It’s been a really long time since we’ve got a new Star Wars racing game so you can just imagine the fan surprise when Star Wars: Galactic Racer was announced during 2025’s The Game Awards. Being developed by Fuse Games and published by Secret Mode, Star Wars: Galactic Racer looked fantastic when it was showcased and I can safely say that, yea, this game is an absolute blast to play. Let’s put on our racing helmets and I’ll tell you why you should consider picking this up.



In Star Wars: Galactic Racer, players will take on the role of Shade, a Gathii from the planet Gathleon. While Gathii, you are still a human. You don’t actually see your racer’s face but you are able to customise their figure, helmet and voice. Once this is out the way, the game kicks off by getting you introduced to Darius Pax, a rather shady individual who bankrolls a galactic racing league. He tries to get you involved in the league but your character doesn’t really seem all that interested.



After agreeing to take part in a warmup match, you end up beating Kestar Bool, a Bool overlord from the royal family that rules Gathleon. Things escalate and Kestar gets rather ticked off at you after the race. This is where Darius gets involved and tries to recruit you into the racing league so that you can exact sweet revenge on Kestar and put him in his place.

Darius becomes your backer and gives you a league token which is a requirement for entering the racing league. Lose your token and you’re out of the league. Together with your mechanic Hibi, you then set out on a racer’s journey which will span multiple planet’s race tracks with the ultimate goal of beating Kestar Bool.



Racing in Star Wars: Galactic Racer involves taking part in a series of events. There’s various different types of races such as standard grand prix league races, elimination races and experimental vehicle field testing races.

The twist to the game, however, lies with the fact that it’s a roguelite. Each run through the qualifiers will be different in Act 1 with the final race culminating in a face off against an iconic Star Wars character that I will not spoil here. Once you’re through the qualifiers, things escalate even further and you’ll be racing with higher stakes.

Each run through the qualifiers will be different in Act 1 with the final race culminating in a face off against an iconic Star Wars character...

All of this is interspersed with very brief segments where you can walk around a small environment on each planet and have conversations with the other racers, Darius or Hibi. This was surprisingly well-done and honestly it makes me yearn for a full-on Star Wars action role-playing game in this third person Mass Effect-like style.



Some of the racers back at the base camp will offer you trade deals that influence your racing with upgrades but this occurs randomly as you play the game. It’s a nice touch and I appreciate that the developers did this because it makes it feel as if you’re actually a part of a racing league hopping between planets with actual opponents that aren’t just some faceless competitor.

Gameplay in Star Wars: Galactic Racer is extremely fast and responsive. Racing feels incredibly fast and you really get the sense of speed from the visual effects. So much so that you’re definitely going to crash and burn very often when it’s the first time you’re on a track. The tracks available require some precise drifting or cornering at high speeds and the learning curve does feel a bit unforgiving at first. More casual gamers will struggle for a bit before coming to grips with the game’s racing mechanics.



Players will have access to a “Ramjet” on their vehicles which gives you even more speed on top of your afterburners that can be triggered when a gauge is full. Using the ramjet comes with a heat build-up cost though and if you use it for too long, you put yourself at risk of blowing yourself up from overheating your vehicle’s thrusters. Racing therefore becomes a careful balance of using your normal afterburners and your ramjet at the right moment to overtake your opponents and secure victory.

Racing feels incredibly fast and you really get the sense of speed from the visual effects.

This isn’t as straightforward as it seems because in addition to the ramjet and afterburners, depending on your vehicle type and what abilities you have unlocked, you can have additional factors to consider. For example, a specific vehicle type allows the use of an Autopilot feature which will literally take full control of your vehicle, make turns and use the ramjet with almost pinpoint precision. Using the Autopilot feature at the right moment can truly come in clutch or it can cause you crash straight into a wall based on when you activate it. Activating shields is another one that’s useful since you can shield yourself and aggressively push other vehicles away or completely take them down Burnout style.



Speaking of takedowns, aggressive racing is so satisfying in Star Wars: Galactic Racer since taking down an opponent triggers a mini-cutscene where you will see them get absolutely wrecked. The same also applies to you so you do have to be careful when racing out there.

Since the core gameplay loop involves roguelite mechanics, if you place last in an elimination race and lose your league token, you will simply start over from the bottom in a new league season as Darius explains it. The roguelite component of the game involves slowly but surely unlocking enough resources to start permanently upgrading your three vehicle types and your own pilot’s racing style. You can also purchase cosmetic upgrades and there’s quite a bit of customisation allowed with the mixing and matching of parts. Oh, and you can even change up the liveries and adjust the colours from some predetermined combinations.

The roguelite aspect of the game is also one of its biggest flaws. There are some racing leagues that will result in you being eliminated early and others where you could go on a legendary winning streak because of the upgrades you manage to accumulate. However, due to the limited number of planets and tracks, the fatigue from racing on the same track over and over sets in quite quickly once you’ve seen every track. Hopefully more tracks and planets are added to the game over time but this remains to be seen.



The three vehicle types that you can race with are a land speeder, a speeder bike and a skim speeder. There is podracing in the game but you’ll have to work to get this unlocked and it’s very watered down at the moment. I’m expecting fully-fledged podracing to feature as a paid DLC at some point because they already exist in-game but you can’t customise them to the same extent as you would your speeders.

Ultimately the gameplay loop in Star Wars: Galactic Racer is quite fun. The repetitive nature of the game only starts becoming a bit grating after numerous hours into the game and if you race well, you’ll have a blast anyway because your opponents are no pushovers. So long as you’re playing on the normal difficulty or above, you’ll actually have a challenging roster of opponents here and they really will put up a good fight, especially in elimination races where a simple takedown can cost your or them their league spot.

However, due to the limited number of planets and tracks, the fatigue from racing on the same track over and over sets in quite quickly once you’ve seen every track.

Players do also have access to multiplayer modes (including a podracing specific mode) as well as a single-player scenario mode which is quite challenging to complete. There’s a lot of content available in the game outside of the main campaign and this is great to see albeit still a tad repetitive with the same tracks featuring here.



Graphically, Star Wars: Galactic Racer is one of the best-looking games this year. Everything in this game looks downright beautiful, especially the environments and visual effects. Racing through the remains of a fallen Imperial Star Destroyer on Jakku is a breathtaking experience the first time around and the lush green forests of Lantaana look amazing too. Again, this makes me hope that more planets and racetracks are in development for this game because it would be such a wasted opportunity if more content isn’t actually being planned for release.

The soundtrack for Star Wars: Galactic Racer is excellent with orchestral themes perfect for high-speed racing. Voice acting in the game is going to be polarising though. Hibi has a very Scouse accent and Biddy Blas speaks in a high pitched Huttese voice. Personally I find it great but I can certainly see this as being off-putting to some gamers out there.

Final Verdict

Star Wars: Galactic Racer is a brilliant Star Wars racing game. It has the racing gameplay and speed absolutely nailed with the roguelike elements adding to the game’s longevity. The only major complaints that I have are that the track and planet roster are quite limited and that the game suffers because of this. If there’s more DLC planned, I hope that it expands the amount of planets and tracks significantly since this will make a massive difference in keeping things fresh with each run through the game’s campaign. If you’re a fan of racing games, miss playing Burnout or want to race a podracer again like we did in the old PlayStation 2 days, Star Wars: Galactic Racer is the game for you. Fuse Games, don’t abandon this title, it’s a shining gem of a racing game and deserves a tonne of praise.

PS5 Review code provided by Secret Mode | Star Wars: Galactic Racer Deluxe Edition is available to purchase at Nexus Hub for R1,380