Official Score
Overall - 90%
90%
This entry proves yet again that letting Respawn handle the Star Wars IP is the right call. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a Game of the Year contender in a very stacked year.
Roughly three and a half years after Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order wowed us, Respawn Entertainment is at it again with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Should players journey with Cal once more in a galaxy far, far away?
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Review
Taking place five years after the events of the original, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has Cal and his crew mates splitting up and going their separate ways. However, Cal has been taken prisoner to Senator Sejan on Coruscant, who basically tells you to give up the location of the others for freedom. Just in the nick of time, BD jumps in and frees you, allowing you to pursue the Senator.
You are actually here to gather intel, and the Senator’s ship just so happens to have it. While going after the ship, the game introduces you to the new crew, who help out in a few places. Eventually, you catch up with the Senator, but your trap turns into a trap against you. You escape, but what you found needs to be discussed with your old crew. Finally, you crash land on a planet with Greez, and there your journey begins.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is much larger than the last game, with fewer planets that are larger in scope. Koboh is where you spend most of your time and all sorts of creatures – friendly and not – inhabit it. This is also home to the Bedlam Raiders and their repurposed old war droids; something else to watch out for on top of dealing with the Empire. It took me just over 35 hours, but I still had plenty of collectibles left on the map.
Unlike the last game, you start with basic Force powers like a push and pull, along with a double jump. On top of that, you still have the dual-sided lightsaber and the twin lightsaber stance. You get a few new Force powers like mind control, but it’s nothing crazy like lightning coming from your hands. The big new upgrades are the new lightsaber stances, the Crossguard stance, and Blast Saber combo.
You do have a lightsaber throw, but the range is minimal. With the blaster, you can hit enemies at range and get a charge shot. I used the stun shot, which worked great for big human enemies. You still have your lightsaber in this stance as well, so you can parry and do basic combos. The Crossguard stance is a powerful lightsaber that is similar to a greatsword in most action RPGs. It is slower and hits much harder. I’m more about speed, but it is a cool addition nonetheless.
The combat first and foremost favors a defensive style. The more you block, the more you break an enemy’s guard and open them up. Once open, Cal can do significant damage. That isn’t to say it is like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. You can get away with spam attacking most basic enemies. Rather, it’s just the bigger guys that you need to watch out for. One can also slice limbs off in this one – truly excellent.
Mixing in your force powers into combat opens up even more combos, while the skill tree lets you upgrade force powers to affect most non-boss enemies. You can even get a strong enough lift or pull to pick the huge enemies up. There are many options for skills; each stance has a tree, Cal has a tree, and your Force powers have a tree. Cal’s special is a time slow, where he can slow everyone around him down a bit and do some free damage. It’s cool, but you can still get countered while you are in it.
Exploration and parkour also play a big role in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. If you were hoping for better exploration rewards, then you might want to wait for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. You now get haircuts, new clothes, BD colors, extra HP packs, stat upgrades, and occasionally lightsaber parts. Every once and a great while, you will find an upgrade for BB or map locations, but even then, it’s not worth it. It is cool that you can customize your Cal a bit more; I just don’t think it’s worth all the effort.
There is one element worth discovering: Perks and Perk Slots. Perks are upgrades to specific stats or abilities; you can only have so many equipped at once. For example, I like to toss the lightsaber, so I had a perk that upgraded that damage and one that broke through the enemy’s block quicker. So with my upgraded saber throw, I could simultaneously hit multiple enemies and break more guards. If they added some stats to hilts and clothes, I think it’d be worth finding.
There are a lot of new side activities to do. You have bounties, side missions, an auto battler mini-game, gardening, fish finding, and recruiting. You recruit people out in the wilds back to Rambler’s Reach, and they give you currency, new quests, or other rewards. The currency is spent in the game’s few stores, but again it’s mostly cosmetic stuff. Fish go into the aquarium in the saloon, which is fantastic, and I actually do think that’s a good exploration reward. Gardening looks pretty, but I couldn’t figure out if it did anything else.
With the game going more open, there are some drawbacks. For one, the title is very selective of which ledges players can grab. There are also many more invisible walls, which is never fun. This could all be resolved if they just give my boy Cal a jet pack next game. I know they got that Anthem code sitting around somewhere in EA. So get that flight mode, and let’s go. Also, I felt like the last bit dragged on far longer than it should have.
I did have a couple of minor bugs, but nothing game-breaking. I also ran into a few frame drops, mostly during huge fights with many enemies.
This entry proves yet again that letting Respawn handle the Star Wars IP is the right call. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a Game of the Year contender in a very stacked year.
