Dennis Brannvall talks Death Star, Chewbacca in Battlefront (Updated)

by Jared · August 17, 2016

During Twitch’s official livestream at gamescom today, Battlefront’s lead designer Dennis Brannvall had a chance to talk about Battlefront.

Brannvall touched on a number of topics, including further details on the Death Star’s new mode Battle Station, difficulties with Chewbacca, and how the new mode fits into canon (the interview can be seen here).

For Battle Station (which Brannvall called a “cute name”), he discussed how the mode functions, as well as explaining some of what players can expect.

In the first stage, “the Rebels are just circling around, trying to remove all the Imperial defenses so the Y-Wings can fly in and take the ‘T’ structures of the Star Destroyer,” Brannvall said. “The Rebel fleet need to take out a Star Destroyer in order to create a diversion so the that Imperials are looking away.”

This diversion then enables the Rebels to infiltrate the Death Star and begin phase two.

“There’s close quarters infantry combat inside the Death Star,” Branvall said. “You’re fighting in the corridors and iconic locations that you expect from the movie.”

He also confirmed that R2-D2 will be playable and that the Rebels will need to extract the famous droid from the bowels of the Death Star.

For the final phase, Brannvall noted that “it can take awhile” to blow up the Death Star. Luke’s Red Five X-Wing and Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced will also be playable during this phase, along with the Millennium Falcon.

Both Luke and Vader will get wingmen, which Brannvall called the “honor guard” for those characters. Luke has Wedge Antilles and Biggs Darklighter (just like Episode IV), while Vader’s wingmen will be the two seen in A New Hope. Brannvall noted that while Jek Porkins doesn’t receive any love in this expansion, they “really wanted [Luke’s] wingmen in because it’s iconic.”

Chewie concept art

He also touched on how the new mode fits within the canon established by the films.

“We’re not trying to change the canon,” Brannvall said. “Battlefront is very much a sandbox. The story that you’re playing is up to yourself. You can make decisions that aren’t part of the movie.”

Brannvall also discussed part of why Chewbacca took so long to get into the game.

“It took a long, long while to get [Chewbaca] in,” he said. “It’s the fur. Hair in video games is a tricky thing. And this is probably the hairiest guy out there.”

Brannvall also added that despite the difficulties, “it’s worth it. For Chewie, it’s definitely worth it.”

Finally, he talked about how the community was important in bringing space battles to Battlefront.

“We’re always looking to the community,” Brannvall said. “Probably after Skirmish, which we delivered last month, next up is space battles, which is something that they were really passionate about wanting in the game.”

He also realizes the high expectations of the community.

“You have to be careful about Star Wars fans,” Brannvall said. “The can be picky about the details. We’re trying to be respectful of that.”

The Death Star expansion is due out next month, so expect more news in the coming weeks. You can follow the Star Wars Game Outpost on Twitter or Facebook to stay up to date—we’ll be covering every tid bit of information.

Update: Brannvall referred to Vader’s wingmen as “Imperial Aces” in a recent tweet:

@SWBFUpdates they prefer the term Imperial Aces, thank you very much

— Dennis Brännvall (@DICE_FireWall) August 17, 2016

Update 2: Didn’t think this needed its own post (especially since I’ve already posted a bunch today!), but it looks like we might get an improved DLC playlist experience at some point: