A Soldier In The Star Wars
Star Wars has been many things over the years, even prior to Disney’s famous acquisition of Lucasfilm. Movies, primarily, but also books, comics, TV media, and, yes, video games. For a great deal of that time, some fans have wanted the franchise to expand beyond just Jedi and the Force – and occasionally they’ve gotten their wish, with one of the most celebrated examples being the Disney + series Star Wars: Andor, which leaves the fantasy elements behind to tell a gritty, mature and deeply political story about resistance to fascism. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (developed by Respawn Studios and published by Electronic Arts) walks a more traditional path, continuing the story of Fallen Order’s Jedi Padawan protagonist Cal Kestis (voiced and performed by Cameron Monaghan). You get to live out your Jedi fantasy here, with lightsaber fights, Force abilities, all the power fantasy fun you’ve enjoyed in any number of licensed titles going back to Super Star Wars… but it still works to bring a depth of character and story that isn’t always found in Star Wars, making for possibly one of the best Star Wars tales ever made.
A Survivor’s Story
The story comes across as simple early on. Even past the curveball of a prologue, which sets up a new board only to wipe it clean just as quickly, Cal ends up stuck on a backwater planet trying to get his ship fixed. It’s all very Star Wars-y at first, though you already see the darkness below through Cal’s obvious depression about his 5 years of guerilla resistance seemingly accomplishing little against the rising Empire – a smart way of integrating the player’s foreknowledge that the regime won’t fall for more than the decade into our protagonist’s actual character. It offers a subtle nature theme that’s not unfamiliar to Star Wars, with the highly technological Empire shown and even stated to struggle with the natural dangers of worlds like Koboh and Jedha (deadly wildlife, apocalyptic dust storms, etc). But as the lengthy tale continues, you’ll find it more unpredictable than usual. This is a game where the developers know damn well that you’ve watched Star Wars, they know that you expect certain tropes, lines and character types, and aren’t afraid to exploit that expectation to pull some nasty-but-effective sleight-of-hand on you.
Character Is Key
Cal has his own significant arc, and even from the beginning is far more world-weary than in Fallen Order, but his supporting cast is equally riveting. Even the side players are constantly enjoyable and well performed – this is a game that really works to use side-quests as a way to flesh out the locations you visit, with the main hub planet of Koboh being filled with characters both friendly and untrustworthy, whom you can get to know at your leisure while helping them to the safety of the local saloon. Fallen Order’s team returns as the story progresses, possibly even more changed by the years than Cal is, both further apart from him and closer than ever. The formerly curmudgeonly Greez Dritus (voiced by Daniel Roebuck) has softened into a caring friend over the years, and the hints of romance between Cal and Nightsister Merrin (voiced and performed by Tina Ivlev) continue to rise to the surface. Bode Akuna (voiced and performed by Noshir Dalal) is a fascinating twist on the classic Han Solo type, and Master Cere Junda (voiced and performed by the prolific Debra Wilson) hides some dangerous secrets. And then there’s the villains, who I’d rather not speak about. The game starts with the Empire in the role but reveals itself to be about a conflict quite separate from them, one well worth experiencing yourself.
Gameplay – The Soul(s) Of A Jedi
Let’s be blunt here – while Star Wars Jedi: Survivor can be called an “action game”, it’s far more accurately called a Souls-like. Not an Elden Ring-like, either – this game is clearly and blatantly inspired by the various Souls games of FromSoftware, tuned to fit the Star Wars universe while still threatening you with difficulty. Meditation respawn spots act like bonfires, allowing you to heal yourself at the cost of restoring enemies, part of your experience is left with the enemy that killed you, in danger of being permanently lost should you fail to land a hit on them… familiar to Souls fans but slightly tweaked to be more forgiving. Not everything is the same, of course. The multiple open planets of Jedi are closest to the 5 Archstone levels of Demon’s Souls rather than any of the seamless Dark Souls followups, and the myriad of weapons of the Souls titles are replaced by the wide variety of unlockable Stances and Skills for Cal’s lightsaber – there’s even something for the greatsword fans in there, odd as that might be. Parrying, as in most Soulslikes, is a major part of the game, the required timing even serving as one of the variables for difficulty. And if you go with Jedi Grand Master, you WILL be expected to learn and execute everything within this combat system, and you’ll be rewarded with the best possible thing – feeling like a Jedi.
Traversal and Puzzles
For Jedi: Survivor, Star Wars provides the setting, and Souls inspires the combat and respawning, but Naughty Dog’s Uncharted franchise has also had some major input. While Cal, as a Jedi, is more supernaturally agile than Nathan Drake was – not to mention able to move things with his mind – you’ll still feel nostalgic undergoing one-way cinematic climbing segments and working your way around complex environmental puzzles. The plot here even involves centuries-old, broken-down temples that Drake would kill to see, dating back to the High Republic Era, itself the subject of a large amount of cross-media that Survivor was likely meant to serve as a gateway to. The mix works well, with these puzzle segments offering optional breaks from combat that test players in different ways while expanding on Star Wars lore – Cal’s ability to sense echoes of the past is especially useful here.
Graphics – The Beauty of the Galaxy
The visuals in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor can be a bit of a mixed bag, especially depending on where you’re playing. In the couple of years since it was released it’s had a lot of updates – I originally played it using the ray-traced 60fps mode on PS5 that suffered from muddy image quality, so much so that the RT was eventually restricted to the 30fps. The PC version has suffered a variety of visual, performance and stuttering issues documented by Digital Foundry, severe to the point that they could not recommend it after multiple patches. The best way to play it is likely on the expensive PS5 Pro following several updates, a situation I will cover in the following article. It’s a shame, then, that underneath these major technical issues is a quite visually lovely game, with attractive environments, character models and lighting effects. It has a real cinematic style to it, with the developers clearly having gone for that “playing a movie” feeling – that Uncharted inspiration doesn’t just lie in the traversal and puzzles. Motion-captured performances are especially excellent, with facial and body animations working hard to sell you on the tale being told. The only real negative I have is the enforcement of Quality Mode for cutscenes, even when you play in the 60fps Performance Mode like I did. While I understand the choice to prioritise visuals in these story sequences, especially to maximise the effect of the character performances, it causes an unpleasant stuttering effect whenever one begins, as the framerate visibly halves to allow for the graphical jump. While it may well be a smart choice, I would’ve liked the option of 60fps cutscenes.
Final Thoughts
I really loved Jedi: Survivor, enough that I’m now going back through the game in New Game +, a feature I’ll also be covering in my follow-up article. This is Souls-like for a broader audience, as is fitting for a mass-market IP like Star Wars, but it works very hard to avoid that audience feeling like anything is missing. The protagonist is more specific, the story is told more straightforwardly, and combat is somewhat more forgiving in ways that make you feel more powerful, and yet this doesn’t feel lesser to any Souls game, simply different. I honestly think it’s one of the greatest Star Wars games ever made, and that’s a very, very long list to sit at the top of. And even if you don’t agree, there aren’t many other places where you can see a Jedi with a mullet and handlebar moustache.
