What is Star Wars without droids?
Nothing, that’s what, and thankfully, Respawn Entertainment is in complete agreement. The developer’s upcoming addition to George Lucas’ sci-fi universe has attracted a huge amount of hype recently, thanks to a slew of positive previews, but those hands-on events have largely focused on covering combat and gameplay. Both are core mechanics integral to making Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order a memorable experience, of course, but so too, are the various characters that hero Cal Kestis will encounter along the way.
One of those is BD-1, otherwise known as the adorable miniature droid you’ve likely seen perched on Cal’s shoulder like a parrot in various trailers and gameplay footage. The bite-sized bot provides a number of neat gameplay functions such as highlighting important objects in the overworld and granting access to Cal’s inventory (via a superb in-game projection, no less), but beyond that, BD-1 is a character in their own right.
Various members of the Fallen Order development team have now showcased the concept and design process behind the droid in a recent video, which you can see above. It’s a fascinating watch, no doubt, and my favourite takeaway is undoubtedly that revealed by Jordan Lamarre-Wan. The lead concept artist discusses how he and his colleagues drew inspiration from Yoda’s piggyback rides with Luke during the latter’s training on Dagobah in Empire Strikes Back.
Unlike Yoda, BD-1 is unable to whisper words of wisdom in Cal’s ear, though what it lacks in speech, the robot more than makes up for with emotive beeps and boops, much like R2-D2. Yet another reason for fans to pick up Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order when it arrives next month, then.
Speaking of which, Respawn recently confirmed that the ambitious title has officially gone gold. See here for more details.