Zynga and Lucasfilm Games have announced new characters, maps, and game mode for the upcoming mobile game Star Wars: Hunters™. Revealed in last year’s Nintendo Direct, Hunters™ will be free-to-play squad-based third-person arena shooter available for the Nintendo Switch and mobile devices. Its actual release date has not yet been specified for 2022, but Zynga is keeping the anticipation growing by sharing an official press release with brief profiles of each addition.
The two support character additions are huge news considering there was previously only one support hunter amongst five damage and two tank hunters. Skora the Rodian launches a large canister that delivers health to her allies and harm to her enemies. Sprocket the Mon Calamari strategically strikes with an array of droids at his command. This includes a medical droid that gradually heals his teammates. GameSpot interviewed Jeff Hickman, the head of the game’s developer Natural Motion to shed some light on these additions and collaboration with Lucasfilm Games. “They have been supportive of our vision,” he says, “and collaboration has been key to the creation of our new characters. They are all amazing people to work with and we were able to brainstorm, refine, and make each of the characters uniquely stand out in a way that works for this game.”
Another joy for fans is a new game mode called Huttball, a sporting event adapted from Star Wars: The Old Republic. “Hunters™ is all about competition and 4×4 play. The translation of that [format] to Huttball– where that format becomes a ‘sport’– just made sense,” Hickman says. He also states that this revisited game mode will pay homage to Star Wars: The Old Republic while introducing it to a new audience in this format.
Two new maps were added to cater to the Escort and Huttball game modes. The Great Hunt will take place on sand-swept Tatooine and the lush moon planet of Endor, where Hunters will escort a massive harpoon in search of the fabled Gorax. Dusty Ridge will feature more desert terrain as hunters challenge each other to the galaxy’s favorite sporting event.
This Star Wars game will support synchronous cross-play and will be free to download for the Nintendo Switch (Nintendo Switch Online will not be required), as well as mobile devices through the App Store and on Google Play. Currently, it has been soft-launched for download on Android in India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil and Mexico. This means there are many gameplay and review videos accessible on YouTube to see what Zynga and Lucasfilm Games has in store for the rest of the world sometime this year.