Before I get started, I just want to make it clear that I am aware of the many serious technical issues this game has. I will be reviewing “Star Wars Jedi: Survivor” just on the game itself and not the technical side. Having said that though, I played this on the PlayStation 5 and haven’t come across any real issues. I did choose the 4K 30FPS “Quality” option, so that may be a big factor as to why, so keep in mind while I acknowledge the severity of the issues many gamers have been experiencing, my final score will not be factoring that aspect into it. So, on we go! “Star Wars Jedi: Survivor” takes place five years after the events of first title “Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order,” both of which have Respawn Entertainment in the helm as the developers. The lead character, Cal Kestis, returns, played by the awesome Cameron Monaghan, and he continues his ever long battle against the empire.
Full disclosure, I didn’t love the first entry in this franchise as much as many others, I am a huge Star Wars fan and I did enjoy its story, but I found it to be a bit janky with a lot of ideas that weren’t fully thought out. In this one, it doubles down on a lot of what was created in the first but with a lot more finesse. The story in this game is also much better put together than the previous one, with Cal facing new internal struggles such as survivor’s guilt, and the overall stakes seem much higher. The game features new characters like Bode Akuna and reunites with some old ones. There is a lot of extra story fluff here with side content, but it’s done quite well and you may get to see some of your favorite characters be more fleshed out. The gameplay in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is also much like its predecessor, with some enhancements. You still travel from planet to planet, completing your missions, but the maps on the planets are larger and denser with more wildlife. You can even mount creatures for quicker travel. You still use your ship the Mantis to travel between planets, and workbenches are still available where you can customize every single piece of your lightsaber, the design of BD-1, and a new addition, your blaster. You can also get pretty creative with customizing Cal himself with different clothes and hairstyles that you can collect as you play.
The game offers multiple fighting styles or “stances,” such as double blade or dual wield, including one with a blaster, yes, one of them is blaster stance where you have a lightsaber in one hand and a blaster in the other, which makes for some pretty kickass fight choreography. The skill trees are back, and you can upgrade your lightsaber stances, your force powers, and survival instincts. Fast travel is a much-needed new feature that allows you to return to familiar planets on multiple occasions, and your meditation spots double as fast travel locations. Combat has a lot more complexity with it now, with a variety of force powers and different lightsaber stances, you can really get creative on how you want to take out your enemies. Chopping up stormtroopers to pieces is oddly satisfying, don’t judge me, because admit it, you enjoy it too… Or will!
As you travel to different planets, you will come across ancient Jedi Chambers that offer new revelations about the Jedi past. Completing these chambers often involves elaborate puzzles that are fun to solve and unlock new perks. You may also encounter new characters that unlock rumors that offer side missions to enrich the side stories even more, which may lead to recruiting new characters to your main town. There is a lot of extra side content like this that can quickly rack up more hours into your adventure, I really appreciate how much thought is put into all of this, even if it’s not even part of the main storyline and can easily be ignored. Changing the subject briefly, despite being next-gen hardware, the game doesn’t look drastically different from its predecessor. We are in this new generation of games and while it is beautiful to look at, the visuals still only moderately improved. I’m not saying the game looks bad, it clearly looks great, I’m just not feeling the power of “next-gen” just yet in a lot of these recent AAA games.
“Star Wars Jedi: Survivor” succeeded in what it needed to accomplish with me, turning me into a believer. It is a great game that builds upon the strengths of its predecessor in absolutely every way. The story is compelling, and I can’t wait for what they have in store for the next one. This is a no-brainer to not just people who loved “Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order,” or just general Star Wars fans, but gamers who just want to have fun. The force is strong with this one.
9/10
For more information on the STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor visit: https://www.ea.com/games/starwars/jedi/jedi-survivor
Related: Nick Navarro Reviews
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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