Building upon the foundation of groundbreaking visuals and authenticity of EA's Star Wars Battlefront, DICE, Motive and Criterion are teaming up to deliver one of the most expansive Star Wars games to date. Star Wars Battlefront II will allow players to experience the untold story of an Imperial elite special forces soldier in an all-new single player campaign. In epic multiplayer battles, players will be able to pilot a First Order TIE fighter through intense dogfights in space, and play as ground troopers or iconic heroes and villains, such as Yoda and Darth Maul, across all three Star Wars eras.

Featuring new characters created by Motive in close partnership with the story group at Lucasfilm, the Star Wars Battlefront II single player campaign will deliver a new exciting story to the Star Wars universe. Taking place in the 30 years between the destruction of Death Star II and through the rise of the First Order, the single player story introduces Iden Versio, the leader of Inferno Squad, an elite special forces unit of the Galactic Empire, who are equally lethal on the ground and in space. In addition to Iden, players will also encounter and play as other iconic Star Wars heroes and villains like Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren during the campaign.

Experience Han Solo as both the scoundrel and the hero in Star Wars Battlefront II: The Han Solo Season! The fun begins on May 16th with a trip back to the original trilogy before jumping into new content in June inspired by the upcoming Solo: A Star Wars Story film.

As the season progresses you’ll find yourself completing challenges and seasonal quests, inspired by Han Solo’s closest friendships and against some of his greatest rivals.

The Han Solo Season will be spread across two months, and we’ve got a lot of content to cover, so let’s dive in.

Coming in May

Hero Showdown
Alongside The Han Solo Season will be the release of a brand new game mode. Hero Showdown is similar to the much-loved Heroes vs Villains Game Mode, but with a brand-new rule set.

In this new round-based 2v2 elimination mode, players will be able to take their favorite duos into two on two Heroes vs. Villains battles. Han Solo and Chewbacca vs. Boba Fett and Bossk? Yoda and Rey vs. Vader and Captain Phasma? Players will need to bring out their wits and tactics, as once a round is won, another duo must be picked for the next round.

Should you be defeated you must put all your hope into your teammate and wait until the round is over.

If your team is successful and wins the round, you are unable to use the Heroes that you previously used. However, if your team loses the round you're free to pick any available Hero, including the ones you've just used.

It's a best out of five situation, so the first to win three rounds will claim victory. Think carefully about your pick, strategy is everything in this mode.

Starfighter Custom Arcade
Starfighter Custom Arcade is where you’ll be able to become acquainted with all the Starfighters in the game. Take on AI and learn skills that will serve you well when you venture into Starfighter Assault and take on some of the best pilots in the galaxy.

Fans can hone their flying skills in the cockpit with Starfighters from all eras, whether the goal is to turn Rebellion X-Wings into stardust with a TIE/LN or hop into the Millennium Falcon to fly circles around enemy starfighters.

We know that this is something a lot of our community have been requesting so we’re incredibly excited to confirm that it’ll be available as soon as Season Two starts on May 16.

Jabba’s Palace
Located in the Dune Sea on Tatooine, this sandblasted metal and stone structure strikes fear into anyone that finds themselves on the wrong side of Jabba the Hutt.

Jabba’s Palace will be arriving in Star Wars Battlefront II and will be available in both Heroes vs Villains, Blast, and Arcade.

Appearances
Fans of Lando will be pleased to hear he’s going to be receiving an Epic, based around his Appearance within Jabba’s Palace.

It’s also time that we welcome the very first Legendary Appearance into Star Wars Battlefront II, and it’s one we’ve seen mentioned quite a bit. The Legendary Appearance will go to Leia and will come in the form of her iconic Boushh outfit from Star Wars™: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi™.

As this is a Legendary Appearance, it’s not just her look that’s changed, while dressed in her Boushh appearance Leia will use a speech scrambler to speak Ubese.

We’ve got more Appearances planned, so spend your time wisely and make sure you’re doing your Daily Challenges to save up your credits. June is going to be quite…Legendary.

Menu Updates
With the launch of The Han Solo Season, we're making some quality of life changes to the front menu of the game. What this means, is that when you load up Star Wars Battlefront II, you'll be able to get into your favourite game modes a lot quicker.

The first big change you'll notice is when you enter the Multiplayer menu, which is now broken up into three main categories; Assault, Heroes and Villains, and Operations. Hero and Villains is where you'll find the core Heroes vs Villains game modes. Assault Modes, as you've probably guessed, is where you'll find the likes of Starfighter and Galactic Assault, alongside Strike. Operations is where you'll find Ewok Hunt, Blast, and it will also be the place to go for our limited-time game modes in the future.

Main Menu
In the previous Community Transmission we talked about how we were going to be replacing the holographic effect you see within the menus with something else. The first part of its release will go live on May 16 and we’re looking forward to hearing your feedback on it.

We do have plans to take the initial release further, and all going to plan this should arrive in June with the second part of The Han Solo Season.

Spend Skill Points Pre-Round
Since the new Progression System launched, one of the key bits of feedback we’ve seen has talked about the ability to spend your Skill Points in between rounds. We’re pleased to confirm that this functionality will be launching once Season Two is released.

New Milestones
Alongside the release of the new Progression System came the arrival of a minor change that placed pop-ups within the game upon completion of a Milestone. This was met with a significant amount of positivity but If there was one thing we heard, it was that for some of you reading this, you had already completed a lot of your milestones.

We are adding Score Milestones for each Trooper, Hero and Specials. Troopers will receive three tiers, while Heroes and Specials will have two new tiers.

In addition to the all-new single player campaign, the team at DICE is evolving the game's multiplayer to become the ultimate Star Wars battleground. With modes supporting up to 40 players, Star Wars Battlefront II takes fans through a wide range of iconic locations from all three eras: prequel, classic and new trilogy, including new in-game locations such as Yavin 4's jungle canopies, the spaceport town of Mos Eisley, and Starkiller Base. Players can choose from an array of land and air vehicles and master their own hero's journey, with customizable character progression across heroes, villains, troopers and starfighters.

As one of the most requested fan modes, galactic-scale space combat is also brought to life in Star Wars Battlefront II. Criterion, with a deep history of creating some of gaming's fastest and intuitive vehicles, has built space combat from the ground up with refined handling, weapons, and customization options. Players can drop into the cockpit of the galaxy's most iconic ships, weave between asteroid fields and fly through imperial dockyards in high stakes dogfights.

Fans who pre-order Star Wars Battlefront II can join the excitement of the theatrical release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, with content inspired by the upcoming film including exclusive Kylo Ren and Rey themed looks. Players can also equip both characters with epic ability upgrades in multiplayer. Additionally, when taking the fight to space, players can upgrade to the Star Wars: The Last Jedi Millennium Falcon and a new First Order ship.

Players that order the Star Wars Battlefront II: Elite Trooper Deluxe Edition will not only have access to all the Star Wars: The Last Jedi inspired pre-order content, found in Star Wars Battlefront II: The Last Jedi Heroes, but can also dominate the battlefront as the ultimate Star Wars elite trooper. Every trooper class will receive upgrades, delivering superior firepower, deadly weapon modifications and epic combat abilities. Deluxe Edition owners will also get a head start on the battlefront, being able to jump into the game up to three days early.

Star Wars Battlefront II is currently available worldwide for PS4, Xbox One, and on PC (Origin).