The Star Wars franchise has always been a bit of a mixed bag. It may be sacrilege to say it out loud, but even the original trilogy has a handful of questionable moments thrown in, as do the prequels, as do the sequels. With Star Wars dishing out so many movies, TV shows, comics, novels, and video games, it’s only natural that not all of them land. But even in those misses, fans can still find some shining moments.
That’s certainly been the case with the most recent Star Wars show, The Acolyte. The first piece of live-action media set during the relatively new High Republic era, Star Wars: The Acolyte follows the story of a former Jedi Padawan who agrees to help her old Master track down a mysterious, murderous Force-user. Though The Acolyte has received an exceptionally divisive reaction from fans and critics, it still had some incredible sequences, including one that should inform the entire tone of Quantic Dream’s Star Wars Eclipse.
Star Wars Eclipse Needs to Borrow The Acolyte’s Sudden Stakes
Star Wars: The Acolyte’s Deaths Have a Big Impact
Star Wars: The Acolyte begins with a pretty impactful sequence that sees Amandla Stenberg’s Osha kill Carrie-Anne Moss’ Jedi Master Indara. After an intense bout of hand-to-hand combat, Osha brutally stabs Indara in the heart as she’s distracted trying to save a bystander. This moment effectively sets the darker tone that much of The Acolyte follows, and provides some high stakes right off the bat, proving that no one is safe.
While the next few episodes contain their fair share of deaths, it’s The Acolyte’s fifth episode that really sets the tonal bar not just for the rest of the show, but for any piece of Star Wars media that now follows it. In episode five, the mysterious Sith that’s been teased throughout the season finally makes his debut appearance, and it’s one of the best in Star Wars history.
Essentially a 30-minute-long action sequence, this episode of The Acolyte begins with this mysterious Sith massacring the Jedi team that’s been sent to apprehend Osha. While this Sith’s speedy murder of two relatively unknown Jedi is impressive, it’s the deaths of the main characters Yord and Jecki that are truly shocking. Up until this point, both Yord and Jecki had played prominent roles in The Acolyte’s story, and their deaths come as a big surprise, especially with how brutal they both are. This sequence feels like the culmination of The Acolyte’s building tension and darker atmosphere, and it sets Qimir up as a Sith unlike any fans have seen before in Star Wars live-action.
Star Wars Eclipse Should Set a Similar Tone Throughout
Being set in the same general era, fans can probably expect to see plenty of similar imagery and themes across both Star Wars: The Acolyte and Quantic Dream’s upcoming Star Wars Eclipse, but if Eclipse is going to borrow anything from The Acolyte, it should be its high stakes. Star Wars Eclipse shouldn’t be afraid to kill off its cast to heighten the game’s tension, and that should include main playable characters.
Quantic Dream’s past games have all revolved around the player taking control of several main characters, and making certain decisions that drastically affect their story. Star Wars Eclipse should take this one step further, and allow its main characters to die due to the player’s actions. According to Quantic Dream’s VP of Marketing Lisa Pendse in September of last year, that might be exactly what Star Wars Eclipse is offering, as according to her, “Anyone can die, anything can happen and the story sort of continues.” This statement seems a bit general and even a little uncertain, but Quantic Dream should lean into this darker tone and high-stakes narrative as much as possible.