Was never really all that big into Star Wars, nor have I ever played a Souls game (or the like) at all up until this point, but after I was told to play this game by a simple recommendation of a Star Wars head friend of mine I thought I would step outside of my boundaries for a bit. Oh, MAN, did I enjoy doing that in the end.
It feels like an actual Star Wars story for once. I've seen all the movies (minus The Phantom Menace) at the time of writing, and the more recent ones in the sequel trilogy still leave a shit-stained memory in my brain, but this game being the most recent Star Wars media I've indulged myself in really made me remember how good this franchise really is. Even better yet, in the immersion of being in a video game, so you as the player feel yourself immersed in the story being told to you.
To top it off, the orchestral soundtrack sounds straight out of a Star Wars movie with rearrangements of classic Star Wars songs. To me, it felt very surreal that it felt like I was actually in a movie theater experiencing everything even though I was just in my bedroom playing a video game. I don't think I can stress enough the feeling of actually being immersed in a video game, and this game does it perfectly.
Even though the game is very plot-driven, I feel like the best part of this game are the characters themselves. Cal and Cere especially feel very human and just seeing them interact with each other feels like watching a mother raise her own child at times. Greez even feels like the funny uncle that tags along everywhere. It's unfortunate that due to her appearing so late into the game, Merrin didn't get much time to shine. I hope she does in Jedi: Survivor which I have yet to purchase, but even seeing her learn from Cal in this game felt nice. Even with the main villain, the Second Sister, you can see her struggles with her past quite clearly and how torn she is inside. Finally, for a little cute robot that is incomprehensible, BD-1 sure did add a nice finishing touch to an already stellar cast; a cherry on top.
Despite such an immersive and humane experience, however, I did notice that the game becomes very stale as you play more and more. At some point, it kind of felt like I was just going to some planet, traversing it, going back to the Mantis, and finally cutscenes. This happened throughout the game from start to finish, which starts becoming more and more apparent as one plays more. Additionally, because a lot of the game has you revisiting planets you've already been to in order to progress to new areas in such planets, it should be a standard that you should be able to fast-travel to areas that you've already been to. Unfortunately, there is a serious lack of that, making traversal much more of a slog and making the game feel a lot more stale.
The combat felt very solid but only for some enemies. At some point, it felt like the game's difficulty came more so from being annoying rather than actually being hard. Some enemies felt like sponges (the giant Droids) or even brick walls (any of the Purge Trooper variants). Granted, a lot of enemies' tediousness can be counteracted by Force abilities or abilities in Cal's skill tree, but you're only limited to how many times you can use those before it's back to swinging your lightsaber(s) and dodging.
Speaking of annoying, the parkour and just general traversal in this game are also annoying and even janky and buggy. Apparently, the PS5 version of the game is riddled with bugs (thanks, Western video game developers), but it really sucks how sometimes I don't grab onto a pipe and instead hit my head on it leading me to die. This would normally be fine if I were just respawned to the platform before the pipe but sometimes the respawn point would be set to the literal void. Because of this and the annoying puzzle design in the Tombs, YouTube quickly became my best friend for this game.
Finally, there is a reason to explore to increase your Force and/or health meters, but I felt that the lack of side quests in this game made me not have much incentive to explore to get these things. Cal’s skill tree also boosts these meters, so there really isn’t much of a reason to grab the Secrets other than for just simple exploration. Additionally, the chests you can get from exploration give you really shitty cosmetics which have no personality to any of them, ESPECIALLY the ponchos.
Solid 4/5. I don't think you necessarily have to be a huge Star Wars fan to enjoy this game; it's a Soulslike game for everyone. I wouldn't say it's a must-play, but it's definitely something that one can appreciate for a long time to come.
It feels like an actual Star Wars story for once. I've seen all the movies (minus The Phantom Menace) at the time of writing, and the more recent ones in the sequel trilogy still leave a shit-stained memory in my brain, but this game being the most recent Star Wars media I've indulged myself in really made me remember how good this franchise really is. Even better yet, in the immersion of being in a video game, so you as the player feel yourself immersed in the story being told to you.
To top it off, the orchestral soundtrack sounds straight out of a Star Wars movie with rearrangements of classic Star Wars songs. To me, it felt very surreal that it felt like I was actually in a movie theater experiencing everything even though I was just in my bedroom playing a video game. I don't think I can stress enough the feeling of actually being immersed in a video game, and this game does it perfectly.
Even though the game is very plot-driven, I feel like the best part of this game are the characters themselves. Cal and Cere especially feel very human and just seeing them interact with each other feels like watching a mother raise her own child at times. Greez even feels like the funny uncle that tags along everywhere. It's unfortunate that due to her appearing so late into the game, Merrin didn't get much time to shine. I hope she does in Jedi: Survivor which I have yet to purchase, but even seeing her learn from Cal in this game felt nice. Even with the main villain, the Second Sister, you can see her struggles with her past quite clearly and how torn she is inside. Finally, for a little cute robot that is incomprehensible, BD-1 sure did add a nice finishing touch to an already stellar cast; a cherry on top.
Despite such an immersive and humane experience, however, I did notice that the game becomes very stale as you play more and more. At some point, it kind of felt like I was just going to some planet, traversing it, going back to the Mantis, and finally cutscenes. This happened throughout the game from start to finish, which starts becoming more and more apparent as one plays more. Additionally, because a lot of the game has you revisiting planets you've already been to in order to progress to new areas in such planets, it should be a standard that you should be able to fast-travel to areas that you've already been to. Unfortunately, there is a serious lack of that, making traversal much more of a slog and making the game feel a lot more stale.
The combat felt very solid but only for some enemies. At some point, it felt like the game's difficulty came more so from being annoying rather than actually being hard. Some enemies felt like sponges (the giant Droids) or even brick walls (any of the Purge Trooper variants). Granted, a lot of enemies' tediousness can be counteracted by Force abilities or abilities in Cal's skill tree, but you're only limited to how many times you can use those before it's back to swinging your lightsaber(s) and dodging.
Speaking of annoying, the parkour and just general traversal in this game are also annoying and even janky and buggy. Apparently, the PS5 version of the game is riddled with bugs (thanks, Western video game developers), but it really sucks how sometimes I don't grab onto a pipe and instead hit my head on it leading me to die. This would normally be fine if I were just respawned to the platform before the pipe but sometimes the respawn point would be set to the literal void. Because of this and the annoying puzzle design in the Tombs, YouTube quickly became my best friend for this game.
Finally, there is a reason to explore to increase your Force and/or health meters, but I felt that the lack of side quests in this game made me not have much incentive to explore to get these things. Cal’s skill tree also boosts these meters, so there really isn’t much of a reason to grab the Secrets other than for just simple exploration. Additionally, the chests you can get from exploration give you really shitty cosmetics which have no personality to any of them, ESPECIALLY the ponchos.
Solid 4/5. I don't think you necessarily have to be a huge Star Wars fan to enjoy this game; it's a Soulslike game for everyone. I wouldn't say it's a must-play, but it's definitely something that one can appreciate for a long time to come.