release on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S
• 6: distinct worlds in the Galactic League
• 4: vehicle classes in the catalog
• 12: player count in online multiplayer
• 3: acts in a randomized Galactic Tour run

Each Chassis Drives Differently

Four chassis are scheduled to ship in the final game: landspeeder, speeder bike, skim speeder, and podracer. The hands-on demos tested three of those classes, with the iconic podracer absent from the playable build. The Engadget hands-on called the middleweight slot “the blade,” a class the writer drifted and tilted until the entire vehicle ran on its side edge.

The official site and Xbox Wire label the same slot the “speeder bike,” so the chassis is settling on its marketing name. Whichever label wins, the middleweight slot is for players who want to slide through traffic. The chassis-specific upgrade traits also differentiate runs: Drift for landspeeder, Kinetic Burst for speeder bike, Knife Edge for skim speeder. Players can invest those upgrades in stats like Afterburner, Battery, Cornering, and Ramjet between races during a single Tour.

A Roguelite Where Crashes End Your Run

The campaign is the headline feature, and it borrows its structure from roguelike deck-builders and Hades-style runners, not from traditional racing games. The single-player mode is built around a Galactic Tour spanning three acts, randomized each time the player starts a fresh run. Branching paths on a flow-chart league structure let the player pick their way through events on different planets, with different rewards for different routes.

The progress system runs on a League Entry Token. Crash too many times, or fail to place in the top three in an event, and the token is revoked, ending the run. Some items are retained across runs, like Galactic Credits, but the bulk of upgrades and the run’s overall progress are gone. The Xbox Wire writer called the moment of elimination “a punch in the gut” even after a careful run.

Upgrades in the campaign fall into four stats that apply to every chassis: Afterburner, Battery, Cornering, and Ramjet. Each chassis also has a unique trait: Drift for landspeeder, Kinetic Burst for speeder bike, Knife Edge for skim speeder. The choice between investing in more cornering grip or a more aggressive Ramjet runs through every race. The campaign is, in other words, a roguelite racer in a Star Wars skin. The full Galactic Tour structure is laid out in detail in the hands-on that breaks down the Galactic Tour.

Six Planets in the Galactic League

The Galactic Tour pulls from a roster of six distinct worlds. Three are already named in the trailers and previews: the desert world of Jakku, the tropical forests of Lantaana, and the frozen Ando Prime. The arcade mode also takes the player to Tatooine for a 1:1 recreation of the podrace track from The Phantom Menace, with the legendary Sebulba behind the wheel.

Two of those planets, the toxic volcanic Sentinel One and the lush Lantaana, are new to Star Wars for this game. Ando Prime is a returning snow world from the 1999 Star Wars: Episode I Racer. The Xbox Wire writer called the three already-tested tracks “massive and intricately detailed, dotted with Star Wars bits that lend them both a feeling of familiar yet alien.” Planet hazards shape the campaign: acidic rivers demand shield management, icy surfaces let the high-risk Ramjet push longer, and molten lava zones punish heavy boosting.

Three Pre-Order Tiers, From $60 to $160

The standard edition is priced at $60, the digital deluxe at $80, and the physical collector’s edition at $160. Pre-orders at any tier include an exclusive livery and a player banner for multiplayer modes. A standard-to-deluxe upgrade path is available separately, so buyers can wait for early reviews before committing to the bigger package.

The deluxe edition’s signature extras are the three Kor Sarun repulsorcraft: the Ciza T speeder bike, the Darc X landspeeder, and the Rak S skim speeder. Those three come with a Naboo N-1 livery pack, plus three exclusive arcade events built around the new vehicles. The collector’s edition is a physical-only release on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, with a Kor Sarun: Darc X landspeeder model as the centerpiece collectible. The standard-to-deluxe upgrade is the only way to grab the Kor Sarun vehicles on PC without the boxed package.

The PC store page lists the minimum spec at an Nvidia RTX 2060, 12 GB of RAM, and a 50 GB SSD. The console versions lean on Unreal Engine 5 for the cinematic scale of the planetary tracks. Pre-orders are open across Steam, Epic, PlayStation Store, and Xbox Store today. Buyers should also check the regional pricing, since the Steam page lists the standard at ₹ 2,799 in India. The full price breakdown sits on the game’s PC pre-order page with system specs.

Where the Early Previews Raise Flags

The hands-ons are positive, but they are not uncritical. The Engadget writer flagged the A-to-B walk from spaceship to garage that bookends every race, a step the writer suggested could be replaced with a “skip to next race” shortcut. The Xbox Wire hands-on, played at Summer Game Fest: Play Days, raised the same pacing concern in the form of how often players will want to repeat the same introductory chat with a rival racer.

The Engadget writer also stopped short of praising customization, calling the system “straightforward” without diving deep into the upgrade paths. Both hands-on builds used a three-chassis demo, so the fourth class, the iconic podracer, is not yet covered in any preview. The Xbox Wire writer flagged the moment of elimination as “a punch in the gut,” which cuts both ways: it makes the run tense, and it punishes the player hard. The cost of a failed run is real, and the developer is leaning into that.

The price-to-content ratio is also a live question. The $160 collector’s edition is clearly aimed at fans who want the landspeeder model on their shelf. The $80 digital deluxe is the better value for players who only want the in-game extras. Standard-edition buyers get the base game, the pre-order livery, and the pre-order banner, with everything else paid DLC.

The game launches on a quiet October Tuesday, between Forza Horizon 6’s release window and the holiday rush. Pre-orders at $60 come with the livery and the banner, with the chassis choices and the Galactic Tour structure set to land in October. The two hands-on previews so far frame Galactic Racer as a Burnout-style combat racer with a roguelite campaign structure. The Drive’s preview sees Galactic Racer as part of an “unexpectedly bright year for racing games, even beyond Forza Horizon 6.”

Frequently Asked Questions

When is Star Wars: Galactic Racer released?

Star Wars: Galactic Racer launches on October 6, 2026, on PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Lucasfilm Games, publisher Secret Mode, and developer Fuse Games confirmed the date on April 30, 2026. The April 30 confirmation followed a pre-order page that accidentally went live on Steam several days earlier.

How much does Star Wars: Galactic Racer cost?

The standard edition is $60, the digital deluxe is $80, and the physical collector’s edition is $160. Pre-orders at any tier include a livery and a player banner for multiplayer modes. The deluxe edition adds three exclusive Kor Sarun vehicles: the Ciza T speeder bike, the Darc X landspeeder, and the Rak S skim speeder. The collector’s edition adds a Kor Sarun: Darc X landspeeder model, a physical art book, two pilot patches, a Kestar banner, and a steel case with sleeve.

Who develops Star Wars: Galactic Racer?

Fuse Games, a UK studio founded in 2023 by former co-founders and lead developers at Criterion, the EA-owned British team behind Burnout Paradise and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. The studio’s first project is Star Wars: Galactic Racer, published by Secret Mode. Lucasfilm Games coordinated the announcement at The Game Awards 2025.

What vehicle types are in the game?

Four classes: landspeeder, speeder bike, skim speeder, and podracer. Each chassis has a distinct handling style and a chassis-specific upgrade trait: Drift for landspeeder, Kinetic Burst for speeder bike, Knife Edge for skim speeder. The hands-on demos tested three of the four classes, with the iconic podracer absent from the playable build. The official site confirms the four-class lineup in the marketing copy.

Does Star Wars: Galactic Racer have multiplayer?

Yes. Online player-versus-player modes support up to 12 players with cross-platform play across consoles and PC. The single-player Galactic Tour campaign is the headline mode, with arcade events and Versus races also available. The Sebulba-piloted Tatooine track in arcade mode is a 1:1 recreation of the podrace course from Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace.