New Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge Story, Villain Details Revealed

A look inside the creation of Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge, the new virtual reality experience from ILMxLAB, has given us new insights into the role players will fill, the villains they'll encounter, and the story they'll embark on. The reveal makes good on the promise from last week when the VR game's team said we'd find out more details related to the story soon. Some concept art shared alongside the details showed some of the characters we'll interact with in the Star Wars world that blends known creatures and places with a totally new story.

The game takes place on Batuu – a detail previously known following the game's initial announcement – and we'll play as a droid repair technician on a cargo ship that crash lands on the planet. After that abrupt landing, you'll encounter the Guavian Death Gang, a force players may recognize from Star Wars: The Force Awakens by their red armor.

Leading the group of the Guavian Death Gang characters the player encounters is Tara Rashin who's played by Debra Wilson, the talent behind Cere Junda in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Some concept art shared below shows what members of this gang would look like.

"She runs a tight ship, literally and figuratively," Wilson said about the character. "And when she has a goal, she will not take no for an answer and she will never relent."

Though the game is inspired by the actual theme park Galaxy's Edge, game director Jose Perez III told Entertainment Weekly the team doesn't see it as a direct game adaptation of the attraction. On the topic of authenticity, the team was able to work with concept artists used for ILM and Lucasfilm projects which meant assets related to movies and Galaxy's Edge park attractions could be taken directly and implemented into their designs.

"We get to work with the same concept artists that they use for all of ILM and for Lucasfilm," said senior producer Alyssa Finley. "We have these incredible artists who are drawing out the scenic vistas, imagining what the spires look like... You throw out two words: 'What if there were tree roots?' And then, all of a sudden, you get a space that is intertwined with the ancient tree roots and the story of the entire space starts to be realized."

As far as the actual gameplay is concerned, Tales from the Galaxy's Edge will have multiple difficulty levels for players to test themselves with, and you can actually die in the game now.

Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge does not yet have a release date, but it's scheduled to be available some time this year.