Cal Kestis is sad. Being a terrorist is hard work, and no amount of lightsaber amputations will make him happier. In Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, you’ll follow his brilliant adventures as he reconnects with old friends, desperately searching for new ones as the OG cast inevitably remembers him as a meltdown, and as the Force allows. Stuff as many seeds and rocks into his pockets as possible.
The sequel to 2019’s unexpected hit, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is the latest AA-rated action game from Apex Legends factory Respawn Entertainment, recounting the amazing feats of everyone’s favorite Ginger hero, far from any classic The movies are all billions of miles apart. The first game managed to please the crowd by combining some Souls mechanics with a tasting menu of some of Star Wars’ most iconic aspects. We’re talking about lightsabers, pushing stormtroopers off cliffs, and telling stories about the importance of rebelling and believing in the goodness of the universe. Something that people have been working on for decades.
For the sequel, I had higher expectations. The team at Respawn did a really good job of making a great action game and a great Star Wars product last time around. After dozens of hours on the sequel, I believe the studio has raised the bar on both accounts.
We’ll start with bread and butter. If there’s one thing Jedi: Survivor does particularly well, it’s the incredibly engaging motion of wielding a lightsaber. Even at the start of the game, Cal acts like a seasoned Jedi, able to split a stormtrooper in two and push enemies off cliffs. You’d be wise to start out with a decent toybox of attacks, and thanks to the extensive skill tree, you’ll be able to further enhance your abilities quickly.
On top of this, you can add a lightsaber pose, which can drastically change the way you play. Determining how a lightsaber feels is tricky (more important than general swordplay in my opinion) because you can grab 10 nerds from the crowd at Star Wars Celebration and they’ll naturally tear each other over how slow the lightsaber should be Slit throats, how heavy they should feel, and what types of weapons are good for losers.
So, great news for all these chumps (yes, myself included), each style is not only interesting in its own way, but also played differently. Do you want to press the attack button quickly? Dual Swords is for you. Want to sweep around and take down waves of bots at once? Darth Maul-style double sided for you, man. Are you over 50? Pick up that saber like you did in the movies. There are more, one of which is my favorite and led to my first reset of the skill tree – but I won’t spoil it. It’s a shame that trying poses costs skill points; it seems like it’s punishing you for wanting to try all the options.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is probably the most fun Star Wars game I’ve played since The Force Unleashed. While Survivor is nowhere near the level of fan-fiction madness that made those older games so fun, it can feel just as good as Unleashed – considering you’re not pulling Star Destroyers out of the sky or bashing Obi, that’s a feat – Wan turned into a blender.
As for traversal, Jedi: Survivor is huge, full of puzzles and hidden junk. When you land on Koboh and start battling around the map, you’ll start to get glimpses of just how daunting the task it is to collect everything. Of course, you don’t have to, but the game is good at luring you into finding one more piece of treasure before moving on with the story. Multiple gadgets and unlockable abilities keep you returning to old areas frequently, scraping dead ends and scouring the world for loot.
Sometimes, it goes a little too far. I see 100 Priorite shards and I’m ready for long term use. I saw there were 145 seeds and I leaned back with a sigh. Then there are reels, data discs, etc… but seeds are the worst; hard to see unless you’re wandering through every nook and cranny. Once you’ve collected enough, they’ll eventually mark them on the map, but it’s still running out.
Running out of collectibles is a real risk in Survivor, so don’t spend time finding everything unless you really want to. If you stick to opening chests and getting essences (which provide perks and major character upgrades), you’ll be fine. Transforming Cal into a gingerbread MC Ride, combining your favorite lightsaber and droid parts at his waist, and cutting his hair and beard short, the fun will add huge benefits to your overall fun.
How did Jedi: Survivor’s Star Wars fare? It depends on which parts of the super franchises Disney owns that you value the most! If it’s a laser fight, then yes, Respawn did it. Do you love weird aliens, adventures in exotic worlds, and helping your weird friends defeat the empire? Jedi: Survivor did a great job too! It uses a recipe from Lucas and co. Take the recipe and replicate it faithfully, while making sure to add a few extra ingredients here and there to keep it fresh.
From the moment you land on Coruscant, Respawn makes sure to immediately show how well it digs into IP, which manages to put a smile on my face. But it wasn’t until I came across Pyloon’s Saloon that I knew the studio had succeeded. It’s your typical Star Wars canteen — though there are enough new ideas to not put you to sleep right away. It’s a problem with the entire game, and it’s one of Survivor’s greatest successes in my opinion.
Gosh, it also has this sense of humor at times. Enemies chirp at each other, and common robots witty monologue to themselves. You know it’s working when you find yourself pausing and waiting for an enemy’s dialogue to end before jumping in and killing them. But it goes further than speech: Respawn will place enemies on ledges and cliff edges, as if begging you to comically push them away. When you grab and throw a robot miles away, it’ll say goodbye as it flies off into the distance. There was a joke late in the game that had me rolling, and frankly, I can’t spoil it. I won’t, even if I could.
Reborn Nails Beauty. The composers also elegantly incorporated the horns and strings you’d expect from Star Wars. Everyone on the team working on the skybox deserves a raise, a firm handshake, and an incredible amount of high fives. Character designers, level designers…everyone on the team outdid themselves here.
The game has a performance mode, and even with it turned on I experienced occasional frame drops, but for the most part the game runs fine. You can catch a rare floating beam or bugged robot here and there, but those didn’t break the game, or were rough enough to rip off my enjoyment at the time. I had a crash after mixing the lightsaber parts as fast as I could, but I really wanted to push it there. In terms of other issues? Give me a red lightsaber crystal. If intellectual reasons mattered, you wouldn’t give me purple or white. I don’t think red = film works well, but if the player manually equips it, if they get confused, it’s their fault. bring it on.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a step up from its predecessor, and it’s a lot of fun, as long as you don’t let that collectible-obsessed looter control you. It’s not a narrative masterpiece, nor is it the most engaging action game in the world. But it doesn’t do anything bad, and it excels where it matters. It accurately represents the Star Wars universe and emphasizes aspects of it that have gotten even jaded Andor lovers like myself interested in the IP, even after all this time. An obvious recommendation for Star Wars fans, and a warm thumbs up for anyone who might even be a little interested.
advantage
- great battle
- lovely place
- challenging
- so, so big
shortcoming
- Collectibles burnout is a risk
- some bugs here and there
If you want to buy the game yourself, you can buy it here if you’re from the UK, or here if you’re from the US! Doing so through these links will make a difference for us, so if you decide to do this, you are helping us!
Check out the game’s Amazon listing here!
(This product was reviewed on PS5 using code provided for free by Electronic Arts.)
