As a fan of Star Wars, Soulslikes, and big budget single player action games, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was a game that appealed to me on multiple levels. It successfully combined the risk and reward elements of From Software’s Souls series with the power fantasy inherent in being a Jedi. Having said that, not a perfect match. Going back without any means of fast travel was annoying, exploration was mostly rewarded with disappointing cosmetics, and I couldn’t help but wish I could do more with my powers than push, pull, and slow.
I say all this because what has impressed me the most in the five hours I’ve spent on the upcoming sequel, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, is the feeling of systematically crossing out the problems I had with Fallen Order. Survivor feels bigger without letting the growing scope compromise the exploration and sense of discovery that serve it at its heart.
My testing time was split between four hours on the planet Koboh, a gigantic, open planet that largely serves as Cal’s home throughout the Jedi Survivor storyline, and an hour on a lunar planet to showcase some of the more traditional combat and platforming that fans have come to expect. Let’s start with Koboh, because represents Jedi Survivor’s biggest change from Fallen Order– A vast open world stretching in all directions, with interesting encounters and rewards everywhere.
Goofy
We’ve already shown you 9 minutes of Koboh gameplay as part of our IGN First coverage, but what we haven’t gotten around to highlighting is the fact that most of that footage only covers the introduction to the planet, which is a pretty linear part. which guides you through caves, valleys and mountain paths, but then opens wide once you reach the Southern Reach, in a moment that brought to mind the first time you set foot on the Great Plateau in Breath of the Wild.
My main goal in this entire section was to get to the Cantina to find someone to repair my crashed Mantis ship, and I could have just reserved it to continue the story, but if I had I would have missed a lot of important exploration. In one direction was a hidden cave housing an incredibly tough (and incredibly cool) boss battle that I’d be remiss to reveal to you here, in another direction was a camp with spiked Stormtrooper armor and a nasty surprise waiting for me in a trapdoor leading under land, and if he took another path he would end up finding a Jedi Chamber that housed a gigantic puzzle room. Other paths remained closed to me until I found a concrete improvement.
All these excursions were very rewarding.
And what is better, all these excursions were very rewarding. Most offered me skill points for trouble (which are much more valuable in Survivor, since there are now individual skill trees for each lightsaber stance, your force powers, and health and strength upgrades), and even treasure chests that offer cosmetic items have much better rewards, since you can find completely different outfits for Cal (instead of differently designed ponchos). Also, you can find new hairstyles to equip Cal. My favorite so far was a bandana that made him look a bit like Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid.
Koboh is huge, but luckily, never felt lost thanks to some really great map features, such as automatic markers that highlight passageways leading to unexplored areas, symbols that let you know which areas you can’t yet access with your current abilities, a trail that marks the path you just arrived on, and of course, the fast trip Thanks to Yoda for the fast travel. And what is even better, Cal ends up acquiring the ability to tame beasts to use as mounts or to traverse large gaps. All of these additions, plus stellar art design, make Koboh a joy to explore.
All of this makes Koboh a joy to explore.
Another thing that surprised me while playing the game was how good the design of both the levels and the enemies was at creating opportunities to use your Force powers in a fun way. Boss arenas are full of objects that can be thrown and force-thrown for heavy damage, rolling mines are a constant threat and blessing when you can throw them back at chasing enemies, and there were plenty of opportunities to finish a battle before it began by forcibly pushing enemies off a ledge. My favorite interaction was when I tried to push a staff-wielding enemy towards me. He would try to drive his staff into the ground to stop himself, and when he missed, he would break free and try to slash as he was pushed towards me. The first time I tried, he caught up with me, but then I found that I could parry his desperate attack, which allowed me to tip the scales in my favor.
Koboh is not a one stop planet either. It is a planet that you must return to many times throughout Cal’s adventure.. Aside from the aforementioned blocked passageways that Cal won’t be able to progress through until he gets a specific upgrade, the Cantina and the town it’s in serve as a sort of base of operations for Cal. There are vendors to purchase new customization options. , colorful NPCs to talk to, and every time you return, you can be sure there will be something new to see.
Fly Me to the Moon
The second zone I played in was an unnamed moon planet that Cal and his partner Bode visit later in the game. Compared to Koboh, it seemed like a much more traditional style level that would have been a perfect fit for Jedi: Fallen Order. That’s not to say it’s not fun, though, as it offers a good balance between death-defying platforming challenges and challenging combat.
What caught my attention the most about this level was that almost looked like a horror game. It turns out that the enemies were expecting Cal, which is why most of them were trying to gank. The beginning was very tense, as it seemed that enemies were hiding around every corner waiting to attack me. Respawn even played into this expectation a few times and had a harmless droid pop out of the mist, which I spooked at, ripping the poor innocent robot in half.
Even on a level that was much more linear, there were plenty of hidden surprises off the beaten path, including Jedi: Survivor’s version of a DMC-like challenge room. In it, I had to deal with wave after wave of what seemed like hundreds and hundreds of B1 droids that would go down in one or two hits, but could easily overwhelm me. It was a real blast, and surprisingly hard too, once they started mixing in some droids that would self-destruct if I didn’t push them or get out of the way in time.
I loved this meeting because it’s something that wouldn’t have made sense in the context of the actual level, but in an enclosed space where anything goes, it was the perfect kind of combat test. I hope there are many more of this type and I would love to look for them in all corners.
I could go on about the puzzle rooms of the Jedi Chamber, fun new Force powers, exciting story moments that took place after I stepped foot in the Cantina, or some of the awesome battles against Bosses that I had to overcome, but all of this is something you’re probably better off experiencing for yourself once the game goes on sale on April 28.
