Star Wars: Galactic Racer Review (PC)

Star Wars: Galactic Racer is a game that I've been looking forward to for a long while, and with 2026 going by so fast, October came quicker than a souped-up pod racer; I was overjoyed to finally get behind the wheel after months of counting the days, and my time with the game since then has been nothing short of amazing.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer puts you in the shoes of a mysterious courier swept into racing by a mix of irresistible alien peer pressure and vendettas of their own. Take on corrupt racers in roguelike runs, make a name for yourself, and try not to explode in the process.

Before I even discuss the gameplay, I have to say it is amazing. Sure, we've had multiple chances to play the iconic podracing section of The Phantom Menace before, but this tops them all. There isn't much I would change about it; it is smooth, intuitive, has a great roguelike loop (even if it can become a little repetitive at times), and is challenging enough at greater difficulties to keep you hooked for a good while.

Having said this, Star Wars: Galactic Racer's gameplay is pleasantly simple, and is what I can only describe as easy to learn, hard to master, not demanding perfection but rewarding it handsomely if you can achieve it. Things such as high-risk, high-reward turns and corners that can make or break a run, or alternate routes that are potentially more difficult than the more straightforward path, or the Burnout-inspired takedowns (many of the developers worked on Criterion's legendary arcade racing franchise) make for a game that feels like running a hot knife through butter; each smooth turn and perfectly timed boost brings a smile to my face no matter how many times they happen.

This gameplay is then further enhanced by the great upgrades and customisation systems, along with the three very distinct speeder types, each equipped with an afterburner and ramjet (the latter of which can explode if used too much), interlinked with the overall loop of the game.

Complete runs by winning as many races as possible until you eventually face the inevitable and wreck your speeder (don't worry, it comes back next run). After a completed run, depending on how well you performed, you gain currencies to customise your speeder and upgrade its stats, leading to many different builds across the trio of types, each with its ups and downs.

The Landspeeder, for example, is your classic type; it's sturdy and comes armed with a drift. The Speederbike is weak yet nimble, and has an improved drift, allowing for a boost afterwards. Then there's the Skim Speeder; this feels like a hybrid of the two which can turn vertically to 'thread the needle' and take turns that seem difficult for the other two types. There's actually a fourth class, the legendary podracer, but this is only available at limited times in the game.

You can buy a wide range of different models of these craft, and then mix and match the components to create your own unique one, adding different patterns and colours to them. I am a sucker for customisation in games like this, so seeing all of what Star Wars: Galactic Racer had to offer in that regard made me want to progress and earn all of the cosmetics.

All the models look phenomenal and really carry that post-Empire collapse feel (some even have stormtrooper helmets strapped on) and look run down; they are built from substandard parts (which is to be expected from an underground race league), but they hang together in an amazing, aesthetically pleasing way. You also don't have to make your racer look straight out of a scrap heap, though; you can also use customisation to make your speeder look lavish and sleek, like the chariot of a Sabacc high-roller (okay, maybe not that lavish, but you get the picture).

Aside from cosmetic upgrades, you can also get gameplay upgrades ranging from faster speed, tighter cornering, improved boost and much more that work to give you an edge over the competition. You can also choose a 'style' that allows you to race the way you want, such as the 'brawler', which allows you to have an ion-bolt ability and grants bonuses for takedowns, or the 'redliner' that makes your 'ramjet' secondary boost more powerful when it is redlining and about to explode. The final upgrade of sorts is called a 'favour', granted by characters you have earned the respect of, and you can equip it to give you moderate bonuses during races, such as extra crashes.

Between races, you can also buy parts for your speeder that can really make your build what you want it to be. This is part of the roguelike element, so it is random, and the parts are scrapped at the end of a run. This wasn't a huge issue for me, but if you aren't a fan of that feature in games, it is something to think about.

The story of Star Wars: Galactic Racer isn't anything to rave about; however, it does its job well enough to hook you in, with an amazing world, sound design, and character designs that really immerse you in the seat of your racer.

This is amplified by the really well-thought-out 3D explorable hub world between planets and runs, which are full of characters to talk to and extremely detailed set pieces. This hub space lets you digest more of the story and get to know your fellow racers in a more natural way than similar games in the genre, which is a really nice change of pace. This whole world feels like Star Wars, and has the classic trilogy DNA practically seeping out of every pore, from the sound design to the classic wall of text at the start of every act; as a massive fan of the original trilogy, this naturally left me with a huge smile on my face.

Moving on from the single-player, Star Wars: Galactic Racer has a robust multiplayer array that, I think, falls short in many ways. Starting with the good: the main core modes such as Quick Race, Multiplayer Tour and their podracing counterparts are amazing, fun to play, and feel competitive, with a levelling system from which you can earn different customisation options for your speeder.

Tour mode also provides a good amount of content with some really interesting features; maintaining the roguelike upgrading system, it adds betting on where you will place in the next race and contracts you can accept, challenging you to do certain actions in the next race – which are pretty fun, but do sadly wear thin after a while.

While all of this is great, I feel like multiplayer has some holes that need patching, such as a lack of split-screen and party size, missing voice chat, and the general feel of tour modes. I believe the tour sections could be improved massively, as right now they feel very reliant on the last race, with the earlier races being almost redundant to your final placement rather than building up your overall performance.

I also have quite a few gripes with Star Wars: Galactic Racer outside of multiplayer, such as the inability to rebind keys, along with the limited variety of planets, which can make for some annoyingly repetitive gameplay after you play it a few too many times.

Now don't get me wrong, these are small complaints, but to me that makes them even more annoying, as split-screen and re-bindable keys should be standard for arcade racing games akin to this one, and while I recognise the planet issue is less of an easy fix, even one or two more tracks would have really done some heavy lifting for the game's replayability. But again, these are small issues that could be ironed out, and they're my biggest complaint about the game overall.