Upcoming Star Wars Arena Shooter Announces New Characters And Maps

Ahead of its release later this year, arena shooter Star Wars: Hunters has announced two new characters and two new maps. The game is due to launch as a free-to-play title on Nintendo Switch and mobile, with support for synchronous cross-play between platforms.

The new Hunters include Skora, a Rodian cartel doctor whose kit allows her to heal allies and deal damage to her foes. The second new hunter is a cute-looking Mon Calamari called Sprocket, a tech genius commanding an arsenal of droids with both offensive and defensive capabilities. Both the new characters are supports, with the game's simplified class system split between damage dealers, supports, and tanks.

The newly announced content also includes a new game mode, Huttball, which is returning from Star Wars: The Old Republic. Hunters will reinvent the game for its arena-style gameplay, though developer Jeff Hickman has said that Hunters' take on Huttball still should feel familiar to fans of the original.

The new maps being added to Star Wars: Hunters include Dusty Ridge, which has been designed for Huttball games, and a new Escort map called The Great Hunt. In this map, players will be tasked with escorting a massive harpoon through the Tatooine desert.

Hunters is a 4x4 arena-style game set after the fall of the Galactic Empire, with its characters coming from the Rebellion and the former Empire, as well as the denizens of the universe's expansive underworld.

The game is currently in soft launch on Android and iOS in certain regions, including India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil, and Mexico. For players outside these regions, the game doesn't currently have an official release date, but promises to be available on both mobile and Nintendo Switch "later this year."