Star Wars Jedi: Survivor releases on April 28th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC. It faced a short delay from its original March 17th date, but it’s understandable. The past few weeks have highlighted just how massive the sequel is.
The game is also packed with things to do, like side-quests, the optional Jedi Chambers puzzle rooms and platforming-focused Force Tears. New enemy types, Lightsaber Stances – including proper dual-wielding – and Force Powers also await. If all that wasn’t enough, human dismemberment is finally in.
All of this sounds like it’ll make for an excellent sequel. However, much of this can be attributed to having a strong base with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. It’s almost insane to believe, but there was a chance that the first game never happened.
In 2014, Respawn Entertainment talked about making a new Star Wars title. Electronic Arts, who held an exclusive license, declined. Respawn would begin working on an original property, rumored to be a third-person action game.
Turning it into a Star Wars game was surprisingly done at the behest of EA. Lucasfilm was keen on a title with a bounty hunter or smuggler since it didn’t want to mess with Jedi lore. Respawn stuck to its guns, and the rest is history.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order launched in November 2019 and was a massive hit, becoming the fastest-selling digital title in the Star Wars franchise in the first two weeks. It sold over eight million copies by January 2020 end, and over 10 million by March 31st. Over 20 million played it as of June 2021. That number is likely even higher now, thanks to the buzz around Jedi: Survivor.
But what made Fallen Order such a great game? How did it transcend previous Jedi-focused releases and earn a place among greats like Shadows of the Empire, X-Wing and Rogue Squadron 2? What made it so special? The answer is all the right things at the right time.
The first is the timing. Forget that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, released just after Fallen Order, is terrible. Since The Force Awakens, Star Wars was hot, a trend that continued with Rogue One (featuring an incredible sequence of Darth Vader – more on that later) and The Last Jedi (which also received mixed audience reactions but still did very well). There was also a little something called The Mandalorian which was a massive hit.
Films like Solo highlighted problems with the yearly film cadence, but its biggest flaw was telling a story no one cared about. Right away, Jedi: Fallen Order gave you a reason to care. Set between Episodes 3 and 4, it features Cal Kestis, a Jedi Padawan in hiding after Order 66 wiped out the Order. After using the Force to save his co-worker, Cal exposed himself to the Empire’s Inquisitorius. One thing led to another, and he joined Mantis’s crew with Cere Junda, a former Jedi Seeker, and Greez Dritus, a pilot.
The trio began a journey to recover the Jedi Holocron – a list of Force-sensitive children that could revive the Order. Along with BD-1, an adorable droid that assists him, Cal would run into Merrin, a member of Dathomir’s Nightsisters whose clan was slain by General Grievous, though she’s led to believe the Jedi are responsible.
There was already significant gravitas to these interactions, making the player feel they were a part of Star Wars legend. Again, more on that later, but it certainly helps that several writers on the team worked on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Rebels (the good parts, presumably).
As a result, the characters were in keeping with the general tone of Star Wars. On top of having deep connections to the established lore, they’re also well-developed and extremely well-written.
Despite how plain Cal comes across at first, he’s shown to be a well-nuanced hero – doubtful but determined and unwilling to give up, even if all is lost. It’s easy to relate to, but the setting also created an atmosphere more akin to The Empire Strikes Back – one of overwhelming despair, yet where you can’t help but root for the heroes to succeed.
The second is the gameplay. While The Force Unleashed provided a nice hack-and-slash power fantasy, it was also over-the-top. Which was fine, but the sequel eventually jumped the shark with its story-telling and combat. The mission design in the first game also wasn’t the best (the sooner we forget that mission to pull down the Star Destroyer, the better).
Jedi: Fallen Order begins with a super-compelling linear segment and leads to Metroid-like exploration. There are optional areas to explore, enemies to fight, secrets to find, and some places blocked off that require certain abilities to progress. This is, of course, in addition to the main missions that offered the same action-adventure-heavy gameplay as the opener with some solid platforming.
The combat is also really good, embracing a more grounded approach. It utilized a deflect mechanic akin to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which was released in the same year, but didn’t outright copy it. The combat was fluid yet visceral and felt easy to pick up but rewarding when mastered. Sure, the Force abilities could have been expanded, but what was there felt fun.
And if you wanted to challenge yourself further, various difficulty options let you change the timing on deflections, making battles more akin to life-or-death situations.
Remember how we spoke about a story people care about and creating an atmosphere akin to The Empire Strikes Back? Jedi: Fallen Order was already knocking it out of the park with its narrative, but the finale is one of the very best in video games as Cal goes against Darth Vader.
This is a relentless and unstoppable Vader, easily blocking Cal’s strikes, throwing massive ship parts at him and tearing apart structures without care for anyone else. There’s no health bar or even the pretense that players stand a chance, and it’s amazing. For such a well-rounded game to end on such an unforgettable sequence is rare.
While all of this already made Jedi: Fallen Order a great game, its post-launch impact is reportedly even greater than many think. Because of its success, it apparently pushed Electronic Arts to return to single-player, story-focused titles. The publisher never confirmed this, of course. However,
The fact is, we’ve gotten a remake for Dead Space with no microtransactions or hang-ups. Single-player-focused sequels are also inbound. None of this is coincidental, and Jedi: Fallen Order got the ball rolling.
It wasn’t a perfect game. There were several bugs and issues, with the developer admitting it could have used some more time for polish. But there’s no denying that it’s great, even today. Even if you’re generally on the fence about Star Wars, it’s a great way to jump into the franchise before playing Jedi: Survivor, and just an excellent action-adventure game in its own right.
Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.
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