Star Wars Squadrons

Released: 2020 — API: DirectX 11 — Engine: Frostbite 3

The premise of Squadrons is every Star Wars nerd's dream—a space combat SIM with modern big-budget graphics and a story mode that's official Star Wars canon. Following the destruction of Alderaan, Darth Vader sends Imperial forces to hunt down any survivors of the planet, and an Imperial Navy captain tasked with this mission decides to defect to the Alliance. Many epic battles and worlds from Star Wars lore are tied in, and you're made to feel like an important part of it all. Gameplay is pretty straightforward—zero gravity fighter combat in space, where you choose from four spacecraft classes (fighters, interceptors, support, and bombers). An ideal squadron must have a healthy mix of all classes to be effective.

Unlike the equally well-received Star Wars Jedi: The New Order that's Unreal-based, Squadrons uses the same Frostbite 3 engine powering DICE-made Battlefront titles. The game uses DirectX 11 and is only moderately taxing on your machine, but manages to bring space combat to life, especially when playing on larger 4K screens.