Star Wars: Jedi Survivor Hands-On preview: Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order was a bold take on the Star Wars universe. Respawn Entertainment took one of the biggest franchises in the world and set out to tell a story of a loan man turned to the Jedi teaches for his ability to sense the Force. It was a nice change of pace from the constant shooters that have followed the franchise in recent times.
With a unique story now established as canon in the franchise, Respawn has all the pressure on its back to deliver a solid sequel to Fallen Order and establish the story of Cal Kestis, a prominent story in the established Star Wars saga.
Star Wars: Jedi Survivor Hands-On Preview
Exploring A Brand New Dangerous World
I was given a good three hours to play through a portion of Jedi Survivor and came out firmly believing that I had just experienced a better sequel but quite possibly the best Star Wars game since Knights of the Old Republic.
My playthrough followed Cal and BD-1 as they crashland on planet Koboh as he searches for parts to repair his Mantis ship. I can’t talk about most of the story I experienced, but it will keep fans invested, especially those with a vast knowledge of the Star Wars mythos.
Koboh is a vast land. The cavernous planet contains valuable natural minerals that are vital to the Empire. On the other hand, their plan to occupy the planet is constantly being thwarted by the local Raiders and Prospects who have made it their home.
Jedi Survivor is a lot more open this time around when it comes to exploration. It’s not quite open-world but features wide open areas to explore. Like Sony’s God of War: Ragnarok, Cal can explore locations freely and encounter plenty of friendly citizens or Raiders. During my playthrough, I could scale cliffs using Cal’s unique skills and equipment, like the Ascension Cable: a grappling hook that Cal uses to reach high walls and grates.
Jedi Survivor improves the Holomap from Fallen Order, making distinguishing various elevation levels easier. It also does a great job of indicating locations locked to Cal and provides locations of shopkeepers and side-quest locations.
Koboh is full of dangerous wildlife. Like in Fallen Order, natural predators on Koboh are out to kill anyone encroaching on their territory. Some of these creatures can be quickly dispatched, but others, like the Bilemaw – A giant dinosaur-like creature resembling a Triceratops – require much more effort. I even got to take on a Rancor, which was a massive challenge.
The Force Is Strong With This One
I had a blast exploring the planet, but many locations were locked out. I wasn’t sure if these were locked due to the demo I was playing or if they required abilities I hadn’t unlocked yet.
Cal has all of the abilities that he acquired in Fallen Order. You don’t lose anything, and it’s nice that Cal has access to some of these more powerful abilities so early because it can make many of the game’s challenges more manageable.
Force Confusion allows Cal to mind control whoever he uses it on, and better yet, you can even use it on the planet’s creatures and have them fight for you for a short period. Cal can now use the Force to Tame some beasts and use them as mounts to traverse the planet, making it faster and easier to get around.
Like Fallen Order, Jedi Survivor keeps some mechanics influenced by Souls titles. You still have to meditate in meditation circles to use your skill points to upgrade Cal’s abilities, but be aware, as Resting resets all enemy placements back on the map; it is, however, necessary to restore Stim Canisters that BD-1 uses to heal Cal.
Cal acquires experience points as he completes objectives and defeats foes, but the EXP points aren’t to level up Cal but to acquire skill points. If you fall during combat, you lose all the skill points you’ve earned, and all the experience points you’ve received. But don’t fret, as, just like in Souls titles, you can recover all you’ve lost by returning to the location you died. And running over a glowing light where you last perished.
A Smooth Combat Experience
Combat has seen a considerable overhaul. I was blown away by the smoothness of combat and how everything was more fleshed out. Cal’s animations are smooth, and his transitions from executions to parrying flow like butter. It was so good that it reminded me of the Batman: Arkham games.
Cal’s executions feel more brutal and flow into combat perfectly, with each stance providing different executions against various enemies.
Parrying is a lot more forgiving this time. I played on the standard setting of the demo and found that enemies now have a much more visible attack animation giving you just enough time to parry their attack.
Having said that, you still have to be careful. Though you may parry an attack, some enemies will use your momentum and urge to counterattack against you and follow up with a quick counterattack after being parried.
Cal can access five fighting stances, but I could only play with three. Single, Double-bladed and Dual Wield. Each one provides a different take on combat and how Cal approaches each encounter. You can set and switch between two styles on the fly, and I chose to use the Double-bladed and Dual Wield.
Dual Wield is designed for fast-paced strikes and dealing high damage in quick succession, while the Double-bladed is excellent for crowd control and taking out multiple enemies at once. We were shown off the other two stances.
The Blaster stance gives Cal a Blaster pistol and some excellent long-range skills, while the Cross-guard gives Cal a long-beamed lightsaber and acts like a giant broadsword providing slow but powerful strikes.
Feel Like A Real Jedi Against The World
Mixing up your attacks and stances lets you pull off some great kills. There is nothing like using your Force Pull to drag an enemy closer to you and throw your Lightsaber into them. You can execute your Force Push to send them flying into their friends and run up to the group as your Lightsaber returns to you and pulls off a sliding attack that sees Cal spinning his Lightsaber around his body, cutting down foes.
What makes things better now is the game has dismemberment this time, although you won’t see blood from your foes as the Lightsaber instantly cauterises the wound. Creatures and droids receive the most brutal dismemberment, like decapitations and even getting cut in half vertically and horizontally. The humanoid enemies, on the other hand, will see their arms and legs cut off, but I couldn’t catch glimpses of any further dismemberment.
Visually Koboh is gorgeous. The sense of scale and the vast lands provide plenty of Photo Mode chances. One of the cool things is that chests you can find in the world contain cosmetic items so that you can customize Kal, from his clothing to his head and facial hair. You can also customize BD-1 with various parts to give it a different look, along with your Lightsaber and the color of your beam.
A Brand New Stanted For Star Wars Video Games
An epic Star Wars soundtrack is presented here as it is with every Star Wars medium. The voice work is exceptional this time, with Cameron Monaghan feeling like he’s bringing Cal to life and providing an excellent performance. He truly has made the character his own.
We are less than a month away from Star Wars: Jedi Survivor and it’s shaping up as an early contender for Game of the Year. I loved my time playing this hands-on, and I wish there were more I could talk about. The world Respawn has created here is one worth exploring and experiencing, full of mystery and intrigue. It will be a long, hard wait, but it will be worth it.
Star Wars: Jedi Survivor launches on PS5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S on April 28, 2023.