There was a game that had been in development prior to the Disney buyout of Lucasfilm that had been tentatively titled Star Wars 1313, which would have been the first game to not feature The Force in some way. 1313 would have explored the seedy underbelly of Coruscant, the capital world of the Republic/Empire, and centered around famed bounty hunter Boba Fett and an unnamed partner. Alas, Disney cancelled the project when they took over the Star Wars franchise.
But with the success of The Mandalorian, I think we could re-explore the concept a bit.
This idea isn't originally my own, and I'm not even talking about 1313 here. I saw the idea pitched on social media-- and sadly, I can't find the original post now-- but the idea latched itself to my brain. Essentially, a Mandalorian-inspired bounty hunter game that plays like Red Dead Redemption II.
It's been turning around in my head for a while, and now that Season One of The Mandalorian is over, I've got a few more ideas to put into this.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter
Set a few years after the Battle of Endor, where the Emperor died and the Empire started its collapse, the game would follow the titular bounty hunter (whom I'll just call 'The Hunter' or 'Hunter' for simplicity's sake) as he sets about his job along the galaxy's Outer Rim. While bounty hunting is generally about tracking down wanted criminals (even if said criminals are usually bail-jumpers), in practice hunters are mercenaries that will take any job for pay.
The Hunter is open for development however the player wants. He's an ex-Imperial Stormtrooper, one who left the Empire after Endor. He's got little love for the Empire now, having had doubts after the destruction of Alderaan, but he also doesn't like the New Republic much, seeing them as not strong enough to keep peace. This gives a handy explanation for why he keeps to the Outer Rim, outside New Republic authority, and avoids Imperial Remnant territory as well. The Remnant sees him as a deserter, punishable by death, and the Hunter was complicit in or participated in some massacre while he was in the Empire, and would arrest him as well.
The Hunter can travel between a variety of worlds in the Outer Rim, each with its own environmental design-- your standard desert, ice, and jungle/forest worlds probably-- and the hazards therein. Flora and fauna of various types to scan, scavenge, and hunt. After all, not every job the Hunter takes is going to be capturing or killing some high-value target (HVT). Some settlements are on the frontier and have problems with wild animals or similar.
The main story is open for interpretation, but a lot of the Hunter's struggles would likely play around his needing to balance his reputation among the various powers at play in the Outer Rim. If you maintain a positive rep with the New Republic or Imperial Remnant, you get a little more leeway about going into their territory-- as in they won't shoot you on sight-- though you'll still get problems if you try to enter a restricted area. Higher reps might even give you access to their surplus, so you can purchase and resupply weapons from their arsenal.
These reputations would also mesh with your Bounty Hunters Guild reputation. The higher your Guild rep, the more rewarding your contracts will be. And if the Guild is getting jobs from the New Republic or Imperial Remnant, then you might be locked out of their contracts if your rep with them is too low. Similarly, the Guild has a different arsenal, and there's always the black market.
Arsenals would also tie into customization options. The Hunter can equip various armors and weapons, and this might tie into certain job requirements. For instance, a New Republic contract might want you to pull off a hit on a gang hideout, but make it look like the Imperial Remnant was involved. Wearing Imperial armor and using Imperial weapons would accomplish this, and get the gang to then start fighting with the Remnant, weakening both and making it easier for the New Republic to swoop in and clean up the survivors.
The time period of the game would allow potential crossover with The Mandalorian, although my recommendation would be set it before the start of that series, or somewhat in parallel, without crossing over too much. Setting it post-Endor gives us a solid period of instability to use as well, with the New Republic trying to re-establish stability in the Outer Rim, and the Remnant looking to reclaim control. Much like with Fallout: New Vegas, it would be ideal to present both sides as flawed-- the Empire was totalitarian and had a lot of institutionalized racism, but maintained control for decades and generally kept crime down in their territories; the New Republic offers more freedom and tolerance, but are overstretched and corruption is rampant in the Outer Rim-- and leaving that kind of open-ended approach to the player. There could be other groups at play in the Outer Rim-- criminal syndicates, local magistrates, or some other independent state that is trying to make its own power base in the region.
I'd considered making the Hunter a Force-sensitive-- not a full-blown Jedi-level user, but lesser-- for combat situations. But I figure that keeping it like 1313 was meant to be, and not having a Force-user of any kind in the main role. Ideally, this means no sign of any Jedi or Sith anywhere in the story. The Star Wars galaxy is big enough that not every tale set there needs to focus around the Light Side/Dark Side cycle.
Conclusion
And there we go. It's all very barebones, I know, with little to a main plot, but the idea of a New Vegas-esque conflict with neither side particularly coming across with shades of gray to them-- even if the Remnant would be more obviously evil than the Republic-- and the RDR2-style gameplay is what makes it interesting to me. And any kind of game that allows us to be something like a non-Jedi badass in the Star Wars setting would be great.
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