Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was a surprise hit back in 2019. The single-player action-adventure title went strongly against EA’s multiplayer and live service focus at the time and featured a new cast of characters rather than established faces. Despite this, Fallen Order was a major hit with a well-written story, great combat and attentive level design. It wasn’t perfect and sometimes felt unfinished, but Fallen Orderlaid an excellent foundation for a sequel. Now, more than three years later, that sequel is almost here. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor aims to build and expand upon the success of Fallen Order with a more ambitious story, combat and more significant levels. We went hands-on with an early section of the game to see how Star Wars Jed: Survivor is shaping up a month out from launch.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor occurs ten years after Revenge of the Sith and five years after Fallen Order. Cal and BD-1 are all alone and, after a series of unfortunate events, end up crash landing on the rocky and mysterious planet of Koboh. Having damaged the Mantis (his ship), Cal must search the planet for his old shipmate Greez. That search will cause Cal to discover secrets that will profoundly impact him moving forward.
The demo picked up about an hour into the game and involved Cal searching for Greez. While we can’t get too deep into the plot, what was available was engrossing. The story is deeper, with a greater emphasis on the Star Wars mythos than the narrower scope of its predecessor. There are plenty of exciting moments, intrigue and drama to keep all forms of Star Wars fans excited and guessing about what’s to come next.
If there’s one major takeaway from the transition to Survivor from Fallen Order it’s just how more refined the mechanics are compared to the first game. Players will feel right at home jumping back into Cal’s shoes. He still has his regular rotation of saber strikes and Force moves to call upon at any time. Abilities like Push, Pull, Wall-Running and Double Jump are all available from the get-go. The first area of Kobah involves a tar dam that’s mostly linear to get players back into combat and puzzle-solving. While Fallen Order was good, there was a certain level of jank to its gameplay, enemy placement and Force Abilities. Survivor appears to have ironed that out with better melee tracking, more competent enemy placement within levels,and Force Abilities that feel more useful thanks to an extended Force gauge. Also, at least in the demo, there were none of those terrible sliding sections that dominated Fallen Order’s levels.
New to Cal’s arsenal are a trio of new lightsaber stances. In addition to the returning single blade (jack-of-all-trade) and double-bladed (crowd control) stances, Cal can now dual wield, use a Crossguard saber, and utilize a blaster. Dual wielding is the aggressive stance with its quick slashes and agile movements, though it comes at the cost of defense. In combat, the stance performed well against bosses and large, lumbering creatures, but was a poor choice against crowds and quick Commando Droids. Finally, though there was no opportunity to play with the Crossguard and blaster stances, we at least got to see them in action. As expected, Crossguard is the heavy stance that hits hard but is slow. Meanwhile, the blaster stance gives Cal a blaster for ranged action.
All the stances are neat and allow for more gameplay opportunities, but there’s a catch. At least in the demo, it appears that only two stances could be equipped at once rather than a more free-flowing system likeGhost of Tsushima, where it’s a breeze to swap between all stances at once. Hopefully, this is addressed further into the game or was just something we missed as this potential limit on stances doesn’t feel right.
After the jaunt through the dam, fighting the first official boss, meeting Greez and searching for missing parts to fix the Mantis, Koboh finally opens up. Fallen Order’s mostly linear levels have been replaced with areas akin to God of War Ragnarok. Players now have these large spaces to explore, towns to visit and characters to interact with. In addition to following the story, players can charge off the beaten path in search of Force Tears, hidden bosses, Jedi Chambers and Stim Canisters. It’s all a more seamless and lively experience than Fallen Order’s world.
Activities now provide rewards that can be spent in towns like Rambler’s Reach. There, players can spend these rewards to unlock additional cosmetic options for Cal. While customization in Fallen Order was limited to a few items like Ponchos and the saber, Survivor opens it up drastically to include hair, facial hair, shirts, pants and additional materials. Of course, Lightsaber customization is still fantastic, with even more cosmetic options and crystal colors.
Wandering around Koboh and discovering its secrets was wonderful, especially with the litany of quality-of-life changes made for the sequel. Like its predecessor, Survivor does contain elements of a Soulsborne game. Enemies are tough, but the sequel is more forgiving thanks to better enemy placement, increased starting Stims (3 instead of 2) and better-telegraphed attacks. Enemies still glow red when charging a heavy attack, so hopefully, no major boss fights end up in a red-lit room, a la the final fight against Trilla. Playing on the middle Jedi Knight difficulty led to only two deaths, both against the ferocious Mogu creature. For those who thought Fallen Order could sometimes feel unfair, Respawn appears to have listened.
Helping exploration are two new, much-needed additions to Survivor. Respawn Entertainment has listened and Fast Traveling is here. Players can now instantly travel between discovered Meditation Points, a much-needed addition to these larger worlds. There are also the Nekkos, creatures that Cal can mount to quickly traverse the map and help reach higher areas.
While still a work in progress, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s presentation is in a strong place. The lighting, environments and main character models and textures look fantastic. Much of the animation jank from the original, including Cal’s awkward run, has been entirely smoothed over and is pleasant to witness. Of course, it’s possible to still spot a handful of low-resolution assets, and the NPC models and textures aren’t nearly as detailed as the main characters and stick out like sore thumbs. The only problematic area involved wandering around Rambler’s Reach, which tanked the performance. Hopefully, this is something that can be smoothed out ahead of launch.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was the long-awaited return of single-player Star Wars games. Respawn Entertainment proved they could create an original Star Wars story with memorable characters while providing a quality gameplay experience. It wasn’t perfect, with unfinished aspects and design choices that didn’t feel like they fit within Star Wars, but it laid a strong foundation for a sequel to polish things. After spending three hours with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Respawn appears to be successfully building on that foundation. It’s a tale of refinement and improvements sprinkled with enough new elements to keep things exciting. While the game currently has performance issues that need smoothing out, everything else we were able to try was fun and fantastic. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait much longer to see how masterful this Jedi Knight has become.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor launches April 28 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
