Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

There's no denying that Star Wars has been a mixed bag as of the past few years. The latest films were very criticised by fans, the Disney+ series have ranged between excellent and mediocre at best, and yet despite the film and TV space being littered with content of such polarising quality, there has been one stable part in A Galaxy Far, Far Away. Respawn Entertainment's Star Wars Jedi series. And I say 'series' here because while Star Wars Jedi: Survivor doesn't launch until April 28, my time with this title proves that the developer, arguably known best for Apex Legends, is still one of the best at telling modern Star Wars stories.

Picking up five years after the events of the brilliant Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Survivor gives us a more mature and grizzled version of Cal Kestis. This character has not necessarily been on the run from the Empire in this five-year timespan, but has been a major thorne in its sides, by leading all kinds of resistance missions as part of his work with the rebel fighter, Saw Gerrera. However, after a mission goes horribly wrong, Cal begins to question his never-ending fight against the leviathan-sized Empire, and starts looking for a way to protect those he cares about, something which ultimately draws him back to the very crew that he gathered in the original game, but whom split and went their own way years before.

As this is a direct continuation of that story, albeit five years later, Survivor doesn't feature the same progression experience as Fallen Order. Cal starts this game with the gear, skills, Lightsaber and Force abilities that he mastered during the original game, in the same way that Kratos doesn't follow the same progression in God of War: Ragnarök as he did in the 2018 title. This means that you get right into the meat of the action within moments and do so in a way where you feel like a Jedi warrior, and not a padawan that is fighting tooth and nail to survive.

If you've played Fallen Order, a lot of the mechanics from that game that made it feel so fresh and fun are translated to Survivor. The platforming sections are still lengthy and require a little bit of thought as to how you tackle them, but at the same time, they're fluid and smooth and really show the endurance levels and physical strength that Jedi and Force users can muster. If you like the platforming sections in games like Uncharted, Survivor is very similar, except Cal shows no weariness when hanging from vines or flipping up vertical surfaces. It's very thrilling. This is the same case with the environmental puzzles that require a bit of thought, but are never overwhelmingly challenging.

The combat is also improved and expanded with new Lightsaber stances and Force abilities that allow you to approach combatants differently. Whether it's using the environment to your advantage by pushing Stormtroopers to their doom, or catching projectiles in mid-flight for massive return damage. Add to this flipping between the Blaster stance that allows you to use a blaster in one hand for ranged damage while parrying and striking with a Lightsaber with the other, or instead using my personal favourite, the Crossguard stance, which features slower and harder-hitting attacks while using a Lightsaber blade that Kylo Ren most recently made famous. There are five Lightsaber stances, and countless ways to upgrade them, your Force moves, and Cal's health and survivability thanks to the tons of skill trees to explore and upgrade in the way that suits how you want to play.

But more entertaining platforming sections and an improved combat offering isn't the only place where Respawn has stepped up its efforts. There is a vast collection of new enemy types, not just from the Imperial faction, but in the case of beasts around the galaxy and a new faction type altogether, The Bedlam Raiders. This faction brings new and challenging humanoid foes to throw down with, as well as a bunch of Droid variants from the Clone Wars era, with each requiring you to approach them differently, else the challenging combat suite will chew you up and spit you out. Between Super Battle Droids that tirelessly attack with ranged blaster shots, to Bedlam warriors that relentlessly strike with charged blades, Cal needs to be faster and smarter to survive and conquer the threats in this sequel.

And that even extends to the open world and the kinds of activities that you can discover around the many locations that make up this story. Whether it's simply heading back to Coruscant to pick up collectibles, taking on bounty hunters scattered around the system, or instead travelling into the distant reaches of Koboh's caverns to fight a Rancor, Survivor has a plentiful selection of ways to continue and enhance the experience beyond the beaten main narrative story path, so much so that you can easily squeeze out 30+ hours of content before the credits roll and new secrets are made available.

That being said, the majority of people are coming to Star Wars Jedi: Survivor for the main narrative and to see how this tale expands Cal's story. While I'll stay away from direct spoilers, I will say that I don't feel as though this story delivers an exceptional narrative in the way that Fallen Order did. Sure there are still unbelievably cool Star Wars moments that put nearly every other Star Wars product of the last decade to shame, and in fact the story as a whole is better than most Star Wars productions we've had in years. I just don't think it quite lives up to Fallen Order in a pure narrative sense, as the plot has clear ups and downs and often shoe horns in characters that we are supposed to care about but don't get that level of connection to due to weaker character development. If you enjoy Star Wars, even in a fleeting sense, there is tons to unpack and gawk over here, including the lore titbits that can be picked up along the journey, but don't expect a narrative that is quite as emotionally-gripping as that of Fallen Order.

Thankfully however, there is more to do here than what we got in Fallen Order. Being a current-gen title only, the locations are bigger, deeper, and more detailed, and there's always something new to explore because of the game's Metroidvania-like progression system that sees you retracing your steps to explore previously inaccessible zones. Some of the additional activities aren't quite as thrilling as others, for example fighting bounty hunters is far more exciting than collecting seeds and growing plants, but the option is at least there to do both. Plus, the customisation suite is the same as that of Fallen Order, meaning every cosmetic (be it Cal's clothes, hairstyles, Lightsaber parts and colours, BD-1 parts, etc.) are found in the world and are not purchasable with real money at all - and this is one area that Survivor, like Fallen Order, deserves a ton of credit, as this is a complete game without any form of monetisation beyond the initial purchase.

While I've talked about the minor flaws in the main narrative, generally speaking, I do think that Survivor is a better title than Fallen Order, but this game has some very clear performance issues that hold it back right now. While playing on Performance Mode on PS5, the game struggles to hit that promised 60 fps mark, and still faces issues with textures popping in, animations getting glitched, ugly textures, other weird bugs, crashes, and more. There is such a big list of issues that are immediately recognisable that it will likely take Respawn sometime to iron them all out, and this is the one area that really lets the game down in the grand scheme of things. If a launch day patch tackles these problems, great! But from my experience pre-launch, they do really hold the title back.

Still, for Star Wars fans and people who enjoy action-adventure games, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a great continuation of this series. It's overflowing with references and other minor beats that each paint a wonderful and thorough picture of A Galaxy Far, Far Away, and the gameplay is simply an improvement of Fallen Order's outstanding formula. It has its kinks and isn't perfect, both in a performance and main narrative sense, but considering 2023 has largely been coined by great AAA remakes so far, Survivor is one of the best truly new titles we've seen this year.