This Star Wars 1313 animation video gives us a look at the cancelled game

Remember Star Wars 1313? It's the cancelled Star Wars game from earlier this decade. No, not the one from Visceral Games. And no, not the reportedly cancelled open world one that followed the closure of Visceral Games. This was back when Lucasarts itself was still making games, before Lucasfilm was sold to Disney and the licence went to EA—it was canned in 2013, after reportedly being put on hold back in 2012.

Last week, Naughty Dog animator Jonathan Cooper shared an animation previz on Twitter. Check it out below:

Star Wars 1313 (Cancelled 2013) Animation Previz pic.twitter.com/F2lBNDmPKEJune 11, 2019

It gives a short but sweet look at what was in mind: some kind of big robot companion, and cover shooting. 1313 was firmly from the era of cinematic third-person action games that started to die off around the time it was cancelled.

The footage is actually pretty old—it's been on YouTube for at least a few years. What's interesting, though, is the context added by animator James Zachary, who worked on the cancelled project. Unsurprisingly, this test wasn't supposed to be made public.

Loved seeing this again! We animated this a proof of concept to show how the player should/could move through the world. There is still lots of room for polish but the animation wasn’t really supposed to be public. Glad you all enjoy it :-)June 12, 2019

It was long rumoured the game was going to star Boba Fett. In answer to a user's question, though, Zachary confirms that this animation test, at least, wasn't showing the popular bounty hunter in action.

I don’t think I can say much about this w/ out Stormtroopers knocking down my door 😁 I can say that the character you see in that pre-vis was not BF.June 18, 2019

After being revealed in June 2012, a trailer for Star Wars 1313 was released in August that year. You can see that below:

You played as a character without Force powers, and its story was set in the underbelly of Coruscant. Here's what Lucasarts said about it at the time:

"Named for Level 1313, a ruthless criminal underground deep below the surface of the planet of Coruscant, the game puts players in control of a deadly bounty hunter as he uses an arsenal of exotic weaponry to hunt down his marks and uncover the truth surrounding a criminal conspiracy. Star Wars 1313 emphasizes epic set pieces and fast-paced combat with a hero who uses human skills and gadgets, rather than supernatural Force powers, to make his way through this dangerous world."

RIP. Thanks, Gamesradar.

Former PC Gamer EIC Samuel has been writing about games since he was 18. He's a generalist, because life is surely about playing as many games as possible before you're put in the cold ground.