Star Wars: Starfighter

2001 LucasArts Action, Simulation

Windows 11With a fix

MacNot sold

LinuxGold

Steam DeckPlayable

Gamicality score

Metacritic 714

OpenCritic Not rated

Steam players 531

How it’s combined

Playability today

Runs today4/5

Design today1.5/5

Steam user reviews

Mixed

54%

677 reviews1

Get it on Steam Watch the trailer

Facts checked November 1, 2026

Does Star Wars: Starfighter run on Windows 11, Apple Silicon Macs, Linux and Steam Deck?

Windows 11With a fix

Runs with a fix. See the steps below.1

Mac (Apple Silicon)Not sold

No Mac version is sold.

LinuxGold

Through Proton. ProtonDB: Gold, runs perfectly after tweaks.3

Steam DeckPlayable

Playable, as rated by Valve. May need some setup.1

Played Star Wars: Starfighter lately?

One click, no account, so the next player knows. How we check where it runs

How to get Star Wars: Starfighter running today

Cap the frame rate at 30 FPS, for example with RivaTuner or your GPU driver, to stop menu skipping and excessive screen shake (PCGamingWiki).
To remove the shake on hit entirely, open Game\AutoExec.con and comment out the CShakeCtrl lines (PCGamingWiki).
For a widescreen image, pick an in-game resolution, force your native resolution with dgVoodoo 2 and apply the FOV fix linked there (PCGamingWiki).

Synopsis

Star Wars: Starfighter is an arcade space and atmospheric combat game set just before and during the events of The Phantom Menace. Across 14 story missions you fly as three pilots, a Naboo fighter, a mercenary and a pirate, each with a ship of their own, in dogfights, strike runs and escort missions, with medals and bonus missions to unlock.

Developer: LucasArts
Released: 2001
Genre: Action, Simulation
Where to get it: Steam

Reception

The PS2 original was well received, but the 2002 PC port landed with a mixed 71 on Metacritic, where critics liked the music, sound and action but called it an unpolished console conversion. Players today enjoy the arcade flying and the John Williams score, and note the campaign is only around four to five hours long. Recurring complaints are the violent camera shake whenever the ship takes a hit, awkward keyboard and mouse controls that can only be changed in the launcher, and late missions with no checkpoints.

Trailer from Steam

Playability today

The average of two parts, each from 1 to 5. Tap a check to see why. How it works

Runs today

4/5

Sold or given away today by an official source
Needs fan patches to run well on Windows 11
?Not confirmed yetSingle-player works without an internet connection
No source covers the current version yet, so this check counts as open, not passed. Played it lately? Tell us
All of its content still works (servers, DLC, unlocks)
The PC version never had multiplayer, so nothing has shut down, though it lacks the extra missions of the Xbox Special Edition (PCGamingWiki).
No proper support for modern resolutions and widescreen
Custom resolutions are pillarboxed to 4:3 unless forced with a DirectX wrapper and an FOV fix (PCGamingWiki).
Full controller support or remappable controls
XInput controllers are supported with remapping, but the launcher needs a mouse (PCGamingWiki).
Steam Deck Verified or Playable
No intrusive DRM or required third-party launcher account
No pay-to-win or pushy microtransactions
No known game-breaking bugs in the current version
PCGamingWiki lists no open issues that crash or block progress, and the high frame rate glitches have a known fix (PCGamingWiki).

Design today

1.5/5

Controls feel natural on a modern controller or mouse and keyboard
XInput controllers work with full flight controls and remappable buttons, although keyboard and mouse play is awkward and remapping only happens in the launcher. Source: pcgamingwiki.com, steamcommunity.com.
Menus, text or interface are hard to read on today's screens
The game has no native widescreen support and pillarboxes custom resolutions to 4:3, with no windowed mode; menus are clumsy to navigate. Source: pcgamingwiki.com, steamcommunity.com.
Saving is harsh: few saves or checkpoints, progress gets lost
Progress saves between missions only, with no checkpoints, so dying late in a mission restarts it from the beginning. Source: gog.com.
Hard to make progress without a guide
The game never shows how to set up keyboard or controller; bindings can only be changed in the external launcher before play, and players pass around step-by-step guides to find them. Source: steamcommunity.com.
Pacing drags: grind, filler or forced backtracking
Later missions turn sharply harder, with very accurate enemies, and without checkpoints a death means replaying the whole mission. Source: steamcommunity.com, gog.com.
Camera or movement fights the player
Every hit throws the camera into a violent shake that disrupts aim and steering, a complaint repeated across reviews and threads. Source: steamcommunity.com, steamcommunity.com, gog.com.