An 88 on Metacritic makes it the highest-rated Star Wars game since 2003's Knights of the Old Republic. The debut title from a team of ex-Criterion veterans launched October 6 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
The scores
Star Wars: Galactic Racer sits at 88 on Metacritic (PS5), with 96 percent of critics positive and zero negative reviews. On OpenCritic it holds a “Mighty” rating with 98 percent of critics recommending it. That makes it one of the top 25 highest-rated games of 2026 so far.
The numbers are remarkable across the board. Giant Bomb awarded it a perfect 100. VGC gave it 5/5, calling it “a thrilling throwback to a better time for racing games.” Push Square scored it 9/10, praising its “excellent handling” and “eye-popping presentation.” IGN landed on 8/10, Game Informer on 8.5.
No Star Wars game has scored this high since Knights of the Old Republic earned a 94 back in 2003. It even outscores both of Respawn's Jedi games — Survivor sits at 85, Fallen Order at 79.
Who made it
Galactic Racer is the debut title from Fuse Games, a UK studio founded in 2023 by former Criterion leads who previously worked on Burnout and Need for Speed. The team partnered with Lucasfilm Games to build what reviewers are calling a spiritual successor to the beloved Episode I: Racer games of the late '90s.
That pedigree shows. Critics keep coming back to the handling — the thing Burnout and Criterion were always best at — as the game's standout quality.
What the game is
Set in the lawless Outer Rim after the fall of the Empire, you play as Shade, a lone racer chasing revenge and glory in the Galactic League — an unsanctioned underground circuit where syndicates bankroll chaos. You pilot landspeeders, speeder bikes, skim speeders, and podracers, each with distinct physics, across a campaign built around roguelite, run-based progression.
It's single-player plus 12-player online, runs at 60fps in 4K with HDR on PS5, and it's $59.99. One early complaint — limited multiplayer options at launch — is already being addressed by the developers, according to Push Square.
KongMNG's take
Nobody had this on their bingo card. A racing game — not a Jedi epic, not a KOTOR successor — ending a 23-year critical drought for Star Wars games is genuinely wild. But it makes sense when you think about it: the people who made Burnout 3 making a Star Wars podracer was always going to cook. Sometimes the best Star Wars stories aren't about Jedi at all.