Star Wars in the style of Batman: Arkham. In Battle of the Sith Lords we would sow fear in the hearts of enemies
Darth Maul is a character who deserves a dedicated game set in the Star Wars universe. Not everyone today re that such a title was being developed and was to draw from the Batman: Arkham and Mass Effect series.
Over the years, video games based on the Star Wars franchise have presented varying quality. Both hits and less successful titles (as well as games that are better not to be reminded of) had one thing in common - they had their chance to shine. Somewhat alongside them, there were productions that at an earlier or later stage of development received a red light, and they were canceled. One of those was Star Wars 1313. Today, however, we will remind you of yet another forgotten project, in which we were supposed to play as Darth Maul himself.
Darth Maul from Texas
Red Fly Studio is an American development team from Texas, to whom Wii console owners owed the opportunity to play Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II for the Nintendo platform. So it's not surprising that when LucasArts began considering releasing a separate game from the Star Wars universe for the console of the giant from Kyoto, their choice fell on the team in question.
Texans were given almost complete freedom in of what game they would create. Almost, because George Lucas and company suggested a working title, which was supposed to be Battle of the Sith Lords. The studio began prototyping its project in October 2010 and quickly concluded that Darth Maul should be the main character.
Darth Maul like Batman
Let's put the plot issues aside for a moment and focus on Battle of the Sith Lords' gameplay. The game was supposed to be reminiscent of the Batman: Arkham series, focusing on stealth action and instilling fear in the enemies. Maul was to hide in the shadows, scare his enemies so much that they would make stupid mistakes, like getting sliced by lasers or fighting with each other.
The resemblances to the Batman adventures from Rocksteady Studios wouldn't stop there, as the combat system, focusing on our agility, awareness, and skill in countering enemy attacks, was also meant to be inspired by them. Of course, on the battlefield, we'd be using lightsabers, and the fights would be really brutal; decapitation and limb amputation would be common.
This, combined with the bed scenes, was supposed to make Battle of the Sith Lords categorized as a game for adults.
Almost like Mass Effect
What's interesting, this wasn't where the devs' inspirations ended. Another source of inspiration for them was the Mass Effect series, from which Red Fly Studio planned to "borrow" companions and the concept of a command center.
On the list of these first ones would be Darth Talon (who would be the second playable character) and a droid that would display most of the menus and scan the environment. Between each mission, we would end up on the surface of the asteroid, where our base camp would be located. However, these escapades were supposed to lead us, among other things, to a certain spaceport or a planet covered in jungle.
Furthermore, the list of elements inspired by Mass Effect wouldn't be complete without a similar system for conducting conversations with independent characters.
Narrative chaos
When I mentioned Darth Talon, some Star Wars fans probably had a lightbulb moment, because she lived 170 years after Maul. Over the next few months, the creators moved away from the original idea of placing Darth Maul in the main role. So they decided not to show Maul's history from his teenage years, through his defeat in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, to the events in The Clone Wars.
Instead, it was agreed with Lucas that we would embody... a descendant of Darth Maul, who would look exactly like his ancestor. It's worth mentioning that initially, the devs had a different plan for the appearance of the "new Maul," but the publisher insisted that it shouldn't look visually different from the original. Darth Krayt, who was leading the Sith, was supposed to be the main villain.
Shaping up
Although not all elements of the Battle of the Sith Lords project fell into place immediately, the creators eventually managed to put it together, which made it start to take shape. Unfortunately, that's when the communication between Red Fly Studio and Lucas Arts started to break down, and by the end of June 2011, the publisher officially informed the developers that their project had been canceled. Although no one said it directly, the reason for this situation was probably Lucasfilm's transition under the wing of The Walt Disney Company.
Fight for life
The creators didn't give up and tried to negotiate with Electronic Arts and Disney to continue working on the project. Unfortunately, none of these companies were interested, even though the devs were ready to modify the project according to their wishes. An attempt was even made to reactivate the entire project on Unreal Engine 4, but it also fell through.
Everything indicates that the struggle for survival undertaken by Battle of the Sith Lords ended with the demise of the project. Who knows, maybe someday someone will tackle the subject of a story about Maul, made in the style of the Batman: Arkham trilogy?
Meanwhile, to cheer ourselves up, we can watch a short gameplay video with commentary from the editors of Game Informer magazine.
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