Interestingly, it’s not the first time that Disney has tried its hand at a social online multiplayer game. A long time ago, it invested in an extremely successful massively multiplayer browser game known as Club Penguin. Although Club Penguin as players once knew it is long gone, it remains a point of nostalgia for many video game fans who grew up during the Internet age when games like Neopets, Poptropica, and Club Penguin were all the rage. LEGO Star Wars: Castaways is very different, but there are still some design aspects that hearken back to the days of this Antarctic social game.
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A Brief History of Club Penguin
For those who don’t remember it well, Club Penguin was created by a studio once known as New Horizon Interactive. From its outset in 2005, Club Penguin was designed as a child-friendly massively multiplayer online game where every player would design their own playable penguin avatar, then explore the game’s many locations and minigames. Although fans could play for free, as with many MMOs, they could unlock many more features of the game with a paid Club Penguin membership. Members could access new areas of the world map, buy vastly more clothes and accessories with in-game currency to customize their character, and gain more options on how to decorate their penguin’s igloo too.
Club Penguin was a huge success from the get-go, and Disney noticed. Only a couple of years after the game’s launch, Disney made an extremely generous offer to purchase New Horizon Interactive and Club Penguin, which New Horizon accepted, resulting in the studio rebranding as Disney Canada Inc. With Disney’s support, Club Penguin continued to flourish over the years with much bolder expansions and events for the game’s user to enjoy. Over time, it even began adding events themed around Disney movies like Zootopia, creating a symbiotic relationship between Disney and Club Penguin.
Disney eventually shut Club Penguin down in 2017, but it remained interested in working in this family of social MMOs. In fact, it experimented briefly with a mobile version of Club Penguin called Club Penguin Island, but its online multiplayer closed down only a year after the game’s launch, essentially ending the game. Still, Disney is clearly interested in exploring this genre’s potential for child-friendly multiplayer gaming. Perhaps the best evidence for that is LEGO Star Wars: Castaways, which shares a lot of core features with Club Penguin.
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LEGO Star Wars: Castaways Builds on the Formula
One of the most remarkable things about LEGO Star Wars: Castaways is that it’s one of the only LEGO games to date where players play as an original character. At the beginning of the game, players customize a LEGO mini-figure, then jump into the Star Wars world. From then on, players can collect and unlock mini-figure parts to further customize their character as they like. Collecting clothes, accessories, and household decorations was one of Club Penguin’s most important gameplay hooks, which shows how Castaways follows in Club Penguin’s footsteps.
Descriptions of LEGO Star Wars: Castaways put a major emphasis on competitive LEGO minigames, which was another core aspect of Club Penguin. In Club Penguin, sled races and Card-Jitsu would pit players against each other, sometimes earning then in-game currency as a reward. It sounds like these types of minigames will be part of Castaways’ core gameplay too. There’s mention of battling other players in something called the Hippodrome, potentially helping players earn certain rewards or resources like LEGO studs that help them complete other objectives or unlock certain items.
The plot of LEGO Star Wars: Castaways has some similarities to a major Club Penguin narrative too. Club Penguin players who joined the Penguin Secret Agency or the Elite Penguin Force could take on missions involving the antagonistic Herbert P. Bear, a warmth-loving polar bear determined to destroy the penguins’ way of life by turning their island into a tropical resort. Castaways, in contrast, puts an emphasis on the stories of the Star Wars world. Players will be fighting off a corruption that’s bent on destroying records of the Star Wars world’s history. It’s up to players to get to the bottom of this mysterious corruption and preserve Star Wars’ legacy and foundational moments.
LEGO Star Wars: Castaways Seems Nostalgic
All of these elements suggest that LEGO Star Wars: Castaways belongs to a style of game that a ton of video game lovers look back on fondly, even if that style isn’t very dominant in the game industry anymore. It does have one thing that could make it succeed in the long run, though: the LEGO Star Wars aesthetic. LEGO games are still a common sight in the game industry, and in general, it remains an influential brand. LEGO Star Wars: Castaways could draw fans thanks to its unique combination of an old game style with a new look. What’s more, the Star Wars brand is expanding fast than ever under Disney, meaning there’s no shortage of visibility for products like Castaways.
One wonders if LEGO Star Wars: Castaways means anything for Club Penguin too. Disney must still be interested in this genre of games if it’s making Castaways, so Disney giving Club Penguin another chance might actually be on the table, depending on how Castaways gets received. If nothing else, LEGO Star Wars: Castaways looks like a title that could tide some fans over until The Skywalker Saga eventually releases sometime next year. It’ll certainly be interesting to see how Castaways impacts the future of LEGO Star Wars games while imitating Disney games of the past.
LEGO Star Wars: Castaways releases on November 19, 2021 for Apple Arcade.
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