Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Preview – Force Pushing Forward

When Respawn Entertainment announced it was making a third-person action game in the Star Wars universe, many fans didn’t know how to react; the studio was critically acclaimed, but at the time, Respawn was purely known for shooters like Titanfall and Apex Legends. However, 2019’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order surpassed the expectations of many, delivering a terrific adventure full of exciting action and memorable moments. After learning from Fallen Order’s lessons, Respawn now wants to make another Star Wars adventure.

Five years have passed in the Star Wars timeline since our last journey with Cal Kestis. In that time, the group he was traveling with in Fallen Order has split up, and Cal’s been working to further the cause of The Resistance.

Cal might have experienced growth in five of the in-universe years following Fallen Order. However, Respawn has gained nearly the same amount in the four year period that it launched the game. “That first game, on so many different fronts, was a learning experience for us because we had never made a Star Wars game, it was a new team we had built from the ground up,” director Stig Asmussen says. “It’s taking that knowledge that we had on the first game and our main pillars which were combat, navigation, storytelling, and our Metroidvania approach… we kind of dipped our foot in just enough to learn how we make that into one cohesive product. It was a bit liberating to see the reactions of fans about what we did. It’s like, ‘Okay, how do we expand on this?’ Some of the ideas we had before, we kind of held back on because we just wanted to make sure that we could ship this thing. [With Star Wars Jedi: Survivor,] we put forward and made just a much larger, more grand experience.”

My gameplay session starts aboard The Mantis, Cal’s ship from the first game. However, the trip doesn’t last long, as he doesn’t exactly stick the landing on his approach to the planet of Koboh, where he’s going to visit an outpost where his old pal Greez lives. The crash-landing causes damage to The Mantis’ gyro modules, but Greez may have a spare.

Cal is my guide to a lookout post. I use my trusty BD-1 as his binoculars. I locate the post and mark it by waypoint. It is not as complicated and confusing anymore, so I feel relieved when I open the map. The direction that I should be heading is what I mentally note, so I start to descend toward my destination.

My first meditation point is soon reached. It functions in the same way as Fallen Order. Meditation points serve as checkpoints and allow you rest to recuperate health and stim packets, change your position loadout, train and adjust your skill tree to unlock unlockable benefits.

Shortly after emerging from Cal’s meditation, I encounter my first enemies: the Battle Droids common within the Prequel Trilogy. They rattle off a quip and a “Roger, Roger” and fire in my direction. It is just the right time to return their blaster shots and get them out. Battle Droids are a strange sight because the Empire is in complete control of our galaxy. The next enemy I discover answers some of these immediate questions.

As I enter a nearby cave, a more formidable foe greets me alongside two more Battle Droids; it seems this planet’s raider faction has repurposed the droids to fight alongside them. This Bedlam Raider has some agile and powerful melee attacks, and though I’m rusty with a lightsaber at first, I quickly recall how to take down enemies with the Jedi weapon of choice. I use my traditional single lightsaber to counter his attacks and cut him down. Combat feels as good as ever, even if I’ve barely touched Cal’s skill tree.

New, fully-featured lightsaber poses are one of the major improvements made to combat in this game. The balanced single-saber stance and the crowd-control-focused double-blade stance from the first game return, but I was most excited to get my hands on the new twin-saber stance, where Cal wields a lightsaber in each hand. Although the twin-saber position was introduced in Fallen Order, it wasn’t fully developed. This stance is found in Survivor and focuses on offense and aggression. My demo also shows me a position where Cal can use both a lightsaber or a blaster.

The combat feels familiar, but that’s by design. “We saw the reaction from the players and it was good, so we didn’t want to take what we had and completely bust it up,” he says. “We wanted to build it up, and that’s exactly what we did. It was kind of easy for us – the things people were asking for were things that we wanted to do as well.”

When I get closer to my destination I activate shortcuts. This allows me to skip backtracking and allow me to return to the original route. The meditation checkpoints and shortcuts can also be used to keep Cal alive if Cal gets defeated. The exploration was amazing throughout the demo. It seems that the overwhelming amount of one-way slide paths has been eliminated, resulting in a more natural and enjoyable landscape. In fact, the one time I encountered a one-way slope, I could wall-run up it – a seeming acknowledgment from Respawn of one of the big complaints players had with Fallen Order’s level design.

Respawn appears to have also addressed this issue in the second game. Survivor allows you to make Cal Kestis your character. Cal can be changed in the pause menu to change his hair, hairstyle and jacket. These options are in addition the BD-1 customization and lightsaber customization. Explore gives all these options new options, giving you an excuse to look around every corner.

Continuing down the critical path brings me face to face with another relic from the Prequel era: a B2 Battle Droid. These tougher, tankier droids put up a much harder fight than the flimsy Battle Droids I fought earlier, but they’re still easy enough, especially now that I’ve shaken off that rust and regained some of my Fallen Order muscle memory.

Soon enough, I arrive at Rambler’s Reach, the outpost I was seeking upon crash-landing. I approach the cantina, Pyloon’s Saloon, and a frog-like creature named Turgle goes flying out of the door; it seems like he sold counterfeit goods to the wrong crowd. He pleads for his life, but a high-ranking Bedlam Raider named Zeik begins electrocuting him on the order of Rayvis, a hulking Gen’Dai that commands at least a portion of the raiders on Koboh. Cal intervenes right before Zeik, the Jedi Knight of noble standing, goes for the kill. This leads to a boss battle.

Cal finally makes it to the cantina after the fight. Greez is there waiting for him. Though it’s been four years since I’ve seen this four-armed hairball, it felt great to see Cal and Greez catching up. It’s clear that Greez cares about Cal as he pleads with him to stop fighting The Empire and settle down somewhere to live a quiet life. If Jedi: Survivor can deliver several moments like this, I’m excited about the story’s direction. 

I won’t spoil much more beyond this point, but I uncover several other compelling mysteries that I can’t wait to explore, many of which surround an anomaly called Tanalorr, which Cal and his friends decide to pursue. Other creatures I face include huge Bilemaws, terrifying Shiverpedes, powerful Wampalike Mogus, and many others. Each creature demands distinct strategies, and I’m not ashamed to admit I was bested on multiple occasions.

After you have been defeated, the yellow glow of the opponent that dealt the fatal blow will be visible. This is in addition to the reward of replenishing your health. It’s far from a novel concept at this point, but I appreciate the less hardcore implementation of the Soulslike mainstay mechanic.

Respawn seems to have learned all of the lessons it took from creating Star Wars Jedi Survivor after spending three hours. Navigation feels easier, combat feels better, and the story takes you in new directions. Star Wars Jedi: Survival is an excellent successor to the Fallen Order, if the little bit of gameplay that I played was any indication.