Star Wars Battlefront won't have classes or squads

Star Wars Battlefront is being made by DICE—the studio famous for the Battlefield series. Also, Battlefront and Battlefield share seven of the same letters, which is a lot. For that reason, you'd be forgiven for assuming some sort of crossover in the styles of the two multiplayer-focused shooters.

And yet, Battlefront is increasingly standing out as its own specific thing—diverging even from past Battlefront games. For instance, classes: there won't be any. There will, however, be a progression and unlock system. "We allow you to create your own loadout," Battlefront producer Craig Mcleod tells PC Gamer. "If you want to be one of those players that's a frontline run and gun, you'll be able to create a loadout that allows you to do this. If you're more defence or more of a team player, we'll allow you to do that as well."

Another thing missing from the standard DICE formula is squads. Instead, players will have a single partner—a sort of Chewie to your Han—who you'll always be able spawn on. You can also share unlocks, thus giving yourself and your partner more loadout choices.

Explaining the differences between games, Battlefront senior producer Sigurlína Ingvarsdottir tells us that, while Battlefield offers "incredible heritage" for the team, "we were so mindful of the fact that we wanted to make this franchise our own ... We wanted it to feel like Star Wars and not be directly comparable to something else."

Previously, it was revealed that Battlefront won't feature iron sights or space combat. For more on Star Wars Battlefront, check out the new issue of PC Gamer.

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.