2020 has become a year where most of us have a lot more free time and a lot fewer ways of filling that time. The Essentials is a new feature where we take a deep dive into an iconic pop culture property or character and tell you exactly what you need to read, watch or otherwise consume in order to get the full story. Because it’s not like there’s anything better to do…
This time we’re taking a closer look at Star Wars villain Darth Maul. While Maul immediately won a fan following in The Phantom Menace thanks to his cool look and nifty, double-bladed lightsaber, he’s not a character who plays a heavy role in the Skywalker Saga. At least, not if you’re only watching the movies. But Maul has taken on a brand new life over the years thanks to animated series like Star Wars: The Clone Wars and various spinoff novels and comics. Not only did he survive what seemed like his certain death in Episode I, but that was really just the beginning of a long and tragic story.
If you need to brush up on all things Darth Maul, especially with the character making a return appearance in the final season of The Clone Wars, we can help. Read on for a more or less chronological breakdown of the essential Darth Maul stories. Not all of these tales are still part of official Star Wars continuity, but each of them will help you better appreciate his surprisingly complex character arc.
Warning: some basic plot spoilers for Darth Maul’s story ahead!
We might as well start with the one book every Darth Maul fan should read if they want a fuller understanding of his origins and place in the larger Star Wars saga. The Wrath of Darth Maul is one of a series of YA novels recounting the history of various Star Wars icons. Fortunately, Lucasfilm has a strong track record when it comes to publishing YA books that can still appeal to adult readers.
This book provides a cohesive look at Maul’s story, from his Sith training to his relationships with pivotal characters like Mother Talzin and Savage Opress. It also fills in some crucial gaps in the Maul timeline and shows us more of what unfolded in-between Maul’s apparent death in The Phantom Menace and his return in The Clone Wars.
Star Wars: Darth Plagueis (2012)
Technically, this novel is no longer part of the official Star Wars canon. But because it was published shortly before Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm Ltd. and well into the original run of The Clone Wars, it still works as an exploration of the history of the titular Sith Lord and the rise of Emperor Palpatine. Until Disney gives us the definitive Darth Plagueis story, this novel is the best resource we’ve got.
Despite its name, Darth Plagueis is really Palpatine’s story more so than Plagueis’. We learn how a simple politician from Naboo was recruited to the Dark Side and see the genesis of Palpatine’s decades-long plot to destroy the Jedi and rule the galaxy. Maul himself plays a pretty small role in this story, but it’s still worth reading to get a better understanding of how the infant Nightbrother came to be in Palpatine’s care and the early role Maul played in his master’s plans.
Star Wars: Maul – Lockdown (2014)
One of the last Star Wars novels published before Disney eliminated the old Expanded Universe, Lockdown can also be viewed as a spinoff of the Darth Plagueis novel. Lockdown is set about a year before the start of Episode I, a time when Palpatine is beginning to set his grand plan in motion while also plotting his master’s demise. Palpatine and Plagueis dispatch Maul to a remote prison colony in order to acquire a deadly weapon. And once there, Maul finds himself unleashing his skills and fighting in a gladiatorial arena.
If not the most important Darth Maul story in terms of his overall character arc, Lockdown is nonetheless a showcase for his ferocity and tenacity. In its own way, it also reminds us that Maul is a very tragic figure, one who was only ever treated as a useful but disposable tool by Palpatine.
Star Wars: Darth Maul – Shadow Hunter (2001)
Shadow Hunter was among the first Star Wars novels to attempt to flesh out Maul’s mysterious background and relationship to Darth Sidious. A prequel to Episode I, Shadow Hunter sees Maul dispatched by his master to hunt down a Trade Federation defector, a Jedi Padawan and others who have evidence of Palpatine’s secret plans. Picture a Star Wars version of a Terminator movie and you have some idea of what to expect.
Again, the fact that this story was published well before the Disney era renders it non-canon, but it’s still an enjoyable look at Maul’s activities prior to Episode I. Newer versions of the book also include a short story called “Restraint,” which chronicles Maul’s first mission and attempts to draw in new story elements introduced in The Clone Wars.
“Old Wounds” (2005) & “Resurrection” (2001)
Long before The Clone Wars took the idea of Darth Maul surviving the events of Episode I and made it official canon, Dark Horse Comics toyed with that plot twist in a pair of fascinating, albeit hypothetical stories. It’s worth hunting down both, if only to see the origins of this surprising Star Wars plot twist.
“Old Wounds” (from 2005’s Star Wars: Visionaries) features Maul tracking Obi-Wan Kenobi to Tatooine, threatening the life of an infant Luke Skywalker and perishing in a rematch with his old nemesis. While not in-continuity even in the pre-Disney era, this story did wind up directly influencing Maul’s return on The Clone Wars, right down to his distinctive, raptor-like cyborg legs.
“Resurrection” (originally printed in 2001’s Star Wars Tales #9) settles a popular fan debate – who would win in a fight between Darth Maul and Darth Vader? Set shortly before Episode IV, this story features Vader hunting the Rebels who stole the Death Star plans and encountering a resurrected Maul. In true Highlander fashion, there can be only one Dark Lord of the Sith.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Seasons 3-5 (2011-2013)
This animated series is where Maul’s story really took on new life. The Clone Wars bridges the three-year gap between Episodes II and III and chronicles the full scope of the destructive conflict between the Republic’s clone army and the Separatists’ droid armada. The series focuses on both iconic heroes and villains from the prequel movies as well as characters we never even knew about before, like Anakin’s Padawan Ahsoka Tano.
The Clone Wars took the fanciful notion of Maul having survived his battle with Obi-Wan and made it an official part of Star Wars canon. Maul’s story begins in Season 3, which introduces his brother Savage Opress and a brand new mythology involving the Nightsisters of Dathomir and a Dark Side witch named Mother Talzin. Talzin dispatches Savage to find his long-lost brother. After returning home and being restored to some semblance of full health, Maul and his brother begin an ongoing campaign to build an army of criminal cartels and claim vengeance on both Obi-Wan and Darth Sidious. Sidious may have orchestrated the Clone Wars conflict, but Maul and Mother Talzin wind up posing a serious threat to his control of the Dark Side.
Maul is a recurring character throughout Seasons 3, 4 and 5. Here’s a list of all the relevant Maul/Savage Opress episodes if you’d prefer not to binge the entire series (all of which can be streamed on Disney+):
Star Wars: The Clone Wars was abruptly canceled after its fifth season in 2013, leaving a great many plot threads unresolved. While some of the in-progress episodes were eventually finished and released as part of the truncated Season 6, other unused scripts were adapted into comics or novels instead. That’s where Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir was born.
Son of Dathomir picks up where “The Lawless” left off in Season 5, as a defeated Maul has been imprisoned by his former master. But after being liberated by his Death Watch commandos, Maul unleashes the full power of his Shadow Collective and declares war on Darth Sidious and Count Dooku. This story serves as an essential bridge between Maul’s previous Clone Wars appearances and his return in the climactic Siege of Mandalore conflict. It explains how Maul escaped Sidious’ clutches and gives fans far more closure regarding Mother Talzin’s role in the war than Season 6 was able to deliver.
A major gap in Maul’s post-Episode I story is finally filled thanks to the long-awaited seventh and final season of The Clone Wars. Season 7 is divided into three, four-episode story arcs. It’s the last of these which features Maul as a major villain. The final Clone Wars arc focuses on the Siege of Mandalore, as the titular world becomes the site of one of the last and most destructive conflicts in the war. As that battle plays out, Ahsoka Tano leads her own battalion of Clonetroopers and confronts Maul on Mandalore. At least some of this arc takes place during the events of Episode III, and fans finally learn how both Maul and Ahsoka survived the devastation of Order 66.
Star Wars fans who only follow the movies got a big surprise when Maul showed up alive and well (albeit missing two legs) near the end of Solo. Maul has very little screen time in this movie, but it still helps flesh out his role as a major criminal kingpin in the murky years between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. His cameo shows us how his previous role as leader of the Shadow Collective evolved into Maul reigning over a vast organization known as Crimson Dawn. Plus, it’s pretty neat seeing original actor Ray Park and Clone Wars voice actor Sam Witwer come together to reinvent this iconic villain.
While the final season of The Clone Wars wraps up Maul’s Prequel-era story, we’ve already seen where his journey takes him closer to the Original Trilogy era. Maul appears in several episodes of Star Wars Rebels, a series which focuses on a plucky band of Rebels lighting the way in a time before Luke Skywalker and Han Solo started hogging all the glory. Ahsoka also plays a big role in the series, making it a true successor to The Clone Wars.
Maul first appears in the two-part Season 2 finale, “Twilight of the Apprentice,” where he becomes an unlikely, if temporary, ally to Ahsoka and friends as they travel to the Sith world of Malachor and battle Darth Vader himself. Maul later resurfaces several times during Season 3. The episodes “The Holocrons of Fate” and “Visions and Voices” deal with Maul’s growing interest in budding Jedi Ezra Bridger.
And finally, Maul’s story comes full circle in “Twin Suns,” as he tracks down Obi-Wan Kenobi and sets about finally claiming his long-awaited vengeance. The resulting confrontation is easily one of the greatest Star Wars moments of all time. Full stop.
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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
This week a wise spectre from our past returns to tell us all about their time with Call of Duty: Warzone and Korean cooking. Joining them is Matt who’s been playing some Valorant, Cardy who’s been playing with Echo, Overwatch’s latest hero, and Joe who’s also been trying to destroy a monster in a mountain via the medium of pinball action. We also go through our pitches for what we’d like GTA 6 to be and talk excessively about food.
There’s another tightly contested Endless Search and a big bunch of feedback to boot.
Remember, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, please do: [email protected]
“It’s about nothing,” George tells Jerry as they discuss his upcoming meeting with NBC executives at Monk’s Diner. During the fourth season of Seinfeld, a show-within-the-show storyline emerged as characters Jerry Seinfeld and George Costanza pitch an idea for a new sitcom to NBC. Originally airing in 1992, this episode – and subsequent season – not only broke ground in terms of being meta without breaking the fourth wall, it introduced a tagline that has stuck with the iconic comedy for decades. That Seinfeld is, at its core, a show about nothing. “Everyone’s doing something, we’ll do nothing,” George emphatically states.
Even though it existed in a very specific time and place, the comedy in Seinfeld is as timeless as it is influential. From Puffy Shirts to Close Talkers to Soup Nazis to an irate postal worker by the name of Newman, it was a masterclass in comedic storytelling that focused on everyday social interactions.
The ‘90s also had its fair share of ground-breaking comedic video games, and they were mostly point-and-click adventures. We’re talking about the likes of The Secret of Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle and Sam n’ Max Hit the Road. In these games, vibrant pixel-art, 2D animation, and wonderful writing came together to create genuinely funny and memorable moments.
Seinfeld Adventure, the new project from artist and game designer Jacob Janerka and animator Ivan Dixon, takes this idea and runs with it. Jacob, who solo developed the point-and-click adventure Paradigm (read IGN’s Paradigm review here), and Ivan, who directed the animation in Childish Gambino’s “Feels Like Summer,” in addition to the pixel intro for The Simpsons, are no strangers to the age of Hammer Time. Seinfeld Adventure is positioned as something you could have played back then – a floppy-disk or CD-ROM tie-in that feels true to the show.
And much like the show-within-the-show called Jerry, this game-about-a-show isn’t a done deal. Just as Jerry and George pitched the network execs on their concept of a show about nothing, Jacob and Ivan need to convince Seinfeld co-creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David to give the greenlight for their passion project to become a real thing – a game about nothing, as it might have existed in the 1990s… in the only way it could, as a point-and-click adventure.
The Beginning
“One of the first things I wanted to do as an artist was create pixel art,” Jacob Janerka tells me. “I didn’t have a lot of experience so I wondered what I could create as a fan that would be fun. I made George and it was this low-effort pixel art exercise. I posted it on Imgur and it blew up. But I love Seinfeld, and I love pixel art, so I kept working on it and eventually made a fancier GIF that went viral. That was when Ivan contacted me.”
“Hey Jacob, guess what? About ten years ago I started making a Seinfeld point-and-click adventure game. What a coincidence. I never finished it, but I have a playable demo,” Ivan Dixon recites the original message he sent to Jacob. Created while he was still in university, Ivan recalls that the art in his playable adventure was somewhat crude, something he warned Jacob about as they discussed the idea of working together on a Seinfeld adventure game.
“The way we met and became friends was through our Seinfeld projects,” Jacob explains, with both feeling strongly that the underlying idea – a Seinfeld point-and-click adventure game – was a natural fit. Perhaps the only fit. “Just like other great discoveries in the world, multiple people think of it at the same time,” Jacob adds, jokingly.
“What appeals to me about the Seinfeld-verse, is that it’s really rich,” Ivan explains. “It’s got locations that you return to again and again, like an adventure game. There’s also a lot of fun dialogue-based comedy, like in an adventure game. And there’s often recognisable props and repeated gags around things like the Pez Dispenser or the Black and White Cookie or Fusilli Jerry.” These objects feel purpose-made to become adventure game inventory items – they’re familiar, everyday objects, but reinvented in the context of the story.
All iconic Seinfeld objects, all inventory items in Seinfeld Adventure.
“It’s interesting that Seinfeld existed during the golden era of ‘90s point-and-click adventure,” Jacob adds. “Sitcom sets are very much like the sets you see in an adventure game. Also, the style lends itself to overcoming a lot of creative hurdles that you might have if you were to create a more modern Telltale-style adventure. For example, you could create the entire game without actually voicing the characters.”
“We definitely talked a lot about what the project needs to be,” Jacob continues. “We felt that recreating episodes, while kind of interesting, wasn’t that exciting. We feel that this is a perfect opportunity to create new content for Seinfeld in a way that’s appealing. Would Jerry or Larry even want new content? Well, in a way this is a work-around where they don’t have to meet the high expectation of creating brand-new episodes. This is both timeless and stuck in time, a place where we can create completely new plots.”
One look at the sets and the pixel renditions of Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer created so far and you’d probably agree. But what’s it actually going to be about?
The Seinfeld sitcom analysed and played with everything from etiquette, social mores and taboos, through to relationships, dating and the freshness of fruit. There’s an expectation, then, that Seinfeld Adventure would present a Seinfeld take on, well, something. That something is email.
In Seinfeld Adventure’s first episode, “The Email”, Jerry’s dating a publicist who unwittingly gives Kenny Bania Jerry’s email address. Naturally, the Ovaltine-observer and fan of soup begins to flood Jerry’s inbox with a wide range of emails. This breach of trust prompts Jerry to break up with his girlfriend, but he doesn’t want to confront her or do it face to face. Kramer suggests doing it over email, and he does. This then triggers a number of narrative twists and turns involving tickets to the premiere of “Rochelle, Rochelle 2”, enlisting the skills of someone who has contempt for the newfound electronic mail industry, and the appearance of a certain Gore-Tex jacket.
Newman will play his part in Seinfeld Adventure.
“Back during the show’s run email was a new thing and so was the internet,” Ivan explains. “We thought that that would be funny to explore. It also ties the world to where we are now, where the internet and a connected world is everything. In fact, Jacob and I both connected over email and one of the main reasons we’re able to make this together is because of technology like email. It feels nostalgic but also has this contemporary edge by being a break-up story over email.”
“Initially the idea was that maybe you just play as Jerry or George,” Jacob tells me. “But then that began to feel like a George spinoff. The only way it works is with playing and controlling multiple characters. Like with Day of the Tentacle, using all the characters to complete an objective, which in a way is what the show is.”
“It’s almost a reference to the episode where George leaves his girlfriend that angry phone message and they wait for her to get into her apartment and replace the tape before she can hear it,” Ivan admits as we discuss a storyline in “The Email” that involves Jerry looking to delete the email before she can read it. “I love George and Jerry’s chemistry when they’re trying to pull off a kind of heist.”
As Jacob and Ivan started fleshing out Seinfeld Adventure, they began by looking at the source material – the show itself – as both inspiration and template. This means a three-act structure with a comedic story told in roughly thirty minutes. It means multiple locations with multiple characters meeting up and doing their own thing. And it means narratives intertwining and looping over each other as they reach an unexpected conclusion.
I’m speechless! I am without speech.
“I think The Contest is not only a great envelope-pushing episode that discussed masturbation on television,” Ivan says. “But it’s a good example of how you can do a half-hour story where each character has their own little arc. There’s this kind of symbiotic nature to the story. You’re not just interchangeably playing as these characters through different scenes; their actions affect each other. And they bounce off each other in funny ways. If the role of Jerry is to perform a certain task within this scene, then some of that will spill over into Elaine’s story.”
That said, only three of the iconic four characters that make up Seinfeld’s principal cast will be playable. “That was one of the big realisations we had,” Ivan confirms. “The decision that Jerry, George, and Elaine would be playable, but Kramer wouldn’t. In a way you empathise and relate to them, with Kramer acting more like an agent of chaos. You want him to play a role in all the stories, but just like in the show he’ll arrive at the perfect time, say or do something and then that messes everything up. Or, some twist of fate lands him in a favourable situation.”[poilib element=”quoteBox” parameters=”excerpt=That%20was%20one%20of%20the%20big%20realisations…%20that%20Jerry%2C%20George%2C%20and%20Elaine%20would%20be%20playable%2C%20but%20Kramer%20wouldn’t.%20In%20a%20way%20you%20empathise%20and%20relate%20to%20them,%20with%20Kramer%20acting%20more%20like%20an%20agent%20of%20chaos.”]
“What’s been a really fun thing about the exercise is that we’re trying to write in the voice and tone of Seinfeld,” Jacob adds. “We don’t want to it feel completely different. Of course, there will be differences because it’s us and it’s an adventure game. But we’re approaching it from the position of if you were to hire someone today to write brand-new episodes of Seinfeld.”
“There’s going to be puzzles and object-based stuff and conversational things you need to say, but mostly we want it to feel like you’re controlling a Seinfeld story,” Ivan continues. “If you’re George in a conversation, you could yell, you could lie, you could cry, and they’re all funny responses. Some of them will drive the narrative while others just kind of add replay value.”
The Little Details
“Seinfeld was a show that constantly made call backs to earlier episodes,” Ivan tells me. “Often obscure references from seasons past, which was something the finale relied upon. We knew we didn’t want to make a fan service thing, we wanted to create new content in this world that would fit. But we also wanted to include the little Easter Eggs, and with an original story we can still reference those things while creating something that feels like a continuation of sorts.”
Jacob and Ivan have obsessed over every little detail. “When we did the second design pass, we kept going back and forth looking at the characters, and we both had different ideas of what it would look like,” Jacob says, explaining the long process behind getting the look just right. “If we needed to keep them smiling or not smiling. That was a thing that we talked about a lot. One of the hardest parts about creating the backgrounds and sets was finding consistent shots because the sets change a lot in Seinfeld. Especially Jerry’s apartment, trying to find shots of the whole room as a reference wasn’t easy.”
The whole level, Jerry, level.
Hulu actually recreated the iconic set in 2015 as part of a promotion to celebrate having all episodes online to stream. It was a like-for-like recreation that impressed many, but there was one glaring issue. Discerning fans noticed that Jerry’s computer changed from a 1990s Mac to a 1990s PC. Jerry was, of course, a Mac guy.
“I found an article that listed every computer he had and the exact Macintosh we ended up using was one featured in later seasons,” Jacob confirms. “Basically, all of these tiny details you never think about we had to think about. Trying to find the perfect screenshots of one side of the room or what exact painting was on the wall. The Porsche image Jerry has on his wall changes a couple of times throughout the show.”
These little details can be seen throughout Seinfeld Adventure, from the way the cursor of Jerry’s hand opens up when hovering over the inventory in a way that mimics his stand-up delivery, to the various tapes labelled with various bits from episodes past that can be seen on Jerry’s shelf. It’s an approach that spills over into the presentation, in which mimicking the feel and flow has been the template. Much like a typical episode of Seinfeld, “The Email” opens with Jerry doing stand-up, with players given the option to choose each line as it’s delivered to the crowd. It’s a killer concept, and the duo hopes to involve Jerry himself in the creation of the material.
There’s also a freeze-frame at the end with title cards, with both Jacob and Ivan actively considering the use of a laugh-track as a bonus feature to recreate that authentic Seinfeld experience. “Although we would have the game played straight without a laugh track,” Jacob ponders. “A fun idea would be to include an option in the menu where after every joke, there’s a laugh track.”
“You’d definitely want a big holler when Kramer enters too,” Ivan adds.
The Pitch
“One of the biggest comments I got when I posted the early stuff on Reddit was from people saying that they don’t play video games, but this would be the first one that they’d play,” Jacob recalls. “I feel like Seinfeld fans would go to the effort of trying it out. And then it would appeal to, you know, the meme generation.”
Even now over twenty years since the show finished its run after nine seasons, Seinfeld’s popularity hasn’t waned. “They managed to make a comedy that was compelling to a wide audience,” Ivan explains. “It wasn’t all about young people problems either. They made relatable, older characters. I remember watching Seinfeld with my folks and when George’s parents came on the screen, they would laugh so hard because it reminded them of their own parents.”
“We would love it to be funny enough that people would want to replay it,” Jacob adds, noting that watching and re-watching classic episodes of Seinfeld has become a pastime in and of itself. “You’ve knocked off work and you just want to have quick play through of the game. I love the idea of it being episodic, that it can be played in bite-sized chunks. Especially for the target audience. It will take less than an hour, have a beginning, middle, and end and you’ll laugh. There’s really not many, if any, games that you can say that about.”
Touche.
As a labour of love for both creators, they’re treating Seinfeld Adventure as a pitch to rights holders, Jerry and Larry, and as something that can sit alongside the show as we all stream episodes on Netflix, Hulu, Stan, and other platforms. The trailer itself is a mock commercial for an actual product from the ‘90s. “The Email” serves as proof of concept, the story has been written with all puzzles planned out. A playable intro exists too, featuring Jerry’s stand-up and a tutorial that requires making a bowl of cereal to “help him think”.
“It’s designed to be as modular as possible,” Jacob tells me. “If we were to get funding, the perfect scenario would be that we got to make three or four episodes. And we would involve writers from the original show.”
“The kind of dream scenario for us,” Ivan concludes, “is that whoever owns the streaming rights says we love this idea, let’s make a bunch of them. A season of them, and we get the original voice cast to voice them. I could just die if that happened.”
As one of the fab four would say, Seinfeld Adventure is a sponge-worthy idea. But it still needs your help, so put on your Sunday-best Puffy Shirt and help spread the word. Use the hashtag #SeinfeldGame across social media, keep the YouTube trailer playing on repeat, check out the website, and let @IvanRDixon and @JacobJanerka know that you’re master of your domain.
Hulu is now offering select HBO shows for no additional cost as part of it subscription plans. The promotion runs through the middle of next month and includes HBO heavy-hitters like The Sopranos and The Wire as well as comedies like Silicon Valley and Barry.
The best part is if you’re not currently a Hulu subscriber, you can now sign up for a month of Hulu for free. That free trial is for either ad-supported or ad-free Hulu. If you don’t plan on keeping your subscription, the ad-free package is the clear winner.
This follows the announcement earlier this month HBO is making shows and movies free through its own HBO Go and HBO Now services, although when HBO made the announcement, it didn’t give a set time period for the promotion. On Hulu, it runs through May 15, 2020.
Which HBO Shows are on Hulu for Free
The following HBO programs can be streamed for free on Hulu:
I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter
The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley
Jane Fonda in Five Acts
McMillion$
True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality
United Skates
We Are the Dream: The Kids of the MLK Oakland Oratorical Fest
In addition to HBO original series, a selection of movies are also available to stream for free, including kid-friendly picks like the underrated The Lego Movie 2 and the appropriately-rated Happy Feet Two.
Empire of the Sun is also part of the free streaming selection, which I personally recommend because it’s a great movie about a WWII internment camp starring a young Christian Bale, who even as a child was showing off his impressive acting chops. The United Skates documentary also gets a recommendation from me, because it opened my eyes to a scene I was completely unaware of, living way up here in boring Maine.
If you’d rather get ad-free Hulu with a Disney+ free trial bundle, you can go that route, too, and basically fill the next 30 days of isolation with mountains of free shows and movies.
Ad-free Hulu is $11.99 a month, while regular Hulu is $5.99. Both versions have the same free trial period.
Streets of Rage 4, the long-awaited sequel to the classic side-scrolling beat-’em-up series, will be released on April 30 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch. It will cost $24.99 USD (UK and AU prices not available at time of writing), and will also launch straight onto Xbox Game Pass.
The new Streets of Rage is a collaboration between French retro game specialists Lizardcube, Guard Crush Games, and publisher/co-developer Dotemu. It marks the first new entry in the series since Streets of Rage 3 for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, released in 1994.
As an homage to those original games, playable characters from the original Streets of Rage trilogy will be available in their original pixel art form as unlockable characters in SoR4 – and you can check out some exclusive gameplay of those characters in action in the video above.
The game will also allow players to switch on the soundtracks from Streets of Rage 1 and 2 – although original composers Yūzō Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima have contributed to Olivier Derivière’s score for the new game.
A new trailer (above) also revealed the new game’s Battle Mode, a returning PvP mode from Streets of Rage 2 and 3. “This feud-settling battleground is bound to help rivals recognize who truly is Wood Oak City’s finest alley-clearing ruffian,” reads the press release, “as well as settle grudges spurred by accidental friendly strikes during multiplayer sessions.”
For more on Streets of Rage 4, you can also learn more about the game’s music, and how the original composers got involved, and read our most recent preview, where we said it “isn’t trying to revolutionize the franchise, and that’s a good thing”.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan, catch him on Unlocked, and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.
Ninjala, the fun-looking online brawler that was recently announced as a Switch exclusive, will be available widely soon enough–it’s a free-to-play title, due on May 27. But you’ll be able to check it out even sooner than that, as an open beta has been announced.
The beta will run across three one-hour slots, spread across a 17-hour period, and it’s not clear how much of the game will be playable–the game’s site does not give much in the way of information. Here are the start and end times for each beta.
PDT
Apr. 28, 2020, 12:00-12:59
Apr. 28, 2020, 20:00-20:59
Apr. 29, 2020, 04:00-04:59
BST
28 Apr. 2020, 20:00-20:59
29 Apr. 2020, 04:00-04:59
29 Apr. 2020, 12:00-12:59
AEST
29 Apr. 2020, 05:00-05:59
29 Apr. 2020, 13:00-13:59
29 Apr. 2020, 21:00-21:59
These dates come alongside a new developer diary, embedded below. The game is being created by Gung-Ho Entertainment (Teppen, Let It Die) and will, according to the video, receive a season pass after release.
Ninjala is also running an animated show to promote the game and build up its world and story before release. It looks like it could be a lot of fun.
The fictional pop rock ground from That Thing You Do, Tom Hanks’ 1996 cinematic directorial debut, is getting back together in the name of COVID-19 relief. Tom Everett Scott, the drummer from the on-screen band, posted on twitter that the Oneders (Wonders) will be returning for one night to raise money for the MusiCares charity in the wake of the ongoing pandemic and the death of Adam Schlesinger, who passed away due to the coronavirus.
Schlesinger worked on the music for That Thing You Do, as well as the show Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. He also fronted the band Fountains of Wayne.
DETAILS! This Friday April 17th, 7pmEST/4pmPST the One’ders are reuniting FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME for a community watch party of That Thing You Do! We’re gonna have the WHOLE band AND @LivTyler + a few other surprise guests live stream a commentary to raise funds for @MusiCares!! pic.twitter.com/xqVqHeEHya
According to the tweet, the band will be hosting a live music session on their YouTube channel on April 17 at 7PM EST/4PM PST.
Everette will be joined by his bandmates Steve Zahn, Ethan Emvry, and Johnathon Schaech, along with Liv Tyler and some surprise special guests. Fans may recognise the band from the 1996 film, That Thing You Do!, where the band played as the on-screen band for the film.
“We haven’t all been together for over 20 years, and wanted to put this together to honor Adam Schlesinger’s gift to us all through his music,” Embry said in a tweet on Monday. “That’s why we chose @MusiCares to bring attention for all they do for working musicians in times like now. This will be a lot of fun!!”
Fans will be able to submit questions in advance via the bandmates social media accounts.
There are side-quest scattered throughout Final Fantasy 7 Remake, but the greatest concentration is in Chapter 14. You’ll run all around the Midgar City slums to complete those quests, and some of them can be pretty confusing, with their solutions scattered in distant corners of the game’s biggest map. Keep following our walkthrough to complete every side-quest, beat every boss, locate every collectible, and find every secret.
As you leave Aerith’s House, make sure to snag the Pedometer Materia you’ll see on the path ahead of you. Equip it as you walk around and it’ll eventually transform into AP Up Materia, which allows you to level up linked materia more quickly.
When you enter the town in Sector 5, you’ll have access to a bunch of new odd jobs. Drop by the Moogle Emporium in the Kids’ Hideout to buy the Steel Pincers weapon for Barret.
Whack-A-Box Hard Mode
The new version of the Whack-A-Box game you can access in the Hideout is worth trying. It offers the Transference Module accessory if you can take the top score, which fills a character’s limit gauge every time they use a full ATB meter.
To get the top score, equip Cloud’s Iron Sword, to give you the Triple Slash move (you only get the moves that come with each weapon in Whack-A-Box, not the ones you’ve unlocked through proficiency). Your goal here is to keep moving through the area, hitting the boxes with the clock icons on them in order to keep your time up. Focus mostly on 1,500-point boxes; the smaller boxes will eat up time for a lot less payoff in most cases.
When you run up against a 1,500-point box, burn ATB charges on Triple Slash to do more damage, and switch to Punisher mode to try to get through them quickly. Two Triple Slash attacks can destroy a 1,500-point box, and at a few points, you’ll find two together, and can get both with the same set of attacks. Save your ATB for these moments to clear the big boxes as fast as you can. If you keep moving, attacking the big boxes, and seeking out the clock boxes, you should have more than enough time to hit the 30,000-point threshold and become the champion.
Your rewards for finishing are an elixir for 10,000 points, a Crescent Moon Charm accessory for 20,000 points, and a Transference Module for 30,000 points. You also get a Moogle Medal every time you compete, if you need to stock up for something in the Moogle Emporium.
Chadley – Boss Fight: Leviathan
Leviathan is weak to Lightning magic, and you can raise its stagger meter by attacking its head.
Leviathan’s abilities don’t have a particular element, but the best is weak against Thunder magic, so bring your best Lightning materia and outfit your team. The boss itself is a tough battle, mostly because its wily and tough to hit. It’ll continually reposition around the huge battlefield, requiring your melee team to run around in an attempt to catch up. You’ll want to hit the Leviathan with as much Lightning as you can because of this, and make use of Barret’s ranged attacks. Aim for the head whenever you can.
In the first half of the fight, you’ll mostly need to contend with hard-hitting Leviathan attacks that require you to pay attention to positioning. Its Briny Barrage attack is a tough one to dodge, so it’s usually better to Guard through it. Briny Bellow shoots a laser beam at you that hits hard, but if you’re quick you can sometimes dodge clear; the Leviathan will also turn its head to sweep the laser across part of the battlefield, so if you can keep moving, you can sometimes avoid it altogether. Be careful about staying too close to the Leviathan, however, because it’ll activate its Gyre Spume area attack around itself to send you flying.
You want Tifa and Cloud to wail on the Leviathan’s body (marked as “Dorsal Fin” on your menus) while Barret hits it in the head as much as possible, which will drive up its stagger meter. When it lowers its head to charge attacks like Aqua Focus, hit it as hard as you can in the dome to try to pressure it and knock it out of the attacks it’s charging. Focused Shot, Focused Thrust, and Focused Strike are good to further push up the stagger meter–if you can knock the Leviathan down, you can really pummel it–but big damagers like Braver can be enough to stop the Leviathan from doing something painful to your team.
Be careful activating your big attacks like limit breaks, because the Leviathan likes to move around and force you to waste them. If it rears up, get ready for its big Spinning DIve attack, which is next to impossible to dodge and does huge damage as the Leviathan rams into you. Stick with Barret and keep hammering the Leviathan’s head with spells and gunfire when it takes to the air, as well. You’ll take a lot of damage in the fight, so make sure to keep your team healthy with healing magic and abilities like Pray.
After you’ve done some damage, the Leviathan will start flying around, using its Tidal Wave attack to create water cyclones around the battlefield. These will hurt you if they touch you, forcing you to keep moving, so get mobile while you keep firing on the Leviathan. Other than more things to deal with in the battle, nothing much changes, though; keep hammer the Leviathan’s head as much as you can while the melee squad goes after the Dorsal Fin. We liked the Chocobo & Moogle summon for this fight as well, since the Chocobo Kick attack is geared at driving up enemies’ stagger meters.
Be sure to keep your strength up, as eventually the Leviathan will hit you with its big summon attack, which can seriously injure your whole team. You should be able to weather it, and by that point, a few more concentrated attacks will finish the Leviathan off.
Side-Quest: Missing Children (Sector 5 Undercity)
Talk to Ms. Folia outside of the Kids’ Hideout. She’ll dispatch you to find the patrolling kids again. Head north toward Nut ‘n’ Bolts Hills and take the right path toward Lookout Point, going northeast. As you go, you’ll see some purple smoke cross the path, pointing you toward the cemetery.
The two Phantoms you fight in the cemetery like to become invisible, then attack you from behind. Use Punisher counters for their melee attacks, but dodge clear of Frozen Claw.
You’ll have a mini-boss fight facing you in the cemetery against two Phantom monsters. These guys are weak against Fire magic, but they’re a big pain in general. The Phantoms like to disappear as you attack them, then appear behind you for big attacks like Frozen Claw. Try to hit them with Fire spells while they’re attacking your teammates to interrupt them and push up their stagger gauges. When they use their Drain Essence attack, stay well back–anyone caught in the vortex will lose a ton of health, while also healing the Phantoms.
Focus on one Phantom and hit it as hard as you can whenever it appears, and use Punisher mode counter-attacks when the ghosts disappear and attack you. Keep up the pressure until you take them both out. Your reward for finishing the quest is a Time Materia.
Side-Quest: Chocobo Search (Sector 5 Undercity)
Head north toward the train station out of the Sector 5 Center District to run into one of Chocobo Sam’s Stablehands, who will send you out to look for some loose chocobos. That’ll open up fast travel throughout the slums with Sam’s Delivery Service, so you can get around more quickly. It’ll be handy to do so, since the chocobos are pretty far away from each other.
Keep going north into the Nuts ‘n’ Bolts Hills and look for the chocobo at the north end of the area, at the path where you can head east toward Lookout Point. When you find the chocobo, you’ll have to fight a Rust Drake. Skip out on hitting this thing with spells at first, as it’ll absorb the magical energy as long as it’s surrounded in that weird darkness. Instead, pummel it with ranged attacks as best you can until it casts Gravity. When that happens, get in close with melee strikes and do as much damage as you can to dispel the darkness. That’ll open up the creature to magic attacks, so keep hitting it until it staggers and finish it off.
You’re hunting three chocobos scattered around Sector 5, but to rescue two of them, you’ll have to fight tough enemies.
Find your second chocobo outside of Sector 5, past the train station to the west. Take the Sanctuary Way path toward the church and you’ll find the chocobo about halfway.
The final chocobo is located in the Collapsed Expressway. You’ll need to go in pretty deep to find it, but you can’t miss it if you start at the shortcut path on the road between Sector 5 and Sector 6. When you get to it, you’ll need to fight three Trypapoplis monsters. These guys are highly resistant to both magic and spells. Watch out for their Screech attack, which will stun anyone caught in it; when one uses it, all three will focus on the stunned character and use Aeroga spells on them. When that happens, quickly run to each of the Trypapoplises and beat them down to interrupt them and cancel the spell–an ATB ability will usually do the trick.
When the Trypapolises use Dance, hitting them causes them to clone themselves. The clones are quite a bit weaker and you can kill them fast, and that seems to increase the damage you’ll do to the originals for a bit. But a sustained beatdown with abilities like Tifa’s Chi Trap will drive up their stagger gauges–they won’t stay staggered for long, but you can continually pummel them without them getting away, which is almost as good. This can be a lengthy fight, but you should be able to win out once you start separating and killing off the monsters.
Finishing the quest gets you the Sam’s Lifetime Pass key item, which lets you take chocobo rides for free from Sam’s Delivery Service, making fast travel a lot easier.
Side-Quest: Secret Medicine (Sector 5 Undercity)
Talk to the doctor across from the community center, who will send you to find herbs to make medicine. You need three items, but the first is easy: drop by the Moogle Emporium in the Kids’ Hideout to purchase the Moogle Mortar.
Your second ingredient is located in the church where Cloud and Aerith first met. Head to the train station north and west of the Sector 5 Central District, then follow the path north to the church. Grab the herb growing there on the ground.
The three items you need for the medicine quest can be found in the Kids’ Hideout, Aerith’s Church, and the Shinra Underground Test Site.
Finally, head to Evergreen Park and talk to Wymer to get the Subterranean Menace quest, which will take you to the underground lab. There, you’ll have to fight the Behemoth Type 0 miniboss. Defeat it and return to the doctor to get Teluric Scriptures Vol. III manuscript for Aerith as a reward.
Find Damon the reporter north of the Center District of Sector 5, where the path splits in Nuts ‘n’ Bolts Hills. Afterward, go northeast up the path toward Lookout Point. Talk to Mirielle, then pick up the Corneo’s Vault Note key item on the ground behind her.
Find Kyrie in the church where Cloud met Aerith. You’ll want to pick up the Tomboy Bandit quest from Johnny at the Sector 5 Train Station along the way, since these two quests dovetail a bit. After talking to Kyrie, you’ll need to go to Wall Market’s coliseum to deal with the Shinra goons who have been bothering her.
Once you have the key, head to the Collapsed Expressway to open your first stash–it’s just inside the entrance, to the north, and will give you two Moogle Medals and the Diamond Tiara Key Item.
Look just inside the entrance of the Collapsed Expressway to find the first stash.
The second stash is in Steel Mountain, north of the Sector 5 Undercity. Head east from the Sector 5 Train Station to reach it easily, as you approach Lookout Point. It contains a Prayer Materia, a Circlet accessory, and a Ruby Tiara key item, among other things–including a whole bunch of Moogle Medals.
The second Corneo Stash is located just short of Lookout Point in Steel Mountain.
To get to the last stash, you have to re-enter the Sewers. You’ll do that when you visit Don Corneo’s mansion as part of the main quest. The stash itself is in the Former Disposal Area in the Old Trunk Line – Control Section. Work your way through the sewers until you defeat the Mischievous Shoat miniboss; after that, Leslie will lead you to a ladder with a switch beside it. Throw the switch, then return to the Former Disposal Area and enter the stash, which has now been drained.
Find Corneo’s sewer stash in the Former Disposal Area near the Old Trunk Line.
Inside the final stash, you’ll fight the Sahagin Prince, along with two more Sahagins. The Prince is tougher than his buddies, using counter-attacks in addition to the Jump and Harpoon attacks of his friends, but he’s got the same weakness: Fire. Use your most powerful Fire spells to quickly stagger and put down the two Sahagins backing up the Prince, then focus up on it. Watch for him to go into his counterattack mode, then hit him with Fire to drive up his stagger gauge. The biggest threat in this fight is the Sahagins’ ability to turn your team into frogs, but use maiden’s kiss items if things get bad to bring them back. The key is to use Fire often and quickly to try to take out the Sahagins before they can zap you with too many status effects.
When you’re done, finish the Sewers main quest with Leslie. Before you head topside, talk to Marle in Evergreen Park. You’ll get the Art of Swordplay Vol. III manuscript for Cloud when you’re done. You should also find a letter on the ground in the Urban Development District near Don Corneo’s mansion on your way to leave for the plate above, which will unlock the “Divine Gratitude” Trophy.
Side-Quest: Tomboy Bandit (Sector 5 Undercity)
Head to the Sector 5 Train Station and you’ll run into Johnny again, who will tell you he was mugged. His description sounds like Kyrie, the woman Mirielle also told you to look for in the Corneo’s Secret Stash quest.
Continue west and north up to the church where Cloud met Aerith. Talk to Kyrie at the church and she’ll send you to Wall Market’s Coliseum.
You’ll find Kyrie in Aerith’s church, but she won’t help you out until you go to Corneo’s Colosseum.
In the Coliseum, you’ll face the Beastmaster again, but with a new enemy working with him: the Hellhound. The Beastmaster is easy enough to deal with–hit him with melee strikes and Fire spells to knock him out in no time. The Hellhound is a tougher customer, but if you have the right spells handy, you can make quicker work of it.
The Hellhound is a two-headed monster, and each side of its personality has a flame that helps it generate powerful fire-based attacks. Extinguishing one or both of those flames with magic spells drives up its stagger meter in a hurry. You can use Ice spells to extinguish the Hellhound’s red flame, or Cure spells to extinguish its purple flame. Either set of spells will knock the Hellhound down so you can close the gap to do more melee damage. Keep up a barrage of magic and melee and you should take the beast out with little difficulty.
Return to Kyrie to get the key to Don Corneo’s Stash Key and Johnny’s Wallet. Return to the Sector 5 Train Station to return the wallet to Johnny.
Side-Quest: Wavering Heart (Wall Market)
Drop by the gym to find Andrea there and a new Pullups minigame you can take part in. This time, Tifa can take part in the challenge. Similar to the squat minigame, it’s pretty straightforward: beat Andrea to complete the quest. You can then keep at the minigame by challenging the other folks in the gym to earn yourself some additional rewards.
Side-Quest: The Power of Music (Wall Market)
There are multiple music discs scattered around Wall Market, but only three of them count for this quest.
Stop by the jukebox, accessible in the park on the east side of the inn. Betty, the girl there, will ask you to find music discs to cheer up the locals.
First, head to the Inn at the entrance to Wall Market, on the south side of the main square, and talk to the man in the lobby to pick up the Good Night, Until Tomorrow Music Disc. You’ll find the second one in the Corneo Colosseum; talk to the souvenir seller there to snag the Fight On Music Disc. Finally, go through the passageway left of the entrance to the Honeybee Inn to find the Stand Up Music Disc.
Return to the jukebox and play each of the songs to complete the quest. You’ll get the Way of the Fist Vol. III manuscript for Barret as a reward.
Side-Quest: Malicious Goons (Wall Market)
Drop by Madam M’s parlour at the north end of Wall Market and she’ll suggest Corneo is sending men to Aerith’s house. Return to the Sector 5 Undercity and head to Aerith’s. You’ll find the guys in the vacant lot just short of her house, past the Leaf House.
You won’t fight the goons themselves, but rather, a Tonberry. This thing’s attacks are deadly, knocking out your characters in one hit, but it’s slow and deliberate. The trick is to attack it from behind, and keep your distance when it’s coming for you. Its Chef’s Knife melee attack will take you out in one hit, but if you can dodge the Tonberry’s attacks, you can lay down a lot of punishment and drive up its stagger meter. If you cast spells or use Barret’s ranged attacks, make them the ones that don’t have long animations–stand still too long and the Tonberry will hit you with another one-hit kill attack, this one long-range, so try to dodge it.
Keep your distance from the Tonberry, who can take out your characters in one hit.
As the Tonberry’s health drops, it’ll start using an attack that freezes all your characters with Stop, which will open them up to killing blows. Keep your distance as much as you can to avoid it, and use Phoenix Downs to keep your team on their feet until the Tonberry eventually goes down.
Side-Quest: Subterranean Menace (Wall Market)
Go to Evergreen Park and talk to Wymer, who will ask you to clear the monsters out of the underground lab you previously visited. You’ll also need to enter the lab to retrieve the last item you need for the Secret Medicine quest, which is the Behemoth’s Horn.
Crawl down through the underground passage in Evergreen Park to reach the lab. You’ll need to fight your way through it to get to the Behemoth Type 0 boss at the far end. There are some tough fights in here, including a Wrath Hound like the one you dealt with in a sidequest back in Episode 3, but nothing you haven’t faced before.
The Behemoth is a different question. This giant monster is powerful, dangerous, and quick. Make sure you’re fully healed before you slip through the door marked with the Shinra caution tape to fight it. First and foremost, try to stay away from the beast’s head; it’ll swipe at you with its claws, slam the ground to stagger your characters, and thrash them with its horns for big damage. You also generally want to try to keep away from it after you get in close for melee hits, as the Behemoth will occasionally spin in circles to slam everybody who’s nearby.
The Type 0 Behemoth is pretty much an optional boss who will put you through your paces. Take it down to earn a Sharpshooter’s Companion manuscript for Barret.
Your goal in bringing down the Behemoth is to cripple first one half of its body, then the other. A good way to do this is to take over control of Barret, so you can focus fire on either its Upper Body or Lower Body with a variety of attacks, while staying out of harm’s way. Anything you throw at the Behemoth will work, although unless you put a lot of punishment on the Behemoth’s horns, avoid spells–magic will trigger counterattacks until the horns are destroyed.
It’s going to take a lot of damage to cripple one of its body parts, but when you do manage it, quickly focus up on the other body part and lay down as much damage as you can, as quick as you can. Be careful, because the Behemoth will still be capable of attacking you, even if it can’t get away from you. If you can cripple both sides, you can stagger it for some massive damage.
Repeat the process until the job is done; it’ll take a while, but if you keep on top of healing spells, you should be okay. Use your best attacks but execute either with range or hit-and-run tactics to minimize the damage you take.
When you finish, return to Wymer in Evergreen Park to get your reward, the Sharpshooter’s Companion Vol. III.
The Sewers
Once you’ve done (almost) everything else, go to Don Corneo’s mansion. Use the door in his office to go downstairs into the dungeon to snag yourself a Chakra Materia. Back in Corneo’s office, you’ll gain access to the Sewers once again. Fight your way through them–the path is pretty linear. Eventually, Leslie will take the lead as you approach Don Corneo’s hideout. In the breakroom just ahead, use the vending machine to get The Chase Music Disc.
A monster called an Abzu Shoat will soon snag the key to the door from Leslie, prompting a chase. When you see it hiding just past a pile of junk you have to pass under, cross the bridge over the waterway nearby instead to find a chest with two phoenix downs inside.
You’ll start fighting Abzu Shoats not long after. Avoid their Typhoon attack, which can be devastating, and hit them with Fire spells to do big damage and stagger them. When you hit a battle with two of them at the same time, check the corner of the arena for a Poison Materia.
Keep following along until you fight the Mischievous Shoat and his buddies. Follow the same pattern as before, using Fire spells for staggering and taking down the Shoats one at a time. Afterward, follow Leslie to the ladder; beside it is a switch that will drain the water back in the Former Disposal Area, which will allow you to enter the last of Don Corneo’s stashes for the Corneo’s Secret Stash quest.
When you’re done with the stash, follow Leslie back to the beginning of the area. Go after him through the door when he tells you to wait to find a bench where you can rest and restore your team.
Boss Fight: Abzu
Your second go with Abzu will feature Abzu Shoats, which you’ll need to work on eliminating as much as possible.
Don Corneo’s pet monster is back in this boss fight, and the primary difference is that it brings along a bunch of those Abzu Shoat creatures for you to deal with as well. Like the fight against the Failed Experiment, you’ll want to dedicate a fair amount of time to knocking out the little guys in order to clear space to fight the boss, without getting knocked out of your spellcasting animations. As with the last time you fought Abzu, Fire spells are very effective in dealing damage, although they don’t do almost anything to the boss’s stagger gauge, so keep that in mind.
Use Barret’s Maximum Fury with two ATB charges to take out several Shoats at once, while also making use of Cloud’s Triple Slash. You’ll want to focus your attacks on the boss’s weak points again–if you took out one of its horns last time, you’ll be able to target the other this time, as well as its tail. Crippling the boss weakens its attacks and opens it to a lot of punishment, if you can do so quickly, but damaging the appendages isn’t a reliable way to push up its stagger gauge, so keep that in mind. Using Tifa and Level 2 limit breaks you can get from Corneo’s Colosseum to attack the boss directly and stagger it is an effective strategy as well, so see what works best for you and your team.
The first phase of the fight is pretty similar to the last time you fought Abzu. Watch out for the Ground Pound and close-range melee attacks; use the debris around the room for cover, and be careful not to get surrounded by Shoats. You can do a lot of good controlling Barret here, cleaning up Shoats and then turning ranged attacks against the boss. Barret can run up ATB very quickly, which allows you to get a lot of attacks off, whether they’re from spells or abilities. You can also use him in a healing role, especially with so much cover around, because he can often get clear of the fight to get spells off. Don’t forget also that a big Fire spell will briefly set Abzu on fire, giving you a clear chance to hit the boss with Focused Thrust, Focused Shot, and Focused Strike to push have a huge impact on its stagger meter.
Keep knocking out the Abzu Shoats to stop them from interrupting your spells and attacks.
After you deal some damage, Abzu will summon a bunch of sewage to wash all of Don Corneo’s furniture to the sides of the arena. When that happens, a bunch more Shoats will appear; knock them out as quickly as you can and then go after the boss again. Abzu will get a bit quicker and use its Charge attack more, but you won’t need to change your strategy too much. Keep clearing out Shoats and stay away from the boss to avoid its Tail Spin attack and melee strikes. Abzu will also occasionally kick off Blackwater Blast attacks, so run to the side of the pipe the camera centers on to avoid the water.
In the final phase, Abzu’s Shoats will get more aggressive, adding the Headbutt attack to their slate of moves and making them more of a threat. Again, try to clear them out as quickly as you can to minimize the number of threats to your team. Abzu himself will get very tough, adding the Pounce attack, as well as a Blackwater Blast that won’t warn you where to expect it to come from; when that happens, close in on the boss to avoid it.
Keep up the pressure on the boss as best you can, avoiding attacks like Triple Charge and Ground Pound. When you see Abzu readying its Blackwater Deluge attack, get close to the and do as much as damage as you can to try to interrupt the attack, but stick close to try to avoid the water when it rushes in from one side of the room, then the other. If you’re not confident you can avoid it, heal up to make sure you can weather the full damage, and get ready to deal with Poison effects as well. Keep your party healthy and keep up the melee and Fire spells and you’ll finally fell Abzu for good.
After defeating Abzu, head back up when you’re done in the sewers. Turn to your right after the cutscene and go back down the stairs toward the sewer to find a chest with three Moogle Medals.
We might as well start with the one book every Darth Maul fan should read if they want a fuller understanding of his origins and place in the larger Star Wars saga. The Wrath of Darth Maul is one of a series of YA novels recounting the history of various Star Wars icons. Fortunately, Lucasfilm has a strong track record when it comes to publishing YA books that can still appeal to adult readers.
Technically, this novel is no longer part of the official Star Wars canon. But because it was published shortly before Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm Ltd. and well into the original run of The Clone Wars, it still works as an exploration of the history of the titular Sith Lord and the rise of Emperor Palpatine. Until Disney gives us the definitive Darth Plagueis story, this novel is the best resource we’ve got.
One of the last Star Wars novels published before Disney eliminated the old Expanded Universe, Lockdown can also be viewed as a spinoff of the Darth Plagueis novel. Lockdown is set about a year before the start of Episode I, a time when Palpatine is beginning to set his grand plan in motion while also plotting his master’s demise. Palpatine and Plagueis dispatch Maul to a remote prison colony in order to acquire a deadly weapon. And once there, Maul finds himself unleashing his skills and fighting in a gladiatorial arena.
Shadow Hunter was among the first Star Wars novels to attempt to flesh out Maul’s mysterious background and relationship to Darth Sidious. A prequel to Episode I, Shadow Hunter sees Maul dispatched by his master to hunt down a Trade Federation defector, a Jedi Padawan and others who have evidence of Palpatine’s secret plans. Picture a Star Wars version of a Terminator movie and you have some idea of what to expect.
Long before The Clone Wars took the idea of Darth Maul surviving the events of Episode I and made it official canon, Dark Horse Comics toyed with that plot twist in a pair of fascinating, albeit hypothetical stories. It’s worth hunting down both, if only to see the origins of this surprising Star Wars plot twist.
“Resurrection” (originally printed in 2001’s Star Wars Tales #9) settles a popular fan debate – who would win in a fight between Darth Maul and Darth Vader? Set shortly before Episode IV, this story features Vader hunting the Rebels who stole the Death Star plans and encountering a resurrected Maul. In true Highlander fashion, there can be only one Dark Lord of the Sith.
Maul is a recurring character throughout Seasons 3, 4 and 5. Here’s a list of all the relevant Maul/Savage Opress episodes if you’d prefer not to binge the entire series (all of which can be streamed on Disney+):
While the final season of The Clone Wars wraps up Maul’s Prequel-era story, we’ve already seen where his journey takes him closer to the Original Trilogy era. Maul appears in several episodes of Star Wars Rebels, a series which focuses on a plucky band of Rebels lighting the way in a time before Luke Skywalker and Han Solo started hogging all the glory. Ahsoka also plays a big role in the series, making it a true successor to The Clone Wars.
And finally, Maul’s story comes full circle in “Twin Suns,” as he tracks down Obi-Wan Kenobi and sets about finally claiming his long-awaited vengeance. The resulting confrontation is easily one of the greatest Star Wars moments of all time. Full stop.
