Over the past few years, many Star Wars game projects have been cancelled, most notably the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake initially developed by Aspyr and the Mandalorian-led first-person shooter developed by Respawn Entertainment.
However, the game mentioned in this article, Star Wars: Magellan, had previously remained largely unknown. It was an unannounced project developed by the now-defunct studio Echtra Games. Before being shut down by its parent company Zynga last June, Echtra was working on a mysterious AAA action RPG. We (mp1st) have now discovered that, prior to its cancellation, it was originally a Star Wars-themed game.
Development of this RPG was initially confirmed in early 2021, in partnership with NaturalMotion, another subsidiary under Zynga that had previously handled Star Wars titles. From that point until the studio's closure, details about the game remained strictly confidential. However, our recent findings confirm that the game's internal codename was "Magellan."
We learned about this because development materials for the project have finally surfaced, thanks to a former Echtra Games developer who uploaded a video showcasing the game to their personal portfolio. To protect privacy, we are keeping the developer's identity confidential, but the shared video clips give us a clear insight into the studio's development plans at the time.
From these clips, we can see gameplay and animation footage. The game features a third-person perspective where players take on the roles of a Mandalorian and a Jedi. It is a multiplayer online action RPG with core "shoot-and-loot" gameplay. Regarding stylistic choices, the character designs clearly bear the influence of Star Wars: Hunters, making the collaboration between the two studios a perfect fit.
Among the character designs that repeatedly appear across all materials, we can identify two specific concepts: a masked gunslinger referred to in files as "Triggerman," and a blue-skinned Togruta Jedi known as "Cleric." Whether these were fixed character presets or base templates for fully customizable heroes remains unclear.
Players can be seen fighting various Imperial enemies with these two classes, ranging from classic Stormtroopers to heavy mechanical threats like giant robot bosses. To combat these foes, players can use a variety of iconic abilities, including the Jedi's Force powers and lightsaber combat, as well as the Mandalorian's jetpack-assisted movement, heavy weapons, and flamethrowers. Additionally, the game showcases the use of various gadgets, such as shock grenades and defensive camp deployers.
The video also briefly showcases several missions in development, with objectives including locating specific characters or warehouses, destroying or hacking signal networks, and searching containers. These missions also highlight the game's core loot system, allowing players to obtain items such as "upgraded gear" from defeated enemies and open reward chests scattered throughout Imperial bases.
In addition to the video footage, we learned that the game originally planned to include an "NPC Bond System." This mechanic was directly integrated into the game's overall narrative design strategy, meaning that building relationships with non-player characters would play a significant role in the story alongside the action.
Beyond combat clips, the second part of the video shifts to raw animation and rigging demos, showcasing the project's technical foundation. This section displays a wide variety of character models and creature assets, ranging from standard Stormtroopers and dual-wielding Mandalorians to four-legged Gundarks, hound-like predators, and heavily armored security droids.
All of this work was being developed using Unreal Engine 5, targeting PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. Unfortunately, strategic shifts within Zynga and Take-Two ultimately led to the termination of both the project and the studio. Due to the studio's closure, Echtra Games failed to release any games during its existence from its acquisition by Zynga in 2021 until its shutdown in 2025.
Although Star Wars fans still have many upcoming games to look forward to, Magellan has joined Project Ragtag and Aspyr's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake as another "what if" regret in the franchise's long history of cancelled games.