Star Wars games love giving us the ultimate power fantasies of the galaxy far, far away: wielding lightsabers and the Force as Jedi, being ace pilots or wry smugglers, and stepping into the combat boots of front-line soldiers in galactic conflict. Its latest collaboration instead asks you to consider another, persistent element of the galaxy ticking away far, far beneath that: the life of a subservient droid.

This morning FuturLab announced a surprise new collaboration DLC for its beloved Powerwash Simulator sequel, letting you step into the galaxy far, far away to… well, powerwash things. The DLC casts you as a P0-W2 labor droid, tasked with cleaning up across the galaxy, from the Lars Homestead on Tatooine to Echo Base on Hoth and even inside the hangar bay of a Star Destroyer. You’ll be able to team up with friends, as with other Powerwash Simulator DLCs, because no droid should have to clean all the carbon scoring in the galaxy off of ships and surfaces alone.

FuturLab describes the Star Wars pack as seeing your poor droid taking menial assignments until that “quickly spirals into being commandeered to carry out the Empire’s dirty work, before clearing the way for the Rebel Alliance,” although it remains to be seen if there’ll actually be a narrative arc across its cleaning scenarios or if that’s just some flavorful setup.

But still, there is some potential for intriguing Star Wars commentary here, in that FuturLab makes your perspective that of a droid instead of just some lowly human on the bottom rung of these different factions’ pecking orders. Star Wars has always had an up and down history with how it treats droids as an underserved group. Droids’ quest for personhood and rights is regularly framed through the idea of what kind of labor is considered base enough to be below organic beings and instead consigned to an indentured droid class, who often almost solely exist, in some regards, to do this kind of work, rather than being allowed to exist as sentient beings in their own rights.

Even putting aside that this is perhaps the kind of video game fantasy we’ve never really seen play out in Star Wars before, perhaps it simply being a fantasy that we assign to a droid is commentary enough. You’ll be able to think about the plight of droid rights and also clean gunk off of an X-Wing when the Star Wars pack for Powerwash Simulator 2 launches this summer for $10.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

#Star #Wars #Game #Crossover #Fantasy #Menial #LaborDroids,Powerwash Simulator 2,Star Wars">The Next ‘Star Wars’ Game Crossover Gives You the Fantasy of Menial Labor

Star Wars games love giving us the ultimate power fantasies of the galaxy far, far away: wielding lightsabers and the Force as Jedi, being ace pilots or wry smugglers, and stepping into the combat boots of front-line soldiers in galactic conflict. Its latest collaboration instead asks you to consider another, persistent element of the galaxy ticking away far, far beneath that: the life of a subservient droid.

This morning FuturLab announced a surprise new collaboration DLC for its beloved Powerwash Simulator sequel, letting you step into the galaxy far, far away to… well, powerwash things. The DLC casts you as a P0-W2 labor droid, tasked with cleaning up across the galaxy, from the Lars Homestead on Tatooine to Echo Base on Hoth and even inside the hangar bay of a Star Destroyer. You’ll be able to team up with friends, as with other Powerwash Simulator DLCs, because no droid should have to clean all the carbon scoring in the galaxy off of ships and surfaces alone.

FuturLab describes the Star Wars pack as seeing your poor droid taking menial assignments until that “quickly spirals into being commandeered to carry out the Empire’s dirty work, before clearing the way for the Rebel Alliance,” although it remains to be seen if there’ll actually be a narrative arc across its cleaning scenarios or if that’s just some flavorful setup.

But still, there is some potential for intriguing Star Wars commentary here, in that FuturLab makes your perspective that of a droid instead of just some lowly human on the bottom rung of these different factions’ pecking orders. Star Wars has always had an up and down history with how it treats droids as an underserved group. Droids’ quest for personhood and rights is regularly framed through the idea of what kind of labor is considered base enough to be below organic beings and instead consigned to an indentured droid class, who often almost solely exist, in some regards, to do this kind of work, rather than being allowed to exist as sentient beings in their own rights.

Even putting aside that this is perhaps the kind of video game fantasy we’ve never really seen play out in Star Wars before, perhaps it simply being a fantasy that we assign to a droid is commentary enough. You’ll be able to think about the plight of droid rights and also clean gunk off of an X-Wing when the Star Wars pack for Powerwash Simulator 2 launches this summer for $10.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

#Star #Wars #Game #Crossover #Fantasy #Menial #LaborDroids,Powerwash Simulator 2,Star Wars