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Lego Star Wars: Castaways online multiplayer available on Apple Arcade

The new adventure game combines the best of Star Wars and Lego. You can download and play today.

Shelby Brown Editor II
Shelby Brown (she/her/hers) is an editor for CNET's services team. She covers tips and tricks for apps, operating systems and devices, as well as mobile gaming and Apple Arcade news. Shelby also oversees Tech Tips coverage. Before joining CNET, she covered app news for Download.com and served as a freelancer for Louisville.com.
Credentials
  • She received the Renau Writing Scholarship in 2016 from the University of Louisville's communication department.
Shelby Brown
2 min read
star-wars-castaways

Star Wars Castaways is the first online multiplayer game from the Lego Star Wars game universe. 

Star Wars

Lego Star Wars: Castaways, a new action-adventure title from Gameloft, is now on Apple Arcade. Castaways, an Apple Arcade exclusive, is the first online social Lego Star Wars game. Players can seemingly forge their own path in gameplay -- battle other players, race starfighters, complete quests, solve puzzles or just hang out with friends in the environment (think Animal Crossing).

The game's plot sees players crash land on a hidden tropical planet that's anything but deserted. Team up with other players or go at it alone to learn the planet's history and protect historical recordings from corrupt forces seeking to rewrite history. The planet's history features iconic Star Wars moments that you can play through via in-game simulations.

Players can create and customize their character with Lego Star Wars pieces. Battle Tusken Raiders and stormtroopers, visit Jabba's palace and explore the Death Star through recorded simulations spanning the entire galaxy.

Gameloft Senior Producer Lee Kaburis and Creative Director Jacques Durand said that the new game offers a fresh take on narrative, exploration and discovery.

"We pursued this genre fusion because we wanted our players to experience iconic Star Wars moments as their own unique Lego Star Wars mini-figure, expressing themselves amongst their friends and having this space to socialize," Durand told CNET in an email. "This game has become the perfect platform to share our love for Lego and Star Wars."

The social features of the game offer another way to connect with friends amid the pandemic. Games offer players a space to create a sense of community, according to Kaburis. 

lego-star-wars-castaways

Lego Star Wars Castaways development team took extra care to make the game's social features safe for users. 

Apple

Lego Star Wars Castaways' social features are different than what players would experience through local multiplayer. The game lets players connect with friends worldwide through servers of up to 20 people, according to Kaburis. The development team has also taken steps to ensure that the social features in Lego Star Wars Castaways are safe. The team took Apple's data collection terms into account, as well as making sure the game complies with COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) and GDRP-K (European Union's General Data Protection Regulation) standards, according to Durand. 

In addition, players can't use their real name as a username in the game or use text to interact with other players. Lego Star Wars Castaways also doesn't support public or private text-based or voice-based chat features. 

"This protects players from unsafe or harmful situations that could be caused by another player," Durand said. "Nonetheless, players are able to interact with each other through an emoji language and emotes. It's safe, and it's fun!"

Lego Star Wars: Castaways joins Apple Arcade's catalog of over 220 games -- including titles like Lego Brawls, Lego Builders Journey and Lego Star Wars Battles. New titles are added weekly. Apple's catalog of games is available to play across iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Mac and Apple TV for $5 per month or $50 annually. 

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