I love Galaxy’s Edge. I don’t mean a “hey, it’s kind of cool and I like it because it’s a part of the Disney theme parks” sort of love, either, but more of the “borderline unhealthy obsession with it and pretty much want to live there” level. It’s probably fine, though… nothing to worry about…

So if you’re like me, and you’re missing Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, there are ways to (sort of) get your Batuu fix from home. There’s some media–books, video games, and more–that take place in and around Black Spire Outpost. They can be a fun way to relive a bit of the Galaxy’s Edge adventure and scratch that itch. It’s not the same as being there, of course, but it’s still better than having no Batuu in your life at all.

So, here are some ways to transport yourself back to Black Spire Outpost.

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Black Spire (novel, by Delilah S. Dawson)

Black Spire is one of my favorite Star Wars novels.

In Black Spire, Resistance spy Vi Moradi is sent on a mission to set up a recruitment base on Batuu. She crash lands, and then proceeds to have adventures in and around Black Spire Outpost. As the story unfolds she encounters different Galaxy’s Edge characters (like Oga of Oga’s Cantina, and Savi from Savi’s Workshop), and goes to many of the locations that fans familiar with the theme park land will recognize.

Side note: Vi Moradi was introduced in the novel Phasma, also by Delilah S. Dawson. It’s not necessary to read Phasma first, as the stories are largely separate from one another (other than both books starring Vi and Captain Cardinal, another main character in Black Spire). Black Spire mentions the convoluted history between the two characters, so if you really want that backstory you should definitely read it, but I never felt that I would have been too confused had I not already read Phasma. I mean, it’s a great book, but it’s also not directly related to Black Spire Outpost in any way. So I only really mention it here for reference.

The story of Black Spire is fun, and it has that mix of humor, drama, and adventure that you’d expect from Star Wars. Getting to experience Black Spire Outpost through the eyes of Vi Moradi is awesome, especially if you’ve been there and can recognize a lot of what she’s seeing. Delilah S. Dawson does a great job of telling the story, and keeping you engaged throughout. She immerses the reader in Vi’s adventure while also incorporating the Galaxy’s Edge experience itself. What’s especially cool about it is that it really makes Black Spire Outpost a part of the Star Wars universe. It’s one thing to walk around and buy blue milk and pretend you’re in Star Wars (especially if you do it in costume, like we did, which you can read about here) but it’s another to really experience the story of the seedy spaceport through the eyes of a character.

What’s extra fun is that the Vi Moradi in the parks will sometimes reference the Black Spire novel. When I was there, and I encountered Vi as she was trying to escape the First Order, she mentioned the crash landing. What’s unique about the character of Vi, too, is that she only exists in novels and at Galaxy’s Edge (so far, anyway). So if you hadn’t read the books, you’d likely have no idea who this person is if you encountered her in the park. I had read them both, so I was really excited to get to meet her. She’s a great character, and I’m really glad that she has a presence there.

I read the book shortly before my first trip to Galaxy’s Edge, and it was exciting to get to experience what I had read about. Now that I’ve been there, I’m thinking about reading the novel again since I’m more familiar with Black Spire Outpost.

So if you really want to immerse yourself in the story of Galaxy’s Edge, you might want to pick up Black Spire. Not only is it a great novel, but it’s a great way to relive (or experience for the first time) the theme park land in a new way. Plus, Vi Moradi is a great character and I wholeheartedly feel that more people should get to learn about her.

A Crash of Fate (novel, by Zoraida Cordova)

A Crash of Fate tells the story of two young humans, Jules and Izzy, who were best friends as kids on Batuu and then reconnect after years apart. Jules is a local farmboy who’s never been far from home, and Izzy is a young woman who left the planet as a child and eventually fell in with a… less than upstanding crowd.

Like Black Spire, A Crash of Fate takes place largely in and around Black Spire Outpost. Readers who are familiar with Galaxy’s Edge will not only enjoy the appearance of characters like Oga, but may also find it neat when there’s mention of specific things like the fried Endorian Tip Yip.

The story itself is OK. I found it a bit too teen romance-y, with the central focus being on the relationship between the two main characters, but of course if you like that sort of thing then you’d likely enjoy it more than I did. It’s admittedly not my thing, though I’ll admit that it’s also neat to read a different sort of story within the Star Wars universe. I did find that using Galaxy’s Edge as a setting was a bit more blatantly “commercial” here at times than it was in Black Spire. For example, when a character orders the aforementioned Endorian Tip Yip, it’s pointed out how good it is and that it was even very tasty cold (after a character got distracted and forgot to eat it when it was warm). It’s probably just a detail added for some realism, but to me it felt a little like the author was trying too hard to incorporate aspects of the theme park land into the story.

There’s still a lot to like in A Crash of Fate, though. The story is fun, and there’s plenty of action (amid all of that icky teen romance). I did like the characters overall, and I felt that the balance between the innocent farmer and the planet-hopping adventurer was classic Star Wars fare. If you need a Galaxy’s Edge fix, this novel may do that. I definitely didn’t hate it by any means, and overall found it to be a pretty enjoyable read. I just found it a bit unbalanced sometimes , and occasionally a bit too heavy on the marketing, especially when compared to Black Spire.

The Sims 4 Star Wars: Journey to Batuu (video game, various systems)

In the popular video game The Sims 4, you create a character and then proceed to live their life. You get up in the morning, eat, shower, go to work, and maybe flirt with someone (and also remember to go to the bathroom now and again). It’s at the same time rather mundane and yet oddly compelling.

You can purchase expansions to broaden your character’s horizons, adding anything from owning a pet to becoming a vampire (though I’m not sure if you can ever get a pet who is also a vampire), and it’s one of these expansions that ties it into our topic here: The Sims 4 Star Wars: Journey to Batuu.

With the expansion, your Sim can travel to Black Spire Outpost. It’s a reasonably accurate representation of it, too, with most of the same landmarks that you’d see if you were walking around the theme park land. You can get a drink at Oga’s Cantina, buy a droid from the Droid Depot, and grab food from Docking Bay 7. You also get to interact with characters like Hondo Ohnaka and Vi Moradi, and you can do missions for different factions (Resistance, First Order, or Scoundrel) to gain their favor and unlock more things to do. The expansion also allows you to reimagine your Sim as a Star Wars character, adding options to make them an alien race and dress them in new outfits.

I honestly hadn’t played a Sims game since the original, but the lure of Star Wars was enough to draw me back in. It’s still more or less the game I remember, and while I know that some people love it (my daughter was obsessed with The Sims 4 for quite a while) it’s never really hooked me. Getting to hang around Black Spire Outpost is great, though, and I’m having fun trying to complete the missions that Hondo is asking me to do. I still put the game down and then don’t go back to it for a while, but when I do jump back in I have fun and then get re-hooked on it for a bit. There’s certainly an addictive quality to trying to complete missions, especially when you know that you’ll be unlocking more as you progress. For example: currently my character is undertaking missions for Hondo Ohnaka, because if I get far enough in the Scoundrel faction I can unlock interactions with the Millennium Falcon. I also have a little purple BB droid following me around everywhere, which never fails to make me happy.

There’s a lot of choices to make as you play. Do you want to bribe that stormtrooper who saw you hacking the wall panel, or do you want to try to pick a fight? Are you going to take missions for the Resistance, or the First Order? How long can you dance with Hondo Ohnaka in Oga’s Cantina before one of you gets bored? The game, in true Sims fashion, doesn’t take itself too seriously and this makes for some fun entertainment. Sadly, these different activities are pretty much “point and click”, in that you’re not actually playing sabacc, but just clicking on a table and instructing your Sim to play. I’d much rather play the actual card game as my character, or enter into a hacking mini-game when trying to access a panel rather than just watching a progress bar, but that’s not really what the Sims gameplay is all about.

Your parsecs may vary with this one depending on what sort of video game you like to play, but The Sims 4 Star Wars: Journey to Batuu does let you play in Black Spire Outpost and that’s pretty cool. At this point, my Sim has completely abandoned their Earth house and job and they just spend all of their time on Batuu. Y’know, like I’d do if given the opportunity…

Force Collector (novel, by Kevin Shinick)

I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure about Force Collector at first. It started kind of slow, and I wasn’t quite sure about where the story was going or if I was going to get into it. It soon gelled, though, and turned out to be a really good Star Wars adventure. Weirdly enough, it even now ranks among my favorites of the “new” canon novels.

In Force Collector, a young man named Karr finds that he’s Force sensitive. As this story takes place between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, the Jedi are all but a myth and even the Force is something that most beings in the galaxy simply don’t believe in anymore. Karr has an ability called Force psychometry, which allows him to discern the history of an object just by touching it. In his travels he uses this ability to learn more about the Jedi and about his role in the Force. The story ties into both the prequels and the original trilogy, which is really neat.

The book is only very loosely associated with Galaxy’s Edge. Over the course of the tale, the main characters briefly stops in Black Spire Outpost, specifically at Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities. If you want to immerse yourself in a book about Batuu, I’d stick with Black Spire and/or A Crash of Fate. However, Force Collector is a really good story as well and it does offer a bit of insight into the mysterious shopkeeper that is Dok-Ondar. The lore of Galaxy’s Edge maintains that there’s more to that old Ithorian than meets the eye, and this book helps flesh that out a bit.

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge (comic book, Marvel Comics)

This five-part comic series focuses on Dok-Ondar, the Ithorian who runs the Den of Antiquities shop in Black Spire Outpost. The overarching story involves a Sith artifact that multiple parties are trying to get their hands on, and each issue also tells a smaller tale that ties into that larger narrative. Familiar characters such as Han Solo, Chewbacca, Greedo, Hondo Ohnaka, and more all make appearances as Dok-Ondar tells tales about his exploits and how he acquired various objects.

The comics came out shortly before the opening of the theme park lands, and they serve mostly as an introduction to the character of Dok-Ondar. As such, the story is mostly about him and his Den of Antiquities, and it only briefly mentions other aspects of Black Spire Outpost. Still, it’s really cool to learn more about him and his role within the land (plus, I have a weird and not at all unhealthy obsession with Ithorians). The issue with Han Solo is specifically about how Dok-Ondar acquired the baby sarlacc–which you can see in his shop while in Galaxy’s Edge–so it’s extra cool that they tie together like that.

I absolutely love Dok-Ondar, so an entire comic mini-series that delved into his personality and history is really cool to me.

The comic series is available as individual issues, a collected book of all five, and may be available on the Marvel Unlimited app (it was as of writing this, but their library does change now and again).

The Official Black Spire Outpost Cookbook (book, by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Marc Sumerak)

If you couldn’t get enough of the food in Galaxy’s Edge, and you really want to try your hand at making some of those delicacies at home, this cookbook offers a variety of recipes inspired by menu items at the theme parks.

I’ve written about this book before, and have shared my experiences with cooking and eating many of the recipes found within (check those out here and here). Not only does it offer a variety of things to make, but there’s a bit of a narrative that talks about different planets and the delicacies that they’ve encountered there. This is all written from the perspective of Strono “Cookie” Tuggs, the chef at Docking Bay 7 in Black Spire Outpost, which is fun and helps tie it all in to the land.

As I mentioned in my other posts about this book, the recipes aren’t necessarily 100% accurate to what is served at the parks. Many of the recipes have been changed, and some of them are unique to the cookbook. Which isn’t really an issue for me, because trying these new things is still a lot of fun. Plus, who doesn’t want to make something called “Huttese Slime Pods” for dinner?

Galaxy’s Edge Symphonic Score/Oga’s Cantina Playlist (music, various outlets)

Like all Disney themed lands, Galaxy’s Edge uses music to enhance the experience. John Williams, the brilliant composer behind the music in most of the Star Wars films, created a score that plays around Black Spire Outpost. In Oga’s Cantina, DJ R-3X plays upbeat tunes to keep the customers in the seedy bar entertained.

If you want to enjoy this music when you’re not on Batuu, you can find the Williams score and DJ R-3X playlists on various music streaming services (like Spotify) as well as available for purchase on iTunes and similar online stores.

The Symphonic Score is beautiful, and in line with the amazing music that John Williams has created for Star Wars over the years. It’s possible that you haven’t really heard it much while in the theme park, since it’s designed to blend in with the overall experience, so it’s great to get the chance to listen to it separately.

The DJ R-3X playlist is made up of dancey pop tunes that definitely sound at home within the Star Wars universe. The music is fun and peppy, and not only does it greatly enhance a visit to Oga’s Cantina but it’s also fun to listen to while driving or cooking. It, as the younglings say these days, slaps.

Traveler’s Guide to Batuu (book, Cole Horton writing as Eloc Throno)

A reference guide of sorts, this book is presented as a guide to anyone interested in heading to Batuu. It’s written as a travel guide for Black Spire Outpost, as the author describes the areas and characters that make up the spaceport.

While the book is an entertaining look at what it’s like to visit Batuu, it’s also kind of hard not to read it as one big ad for the theme park land (which, I suppose, it more or less is). It’s always written as if Batuu is a real place, and the author is a real galactic traveler sharing his knowledge of Black Spire Outpost to his readers, but of course it’s also designed to entice people to want to visit. So, for example, in the section about Oga’s Cantina there is a section about the different drinks and how delicious they all are. There’s a neat bit about who Oga is, too, which does help flesh out the story of the place. That’s fun. The book touches upon each of the shops and restaurants in Black Spire, as well as some of the characters that you could meet while there, and there’s a mix of actual photos from the land as well as some hand-drawn artistic renderings. It’s a weird mix of fiction (characters and background story) and reality (shops and restaurants that you can actually go to at the park), but it’s well presented and for the most part it does come off as a guide written by a traveler in the Star Wars galaxy. There are just a few attempts to advertise how much fun being there is that come off as a bit… umm… forced. Pardon the pun.

If you wanted to read this before you went to Galaxy’s Edge for the first time, it would be a good way to familiarize yourself with what you could do there. If you’ve already been there, it’s a fun bit way to relive the experience and maybe find out about things you missed. Honestly, if you don’t have much interest in the backstory of Batuu and its characters, I don’t think you’d get a lot out of this one. I suppose there is a chance that it would make you appreciate all of that more, or you’ll just wonder why they’re talking about things that you never get to actually see (like Oga). If you’re in love with Galaxy’s Edge like I am, though, it’s a fun trip through the land when you can’t actually be in the land.

Tales From Galaxy’s Edge (video game, Oculus Quest systems)

If you have an Oculus Quest or Quest 2 virtual reality gaming headset, and you want to experience the most immersive Galaxy’s Edge experience short of actually being there, then you’ve got to try Tales from Galaxy’s Edge.

Like most virtual reality experiences, Tales from Galaxy’s Edge puts you into a world that completely surrounds you. As a freighter pilot employed by Mubo (proprietor of the Droid Depot), what starts out as a standard shipping run soon becomes an adventure that will take you to many different areas around Batuu and interact with many different characters. You’ll meet new ones designed for the game, interact with some that are a part of the Galaxy’s Edge lore (like Mubo), as well as encounter some well known characters–like a certain pair of beloved droids.

The gameplay is broken up into smaller missions as a part of a larger narrative, and often they boil down to finding a particular item while also shooting enemies who are trying to stop you. You earn credits by completing tasks, by picking them up from defeated enemies, or by selling spare parts, and then you can spend them on new tools or cosmetic upgrades for your character. Without spoiling too much of the story, I will say that it does eventually take a turn that I didn’t expect. Lightsabers are involved.

Tales From Galaxy’s Edge is incredible. Playing in virtual reality immerses you in the environment, and it’s really cool to have the game happening all around you. It’s a bit of a shame that you can’t actually wander around Black Spire Outpost itself, as the game takes place out in the wilds (as well as inside a couple of specific areas), but honestly that didn’t bother me too much because the entire experience was just so neat. If I had one complaint, it’s that if you’re not used to VR the movement can be a bit disorienting. There are multiple ways to move your character in the game, so you’ve got options, but until I found one that worked for me (the teleport movement mode) I did get a bit of motion sickness at first.

Well, OK… one more complaint: the entire game is a bit on the short side, as from beginning to end it’ll probably only take you a few hours to complete just about everything. It’s a great time for as long as it lasts, and it really does immerse you in the adventure, but it just doesn’t last as long as I’d like. Expansions have been promised, with one coming by the end of 2021, but of course that will likely mean paying more to continue the experience. Which I will gladly do.

Dark Legends/Myths & Fables (books, by George Mann)

These two books are collections of short stories, aimed at middle school age readers, set within the Star Wars universe. Both of them include tales set on Batuu.

Myths & Fables includes a variety of stories with hope and heroics as central themes: an old Jedi takes on a krayt dragon, a droid rebels against its programming, a slaver tries to take the wrong quarry, and more. None of the stories involve existing characters (the aforementioned old Jedi may be Obi-Wan Kenobi, but it’s never explicitly said), but they all feature settings and conflicts that feel at home in Star Wars. Each story is self-contained and a quick read. While they may not add anything to the overarching saga, they’re still fun. Personally, I’ve always liked the random “slice of life” tales from around the galaxy that don’t have to do with the epic conflict between good and evil.

Dark Legends is pretty much a bunch of low-key horror stories set in Star Wars. Werewolves, children stolen in the dead of night, a haunted mask… these tales are much darker in tone than Myths & Fables (as well as most other Star Wars stories). Again, each story is self-contained and separate from the grand narrative that makes up the films and shows, but each one feels at home in the fantastical Star Wars universe.

While each book does contain a story in or around Black Spire Outpost, there are a couple ways to get even more Galaxy’s Edge goodness out of them. If you purchase the special Target-exclusive editions, those each have a few additional tales–including a bonus story that specifically take place on Batuu. Additionally, there is a parks-exclusive edition of Myths & Fables that includes even more stories. I don’t have that one (yet), though, so can’t speak to the additional content.

Honestly, these books were… just OK for me. Some of the stories were great, others not so much. I did enjoy how they were written as a sort of “telling tales around the campfire” vibe, and as I said I do enjoy Star Wars stories that don’t have anything to do with the Skywalker Saga. I could also see a reader more of the age the books are aimed at really enjoying them. For me they’re just kinda cute, and while it’s always fun to read a story set on Batuu none of them really seemed to focus on Black Spire Outpost itself as much as I would have liked.

The Art of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge (book, by Amy Ratcliffe)

If you like Galaxy’s Edge, and if you’re also into theme park design and what goes into building a land, then this will be right up your alley. This big book is full of concept art, behind the scenes commentary, and more.

The art is beautiful, and it’s really neat to see early concept drawings and compare them against the real Galaxy’s Edge theme park land. The author goes into detail on many of the pieces, and there are quotes from Imagineers and designers to help explain what the plans were when the concepts were drawn. So not only is the book great from a “pretty pictures” standpoint, but it’s great to see how things developed over the course of the land’s creation.

Really, if there’s a downside to the book… it’s seeing all of the concepts that could have been and never became reality. Ideas for attractions, characters, costumes, areas, and more are shown throughout the book. Not that I don’t love what we eventually got in Black Spire Outpost, but seeing drawings of cool roaming bounty hunters and reading about action moments that were thought up early on just tease how much more we could have gotten in Galaxy’s Edge.

That being said, flipping through this book is still a great journey from concept to reality. Even if you’re not really into Star Wars and Galaxy’s Edge, it’s still neat from a theme park design standpoint and it could be worth checking out.

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(Not listed is “Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge-Elee & Me”, by Amy Ratcliffe. It is a children’s book about a young girl who adopts a furry little creature and has adventures around Black Spire Outpost.)

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Does reading a book or playing a game compare with actually being in Galaxy’s Edge? No. Not really. Does reading a book or playing a game not only scratch the Galaxy’s Edge itch a bit as well as expand upon the stories and characters found within the land? Yes. Yes really.

The fact is: if I could live in Black Spire Outpost all the time, going on missions with Vi Moradi and sucking down blue milk, I would totally do it. Since that’s (apparently) not an option, though, I need to settle for living vicariously through books and other media to get my fix. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of great option with which to do that. Whether it’s a novel that takes characters on an adventure across Batuu, a game that allows you to wander around the outpost and interact with interesting aliens, or music that you can drift off to as you dream about a galaxy far, far away, there’s plenty of media with which to keep Galaxy’s Edge in your heart and mind.

So, as they say on Batuu: Til the Spire!