One of the best Star Wars games to come out of the prequels is Republic Commando. It put you behind the visor of an elite clone trooper and gave you command of a crack squad of wise-cracking Temuera Morrisons. The gameplay was challenging and the grimier, in-the-trenches storyline almost made the prequels seem respectable. Sadly the campaign was short, it ended on a cliffhanger, and the planned sequel got cancelled.
Well, perhaps not anymore. A Redditor by the name Alpha_Cukie has just revealed that Activision is developing the long-dead Star Wars Imperial Commando. Supposedly he's working on an ARG that will lead up to the game's reveal at E3 this year. According to him Imperial Commando is running on Frostbite, will have a much bigger campaign, full co-op support and will be released in November 2017.
I really hope this is true, and I'm cautiously optimistic about it, if only for the intriguing implications. Republic Commando was officially part of the Expanded Universe, which means it's no longer canon in any way shape or form; Jar Jar Abrams unceremoniously dumped all of that lore in the garbage in favor of his new movie. So will this pick up on 1138's team of clones and what happened to them? Will we ever learn if Sev survived?
It's no secret that I was not fond of The Force Awakens--the story didn't make sense and it was basically a muddled, fanservice rehash of A New Hope, so I'm really hoping Imperial Commando, if it's real, takes place during the original trilogy. I don't want to play as one of those squat, chubby iTroopers packing a Nerf blaster and a wappity baton. The key here is the title--again, if this is even real--IMPERIAL Commando. Not "First Order" or whatever nonsense name the imperials go by in the new movie. If this game really is coming, it might be the first Star Wars thing I've been able to look forward to in like a decade.
As a parting note, check out this longplay of Republic Commando with the lead developer. It's a fascinating insight into a great game and shows they really cared about this project.
