Star Wars: Jedi Challenges AR lightsaber battles now let you duel a friend

Last year, Lenovo and Disney teamed up to release augmented reality (AR) game Star Wars: Jedi Challenges, which lets players practice their lightsaber skills, command troops in ground wars, and play the iconic game of Holochess.

Now, a free update is letting players duel one another in the new 1-on-1 Lightsaber Versus Mode.

Given the expensive price of the full setup, which requires players to plunk down $199 for the Lenovo Mirage AR headset, a lightsaber hilt, and a tracking beacon, players will be happy to see the title continue to receive this kind of free, ongoing support.

This marks the second free expansion brought to the game after the earlier Star Wars: The Last Jedi expansion.

This update introduces local multiplayer, so two players with the full kit can set up in the same room and see who's the more masterful Jedi.

The game will give each player prompts for which actions to take, such as telling one player to duck while the other player is instructed to swing. It might not be the freeform duel everyone has dreamed of since first seeing a Star Wars movie, but it will certainly test players' Jedi reflexes.

This is also a compelling step forward for AR games, as multiple users will be able to share an AR experience. Players can see their own lightsabers as well as their opponent's.

We tried it out for ourselves, and quickly got caught up in the action; it's a fast-paced and impressive AR experience that, best of all, lets you know what it's like to use a lightsaber.

Players can get the update now from the Google Play store or the iTunes App Store.