The sequel to 2019’s excellent Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is almost here, after a short delay to give developer Respawn Entertainment more time to polish things up. Publisher EA invited us to a hidden location in Hollywood, California for almost four hours of work with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor to see what Cal Kestis and his team have been up to since their last epic adventure, and it’s shaping up to be an interesting sequel to its critically acclaimed predecessor.
Trouble finds Cal, once again
The part of the game we tested started about an hour into the campaign, presumably to avoid messing up exactly how things start. Cal Kestis has been on the move for about five years since the end of Fallen Order, and he and his trusty and curious droid companion BD-1 crash-landed on an isolated planet known as Koboh while trying to visit the Cal’s old friend, Greez. Rights. . .
Local drama soon finds Cal, of course: a local gang known as the Bedlam Raiders terrorizes the locals, including prospectors who go out of their way to try and collect the planet’s natural minerals and ancient ruins. . Cal, being a Jedi, naturally wants to help, and soon crosses paths with the leader of the gang, a hulking Gen’Dai named Rayvis. This sets up what will no doubt be a long streak of encounters and battles between the two.
While we can’t get too deep into the story here, some things have changed while others have remained the same. Cal’s move repertoire has been expanded as he now has five different stances. The dual wield stance seen in the first game has been fully realized, while you also have access to a cross guard stance like the one used by Kylo Ren. Finally, one stance even allows the use of a blaster, which, while perhaps a bit uncivilized compared to a lightsaber, has its uses.
From story mode to grandmaster
There are five difficulty levels to choose from, which can be freely changed at any time. A new Jedi Padawan Mode sits between the absolute non-challenge that is Story Mode and the more mid-level Jedi Knight, to give players an occasional challenge without throwing insurmountable foes at them. Some boss fights can be particularly difficult, so being able to change the difficulty on the fly will definitely help some players who don’t want to waste extra time replaying a fight over and over. Soul-like meditation circles are back in Jedi: Survivor, allowing you to manage abilities, change stance charges, fast travel to other meditation circles, and heal. The latter option fully fills Cal’s health and strength bars, as well as restoring BD-1’s stims to heal himself in the field, but also respawns all enemies.
Combat in Jedi: Survivor focuses on melee combat. While Cal is a Jedi and can wield the Force with ease, his use of these powers is ultimately limited by a Force meter and is used to help him gain the upper hand over his enemies as he strikes them down with his trusty light saber. . After our hands-on time with the game, a member of the combat design team gave us a live demonstration of what was possible with mastering the various mechanics available to the player. Think taking out groups of Stormtroopers with a single blow, or juggling enemies with a combination of Force moves, and even the occasional swipe of a blaster. It will likely take any player several hours to reach this skill level, but everything looked so animated that you couldn’t help but be impressed with the options on display.
Like your own personal Star Wars movie
The production values in Jedi: Survivor are world class. Whether it’s the incredibly detailed world, characters, weapons, or ships, the entire game plays, feels, and sounds like you’ve been transported to the world of Star Wars. Cutscenes are fully rendered in-engine and feature classic sweeps between cuts and plenty of tension between enemies in true sci-fi western style. The world feels inhabited by other beings busy doing their own thing and, of course, natural predators to avoid or fight for potential experience.
In an interview with the team, Director of Gameplay and Combat Design Jason Harris mentioned that Disney and Lucasfilm continue to give Respawn Entertainment an essentially free license to create whatever they want in order to advance their vision. That’s not to say they weren’t registered, of course, just that at this point their track record has gained some trust with IP holders. He gave a special mention to the teams involved in transforming the concept art into fully realized digital versions that perfectly reflected the designers’ intentions. The attention to even background objects is easy to see throughout the experience.
In terms of performance, while the build we played was on a beefy PC, it should roughly represent what we’ll see when the game launches on the PS5. Respawn is leaving behind the previous generation of consoles, which we’ll no doubt see more of now that current-gen supplies are more stable. This has many advantages, the main one being fast load times. There is a seamless transition between the game world and entering training areas, or respawning after a death. We’ve noticed a bit of stuttering in some of the larger areas of the game, but that may be fixed by the time the game launches on April 28, or at least with a patch at or around launch.
Previous experience not necessary
From what we could see, if it is not necessary to have played The Fallen Order before starting Survivor, it will help because there are many references to the previous game mentioned in passing between Cal and d other characters. Otherwise, however, Cal is simply trying to repair his ship, the Mantis, and along the way discovers ancient Jedi ruins and an anomalous planet called Tanalorr that appears to be the key to Cal’s journey. references to the first game, and possibly the subsequent novel, for those who like that sort of thing.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor seems to continue to tell the story of Cal Kestis in the most exciting way. Two additional, fully fleshed-out combat stances ensure more combat variety, and the fact that Cal retains his powers from the previous adventure means combat gets intense right from the start. There are plenty of challenges to overcome, and if this practice is any indication, Respawn Entertainment hasn’t fixed what isn’t broken and is apparently giving us an improved version of what made The Fallen Order so appealing in the first place. place. . Prepare to continue the journey of Cal Kestis when it launches on PS5, Xbox Series, and PC platforms on April 28, 2023.