Not too long ago in a galaxy far, far away, Red Fly Studio was working on a Darth Maul game and they really hoped we would get to play it. We never did, but studio head Dan Borth says there maybe a slim change it could resurface in some form.
Originally green lit by LucasArts in October of 2010, the game would’ve explored the twisted origins of the tattooed swordsman from his earliest days to his eventual demise in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Fast forward eight months and the project, internally codenamed Damage and listed under the working title Maul, was killed in lieu of LucasArts’ impending sale to Disney. LucasArts has since bellied up with all of its projects, including the Boba Fett spinoff game 1313, have vanished.
Earlier this weekend, Dan Borth of Red Fly Studio held an Ask Me Anything on Reddit in which he discussed some of the highlights of the Darth Maul title and what he hopes may come of its legacy.
According to Borth, the game would’ve spanned decades, chronicling Maul’s childhood from “age 9 or 11” up to his fateful duel with Obi-wan Kenobi in the Naboo reactor core. The game would further have explored all of Maul’s “pain and rage” growing up under Darth Sidiou’s iron fist and the nature of Sith philosophy.
The game would also have paired Maul up with a number of co-op partners, from Star Wars: The Clone Wars‘s Savage Oppress and Legacy of The Force‘s Darth Talon at George Lucas’s initial insistence. In-game combat would’ve further involved a “reverse fear mechanic” akin to the Batman: Arkham series and would’ve rarely seen Maul go up against lightsabers wielding characters to keep his existence secret.
“The Jedi are incredibly flawed in their opinions on not getting involved,” Borth wrote, “but getting involved and spying on people and using their abilities to get what they want. They are just like the Sith but don’t admit it – the Sith admit it.”
Borth went on to say that the studio is nevertheless working on “a full next gen demo of all things Maul” to current Star Wars Battlefront developer Electronic Arts sometime soon. Borth admits that with the lukewarm climate towards the Star Wars prequel films as a whole, the changes are slim that Darth Maul may ever see a full game to call his own, but he hopes that EA could find use for the technology behind Red Fly’s original efforts.
“Hopefully EA will see the value in us reskinning our combat mechanic to be more in line with what they are thinking for Star Wars if they are not interested in maul,” Borth said.
When asked, Borth said he would certainly consider a game mode in which “maul kills Jar Jar over and over.”
Tell us, do you still want to see a Darth Maul game happen as it was originally intended? Sound off in the comments below.