10 Things The Perfect Star Wars Game MUST Include
3. A Meaningful Villain
Under no circumstances is this a direct criticism of Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious.
J.J. Abrams' rescue of the sequel trilogy may have relied on the same villain as the prequel and original trilogies but what choice did he have? Snoke was butchered in The Last Jedi and no son of Han Solo is going to die a monster - not on J.J.'s watch!
But the yawn factor is in full force and Palpatine needs to be left well alone if the perfect Star Wars game is going to happen. Some of the existing secondary villains are potential options: Thrawn, the Inquisitors or even KOTOR's mysterious 'Exchange' are all possibilities but the Legends section of the Expanded Universe presents a lot more options.
Joruus C'Boath, a crazed Jedi clone from the Thrawn trilogy is an option along with the Yuuzhan Vong: a race from outside of known space who rely on organic weapons and can't be sensed with the Force - another possibility.
The main rule here might seem like 'anyone but Palpatine' but it isn't; the villain needs to be meaningful and, ideally, something we haven't seen masses of before so Darth Vader is out too. The closing scenes of Rogue One showed us how intimidating and vicious Vader can be but otherwise he's a bit too clunky and we've seen enough of him now really.
Keeping it fresh has led to the best titles, so far, meaning it needs to be a brand new legitimate threat to the galaxy... demanding we are.