Star Wars Jedi Survivor Review
“A Force of Nature” Written by: Hunter (ReaperHunter23)
I recall just kind of shrugging my shoulders at the initial announcement of Star Wars: Jedi Survivor back in mid 2022. I had only played bits and pieces of Fallen Order at the time and was pretty apathetic towards the Star Wars IP in general. It wasn’t until seeing one of the later trailers for the game and eventually playing Fallen Order in full, that I became more agreeable to the idea of a Star Wars: Jedi sequel. Once I actually got to see a little bit of what Survivor had going for it I was of the opinion that it looked to be a pretty solid improvement over Fallen Order. Let’s take a look to see if that turned out to be the case.
Image Credit: Respawn Entertainment, EA
I’m going to get this part out of the way now so that I can move onto the things I would actually like to talk about. Jedi Survivor has a myriad of performance issues. Frame rate hiccups, quite a bit of pop-in, and enemy models with glitched poses just to name a few of the problems that I encountered. However, I did not encounter anything that was game breaking or experience ruining, so I am relatively unbothered by these issues. That being said, if technical hiccups are the sort of thing that really get your goat, then you will probably enjoy the game less than I did.
As for the actual content of the gameplay, Jedi Survivor does a lot of what I would want a sequel to do. Cal starts off with most of the abilities he had at the end of the previous game. This is something I wish more games would do. Starting you off at a similar level to where the first game left you makes all of the additions feel like they are building on the foundation of the first game rather than making you go through the same motions a second time.
This is illustrated pretty thoroughly by how much of an improvement the combat is. Everything feels smoother and easier to control. On top of being easier to control, Jedi Survivor gives you a plethora of tools to put to use in any given combat scenario. I found the biggest standouts in the move-set to be the various lightsaber stances. There are a total of five stances, each with its own set of advantages. You can equip two stances to switch between on the fly. And you can change which stances are equipped at any meditation point or workbench.
I changed up my stances pretty frequently. I eventually settled on Dual Wield and Crossguard stances as my favorites. That being said, all of them would be totally viable to use for the duration of the game. I never found one option to be obsolete because of another. Even the standard single blade lightsaber has its merits. Its just kind of boring compared to the other choices.
In addition to the robust lightsaber combat, Cal also gets a few force abilities to round out his move-set. The force powers were never my go to method of combat while I was playing but they were still satisfying when I did decide to use them.
The exploration in Jedi Survivor is also pretty gratifying. I honestly found myself looking around more often than I thought I would. That’s not to say I was searching in every nook and cranny, but I also wasn’t b-lining straight to the main objective the whole game either. I think there are two reasons for this. First of all, the items to pick up are placed rather intelligently. I found it to be pretty easy to notice the side paths to travel down. More often than not, these side paths would have some kind of item at the end of them. Sure, a lot of the time it was a haircut I wasn’t going to equip, but the act of finding and obtaining the thing was enough to satisfy my silly lizard-brained kleptomania.
And the other reason that the exploration works so well is that, much like the combat, Cal feels substantially better to move around in this game than he did in Fallen Order. The platforming segments felt like they flowed better this time around. The jumping and wall running felt much more responsive and the addition of a grappling hook also adds another dynamic form of movement.
There’s also no shortage of stuff to do in Jedi Survivor. In addition to the main quest, there is an abundance of side quests to tackle. These sidequests would range from the typical favors for NPCs, to managing a garden, to bounty hunting. I didn’t make it a point to do all of the side quests I came across but I would usually do any that happened to be in the general vicinity of where I was heading to next.
Image Credit: Respawn Entertainment, EA
Jedi Survivor picks up five years after the conclusion of Fallen Order. In the time between the two games, the crew of the Mantis went their separate ways. Cal Kestis now has a new crew to help him harass the empire. After a few things go sideways during the opening mission, Cal ends up seeking out Greez, the pilot from the first game. Before long he finds some information from the era of the High Republic that might point him to Tanalor, a planet beyond the reach of the empire. From there it becomes an adventure of making new friends, seeing familiar faces, and sticking it to the empire while Cal tries to lead the people he cares about to a safe future.
I’m not going to lie, it took me a little while to get into the story of this one. The group dynamic of the Mantis Crew was one of my favorite elements of Fallen Order, so having them split up in between games kind of took the wind out of my sails. Its not a huge deal because I did like the story once it got going, it just took a little while to hook me. One of the strongest elements of Jedi Survivor is its characters and their interactions. Cal’s story picks up in an interesting place. He’s a seasoned Jedi and much more capable now. However, he’s done nothing but fight the empire for the past five years and begins to doubt that any of his actions have made a difference.
Greez owns a cantina now and is the one constantly reminding Cal that the galaxy will still be there if he takes a breath and lives his life for a little bit. He also has a nice personal arc of regaining his confidence as a pilot when he rejoins Cal. Merrin is now a well traveled warrior who resumes assisting Cal when they meet up again. Her dynamic with Cal is great and I’m glad we got to see more of it. Oftentimes when Cal is experiencing doubt or grief she’s there to offer some words of comfort and help him push forward.
The new characters in this game are pretty enjoyable too. Monk is the bartending droid that runs Greez’s saloon while he’s away. I was always pleased to stop and chat with him when I was in the area. Zee is a droid from the High Republic era that Cal helps out. The way she expresses herself kind of reminds me of C3PO, but her personality is not nearly as high strung. The main antagonist of the game is also rather enjoyable. Dagan Gera is a High Republic era Jedi that Cal inadvertently wakes from a long slumber. Dagan serves a great foil to Cal. They both have the goal of reaching Tanalor, but Dagan’s obsession with his goal and rage towards the Jedi order that he feels betrayed by corrupt him. Cal spends much of the game worrying that he’s going to slip and end up like Dagan did.
Image Credit: Respawn Entertainment, EA
I enjoy the visuals of Jedi Survivor quite a bit. On a pure visual design level I think it is a vast improvement from the first game. For starters I like Cal’s design in this game much more. This goes for the default look as well as a fair number of the different outfits you can give him. I wasn’t expecting to like Merrin’s design as much as I did, but I think it really works for her. It has a more contemporary look than her Nightsister garb but still looks very distinct. A number of the NPCs have rather striking designs as well. My favorites being Turgle, the absolute unit of a frog man, and Caij the bounty hunter that frequents the saloon.
Speaking of the saloon, Jedi Survivor does a great job at presenting moments where the denizens of the world will interact with each other. It's really cool to be walking by and hear a conversation that is completely independent from what Cal is doing. This happens most often at the saloon since it is a hub area. However, it will also happen out in the world too. There were several instances of me slowly approaching Battle Droids to hear them banter for a little bit before I triggered the combat encounter.
I really enjoyed the environments of Jedi Survivor. One thing I really liked was how biodiverse Koboh was. Oftentimes in this series it's easy for planets to seem more like archetypes rather than actual locations. Koboh thankfully is one world with a respectable selection of different areas which in turn makes it feel like a thoroughly fleshed out planet. The central area is this kind of rocky plains type of environment, and then as you explore you’ll uncover a swamp, a forest, some tar pits, and so on. A Star Wars project with less restraint would have made an entire swamp planet to send you to. The other areas you visit are also pretty engaging. I commend the game for using Jedha and being able to come up with more to it than “It is a desert planet with sand as far as the eye can see.” Most of what you were doing centered around navigating old ruins which added an extra layer of visual interest. The other places you visit also have the same sense of feeling like an actual location as well.
When you layer all of these visual elements together with the excellent performances turned in by the main cast and the fantastic music of the game it all comes together to make a lovely backdrop for this crazy space adventure.
Image Credit: Respawn Entertainment, EA
Summary
Star Wars: Jedi Survivor is an easy recommendation for fans of action adventure games as well as fans of Star Wars. Everytime I put the game down I found myself itching to get back to it before too long. It managed to take the very solid foundation of the previous game and build upon it into something that is much more compelling to play. When you compliment this with a bombastic story and some exceptionally compelling character interactions it comes out to be one of the best adventures in this modern era of Star Wars.