Jedi: Survivor feels more like a classic Star Wars story than anything released from this franchise in recent memory. A great balance of heart, tragedy and adventure. The story is fantastic, and is far more emotionally complex and deep than the standard hero’s journey found in the original 1977 film. It makes interesting connections with both the original trilogy and the new High Republic era. It builds on the fantastic characters from 2019’s Fallen Order (Cal, Cere and Merrin just to name some standouts) and develops them into far more interesting and conflicted characters, with their own complicated dynamics between them. Cal is truly fleshed out in this game as a character stuck between his desire to respect and continue the ways of the collapsed Jedi Order, while also recognising the inherent darkness within himself which may be necessary in order to defeat the Empire and save the ones he loves. It is perhaps the most morally ‘grey’ a Jedi protagonist has been in any Star Wars media and this was a welcome and unexpected fresh take on the traditionally heroic Jedi troupe. Cal is no longer some starry-eyed hero, a slave to the order’s traditions, but now a more ruthless and vengeful guerrilla fighter that is willing to do whatever it takes in order to strike back against the Empire for all the pain it has wrought. It is this conflict within Cal, and how this is mirrored in the antagonists of the game, that truly makes this journey a special and meaningful one.
Alongside the fantastic narrative, the gameplay is also top notch, with crunchy parry based lightsaber combat, and some of the best platforming in recent memory (one of Respawn’s great strengths as a developer is their fantastic, fluent traversal). Survivor is bigger and better than Fallen Order in every way from story to combat to travel to characters. It is a true evolution from the original, think of the step up from Uncharted 1 to Uncharted 2 in terms of a quality jump that builds upon an already solid formula. Not to mention this game also includes one of the best set pieces since Uncharted 2, thanks to Merrin’s portal-based platforming. My only criticism would be that the game world and levels have been perhaps expanded to too large and broad a scope in some areas, particularly the planet of Koboh which takes up the majority of the game’s length through repeated trips and exploration. It does start to feel a bit samey after a while constantly returning to that location. Luckily there are enough trips to other planets and fantastic set pieces thrown into the mix in between to make up for Koboh’s flaws as an overly large and daunting explorable space. The beating heart of this game is its story and its characters so the game would have benefitted from being more linear in some sections (particularly Koboh) in order to put more focus and momentum on the fantastic story. The Metroidvania style exploration is fun, but when your only picking up cosmetic items and health/force upgrades it can feel a little pointless, especially when you could be following the fantastic main story instead of exploring. Despite my gripes with the large open world sections, the gameplay is still fantastic and the story touched me in a way that no traditional jedi-focused Star Wars story has done since the original trilogy. It is the new high point for Star Wars games and potentially even for 3rd person action/adventure titles in general given it excels in both gameplay and story. Jedi: Survivor is truly the ‘Empire Strikes Back’ in comparison to Fallen Order’s ‘New Hope’: bigger and better, while also being more complex and emotionally engaging on a narrative front. It has succeeded on being both greater in scale and ambition than its predecessor, while also telling a story that feels more human and personal despite the larger ‘space opera’ underpinnings.
Respawn has truly accomplished something great with Jedi: Survivor and I greatly anticipate their next chapter in Cal Kestis’ story. Aside from Andor which is brilliant in its own more introspective and nuanced way; these Respawn Jedi games represent the highest bar that Star Wars has reached in terms of narrative and heartfelt storytelling since the original trilogy.
Alongside the fantastic narrative, the gameplay is also top notch, with crunchy parry based lightsaber combat, and some of the best platforming in recent memory (one of Respawn’s great strengths as a developer is their fantastic, fluent traversal). Survivor is bigger and better than Fallen Order in every way from story to combat to travel to characters. It is a true evolution from the original, think of the step up from Uncharted 1 to Uncharted 2 in terms of a quality jump that builds upon an already solid formula. Not to mention this game also includes one of the best set pieces since Uncharted 2, thanks to Merrin’s portal-based platforming. My only criticism would be that the game world and levels have been perhaps expanded to too large and broad a scope in some areas, particularly the planet of Koboh which takes up the majority of the game’s length through repeated trips and exploration. It does start to feel a bit samey after a while constantly returning to that location. Luckily there are enough trips to other planets and fantastic set pieces thrown into the mix in between to make up for Koboh’s flaws as an overly large and daunting explorable space. The beating heart of this game is its story and its characters so the game would have benefitted from being more linear in some sections (particularly Koboh) in order to put more focus and momentum on the fantastic story. The Metroidvania style exploration is fun, but when your only picking up cosmetic items and health/force upgrades it can feel a little pointless, especially when you could be following the fantastic main story instead of exploring. Despite my gripes with the large open world sections, the gameplay is still fantastic and the story touched me in a way that no traditional jedi-focused Star Wars story has done since the original trilogy. It is the new high point for Star Wars games and potentially even for 3rd person action/adventure titles in general given it excels in both gameplay and story. Jedi: Survivor is truly the ‘Empire Strikes Back’ in comparison to Fallen Order’s ‘New Hope’: bigger and better, while also being more complex and emotionally engaging on a narrative front. It has succeeded on being both greater in scale and ambition than its predecessor, while also telling a story that feels more human and personal despite the larger ‘space opera’ underpinnings.
Respawn has truly accomplished something great with Jedi: Survivor and I greatly anticipate their next chapter in Cal Kestis’ story. Aside from Andor which is brilliant in its own more introspective and nuanced way; these Respawn Jedi games represent the highest bar that Star Wars has reached in terms of narrative and heartfelt storytelling since the original trilogy.