Star Wars: Galactic Racer Turns Podracing Into a Roguelike, and It's Kind of Great

STAR WARS: Galactic Racer launched October 6 from developer Fuse Games and publisher Secret Mode, under the Lucasfilm Games banner, priced at $59.99 (there's also a $79.99 Deluxe Edition). The pitch is simple on paper: take the spirit of classic Podracing and run it through a roguelike structure, so every lap around the Outer Rim actually has something on the line.

How it plays

You pick from four vehicle types - heavy, stable Landspeeders, nimble Speeder Bikes, high-top-speed Skim Speeders, or the fastest option, honest-to-goodness Podracers - and lean on abilities like the battery-draining Afterburner or the riskier Ramjet boost, which overheats your engine and can blow it up if you push too hard. Frozen and lava zones mess with how fast you overheat, and you can grab shields or mines to deal with rivals directly. Beyond standard races there's Eliminator (last place gets cut as the clock runs down), Field Tests, and random Mystery Encounters, all wrapped in a campaign with real meta-progression - lose too many runs and you're sent back to the start.

How it's landing

Reviews have been strong: Game Informer gave it an 8.5, calling it an "enthralling, challenging, and hard to put down" racing roguelite, while COGconnected went with 87 and called it outright the best racing game in the franchise's history. The one recurring complaint is the lack of local multiplayer - online only, no split-screen. On Steam, the crowd is a touch more split but still clearly positive, sitting in the mid-80s percent-positive range across roughly 9,000 reviews. It's Steam Deck Verified too, though early reports suggest performance is shakier there than on a proper desktop, and the social overlay doesn't work under Proton. It also ships with Denuvo anti-tamper DRM.

Who it's for

If you've ever wanted a Star Wars racer that's more than reskinned karts, and you don't mind losing a run right before the finish line, this is well worth checking out - just maybe not as your main Steam Deck game for now.