Marcel Winatschek

The Underworld They Never Let Us Have

Star Wars 1313 was announced at E3 2012 with footage that made it look like the first Star Wars game I’d genuinely wanted in years—set deep in the criminal underworld of Coruscant, far below the gleaming senate towers and Jedi temples, in Level 1313 where the only law is whoever has the bigger gun. Bounty hunters. Organized crime. No Force, no prophecy, just the dirty mechanics of survival in a galaxy that doesn’t care about you. The aesthetic was dark and tactile in a way the franchise rarely allows itself to be. Then Disney acquired Lucasfilm later that year, LucasArts got shuttered, and Star Wars 1313 joined the long list of games that existed just long enough to make you want them.