Despite some minor gripes, I really enjoyed Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. As a huge Star Wars fan, if you hand me a lightsaber and give me a handful of new and familiar locales from a galaxy far, far away, I’m pretty content. Overall, I felt similarly about Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. I have a number of minor complaints that can be summed up as “I think the game needed more polish,” but ultimately, I had a blast. Much of what I liked from the first game made the leap to the sequel, like customizing your lightsaber and clothing, unlocking new powers and abilities, and having a ship/home base where you check in and chat with team members. All of those and more were also expanded in some very cool ways, though. Note there are some definite [SPOILERS] ahead, in both text and images.
For one, I loved the new home base setup. Not only do you have a ship that you call home, you have a whole cantina filled with colorful characters and little things you can do. I am absolutely a sucker for building up a base and filling it with people and activities. I loved it in Suikoden II, The Witcher 3, Metal Gear Solid V, Fallout 4, etc., so I was excited to see it here as well. This system, for me, makes my adventures feel more meaningful. I’m not just collecting things to collect them, which can sometimes be pretty dull (I found many of the chests in this game to be a bit more work than they were worth). I’m building something, expanding my community. It makes the world feel more alive, and I appreciate that.
Speaking of the cantina, your first visit triggers a classic saloon showdown with one of the game’s main villains, Rayvis, who is threatening Turgle, a squirmy… space frog? Either way, after extensively exploring the first two planets and leveling up a bit, my intervention into the conflict felt appropriate and gave me that sense of “I’m a badass Jedi” that I really want to feel in these games. It’s hard in Star Wars games when you’ve been fantasizing about doing Jedi flips and slicing off hands left and right to be shackled by video game logic early on and barely able to swing a lightsaber. I feared this first Rayvis confrontation might be too early for my Cal to step up and stand his ground, but no. They let me do the classic “Leave him alone” thing, hand on my belt and ready to beat down one of Rayvis’ lackeys, which I handily did with relish. Yes. Let me be a saber-slingin’, roaming hero.
I say saber-slingin’, but you can actually wield a blaster in this installment as well. I have to admit, the Blaster stance was spoiled for me by a TikTok video, and I wasn’t exactly looking forward to unlocking it. Why would I need a blaster when I could either dual wield sabers or go double-bladed? And then I unlocked it and… okay, yeah, it’s pretty awesome. It sounds goofy and in theory I wouldn’t normally like the idea that my Jedi needed a blaster, but in practice it was so fun and versatile in combat. It allowed me to get in close and unleash flurries of quick strikes, which is my preferred approach, then retreat and get a few shots off while I healed or recharged. The stance I would have thought I’d like was the Crossguard stance, since it’s based on Kylo Ren and he is an absolute beast in combat. Alas, it is so slow and deliberate, and I just wasn’t patient enough to adjust my fast-paced style to really learn it. I do like that you can quickly switch between stances, though, and overall, I love the variety that stances brought to the combat in this entry.
It’s easy for story to take a backseat in a game where you get to be a Jedi, but I was pleasantly surprised by Jedi Survivor’s narrative. The supporting cast was key for me, really. I remember fawning over Nightsister Merrin in Fallen Order, so to see her not only return but play such a major role in the story, gameplay, and Cal’s personal journey was more than welcome. I would absolutely plunk down money for a solo Merrin adventure. BD-1 is as adorable and helpful as ever, and Greez’s wry humor keeps things light when the tale takes some dark turns. Turgle is a welcome addition in terms of humor as well, but maybe my favorite new character is Zee, droid and former aide to a Jedi Master from a time long since passed. Her quaint naiveté in a world so beyond what she was used to is charming and often very funny. I loved her voice and design, and I was easily won over with how eager she was to help our cause and be included in our growing band of misfits. Caij Vanda was also pretty rad, though woefully underused.
As a villain, Dagan was pretty lame. His fall was predictable, and I jeered at every one of his attempts to talk tough and prove his dominance. I easily crushed him in each of our encounters. If he had been the game’s final boss, I’d have been royally let down. Turns out, he’s just a one-armed red herring, which made the reveal of the true villain so effective that I actually shouted “What!?” at my screen when it happened. I followed it up with “I should have known, grumble grumble,” and thought back to all of the times that this character said or did something even somewhat questionable. That made for a good twist, in my opinion. I wasn’t quite as happy with Darth Vader’s appearance. His battle with Cere further established her as a powerful, wise, and capable Jedi, but kind of did the opposite for Vader. I appreciate that it expands his lore, particularly regarding the once-only-casually-mentioned hunt for remaining Jedi after Order 66, but how many times can we see him get his ass kicked before we start to question his power and status? Newer Star Wars media, like Rogue One and Obi-Wan show Vader being a powerful badass like never before, but in games he seems to be a punching bag. He’s had his ass handed to him or been outwitted by Starkiller, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, Cal, Cere, and more. Having said that, boy did he kick the ever-loving shit out of me in our fight, lol.
So, yeah, there were several graphical or gameplay things I thought could be smoothed over, and some of the platforming was maddening, but overall Jedi Survivor was another pretty, thrilling, emotional romp through the Star Wars universe. I haven’t even mentioned how good some of the environments looked, but hopefully the screenshots will communicate that well enough. Plus, you can befriend, pet, and ride some very cool and adorable beasties. I’m sure it will miss out on some big accolades in this year crowded with incredible AAA and indie hits, but it’s a great time. I’m just a few trophies short of the platinum, and the only thing that stopped me was the release of another huge game – The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
A New Game Plus 