Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Review

ByNews Polite

At first I was afraid, I was petrified – I kept thinking “how could Respawn follow up on its outstanding Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order?” But then I spent so many nights playing the sequel finding out how they got it right and Cal Kestis grew strong, and I learned how to get along. And now we’re back, in outer space… okay, okay, don’t leave! I’ll stop. The point is that with vastly expanded combat options, bigger, more open maps, vastly more abilities to play with, and enough collectable stuff to fill a Correllian freighter, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is in many ways the Batman: Arkham City to Fallen Order’s Arkham Asylum. And much like the Arkham games did for Batman, nothing else convincingly captures playing as a Force user quite as well as this.

Especially considering that there’s no reason not to go back and play Fallen Order before starting Survivor if you haven’t, I greatly appreciate that the sequel starts you out with most of the powers and upgrades that Cal had already acquired – there’s no corny amnesia or other, “Oh no, my powers are gone!” gimmick to make you re-learn how to double-jump or use Force push, and no Jawas snuck up and stole away the climbing claws that make scaling walls much faster or the Scomp Link that lets BD-1 hack things. Outside of having to earn back your healing canisters and life and Force bar extensions, this is more or less Cal as we left him five years prior.

So we’re already off to an exciting running start when things kick off with a brief caper on Imperial Coruscant that calls back to A New Hope before making a thrilling escape. You’re quickly thrown right back into Force-pushing Storm Troopers off of ledges and chaining together movement tricks like wall-running, climbing, swinging, and sliding down ramps. And that’s just the beginning – the Spider-Man-style grapple (which only works on pre-designated points) is introduced before you leave Coruscant, and the unlocks keep coming from there on at a rewarding pace. When you unlock the mid-air dash ability to pair with your double-jump, things really take off – you can cover such crazy distances without touching the ground, changing directions twice to reach things around corners, that I had to completely rethink what was possible. It’s not as though Survivor invented the air dash, but Respawn makes excellent use of it, further flexing those Titanfall muscles.

Moving around is definitely satisfying but lightsabers are, of course, the stars of the war. Survivor kicks up the excellent dueling from Fallen Order by several notches with five different fighting stances that are all brilliantly animated to create some of the flashiest and fiercest Star Wars melee battles I’ve ever seen. You don’t even have to be all that good at nailing the timing of strikes, parries, and dodges for fights to look spectacular and smooth as you carve a swath through enemies (but if you are it looks even cooler), and the fact that arms and legs can now sometimes get severed from Storm Troopers and other humanoids – not just droids and creatures, who get absolutely shredded – makes it feel more gratifyingly powerful than ever during kill animations.

Lightsabers are, of course, the stars of the war.

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After dabbling in the single, double-bladed, and dual-wielding stances that carry over from Fallen Order, I settled on the two new ones: the Kylo Ren-inspired Crossguard style and the hybrid Blaster stance that answers the question of “wouldn’t it be cool if Han Solo were also a Jedi?” The Crossguard treats your lightsaber as a slow and heavy broadsword that’s great for hammering a stunned target into the floor, while the latter equips you with a sidearm to dispatch small enemies without having to close the gap and sure makes short work of flamethrower troopers, packs of animals, or others who like to get in close. It’s, quite literally, a blast. Of course, once I unlocked the ability to throw my Crossguard saber to hit enemies a little farther away I felt like either stance was capable of taking down just about any enemy when needed and settled in for the ride. These sabers pair nicely with the expanded set of Force powers that allow you to do things like pull in an entire group of enemies close before executing a spinning slash to cut them all down like blades of grass.

You can only equip two of the five stances at any given time, which at first seemed artificially limiting – and it is, when you think about it – but I came to appreciate it because it gave my version of Cal more personality as a fighter. You can, of course, swap out your stances at any meditation circle, but especially in the early hours you only have so many skill points to go around (and only one free respec). Each stance has its own skill tree, so you’re encouraged to specialize, and by the time I reached the second half of the story I had my clear favorites, and no regrets.

By the time I reached the second half of the story I had my clear favorite stances, and no regrets.

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It’s a story that does the job it needs to do well: get you from one exciting action scene to the next. Early on and quite literally by falling into it by accident, Cal finds himself in a race to locate what’s effectively a map to a lost treasure planet. That’s very much in keeping with the idea of him as the Nathan Drake of the Star Wars universe, and leads to plenty of excuses to visit ancient (well, old and abandoned at least) puzzle chambers where you have to use your wits, the Force, and an expanded range of gadgetry to solve them. Importantly for a game like this, it seldom feels like there’s a lot of time pressure to rush to the next objective, so taking a detour on a side quest to investigate missing prospectors in a mine, find out what went wrong in a droid factory, or investigating the many other rumors you’re presented with by locals doesn’t feel like you’re neglecting a responsibility to save the galaxy.

Despite being a largely enjoyable adventure, my main issue with the story is that nearly every big twist is foreshadowed so heavily that it was only ever a matter of when a reveal would happen, not if. The identities of the main villains are secret as of now, and shall remain unspoiled here, but they’re pretty easy to see coming a lightyear away. In any case, at least they’re written and acted with enough depth that they don’t feel like retreads of anyone Cal’s faced before, and neither is a two-dimensional Sith Lord who somehow has returned. There’s more to them than that, as Survivor successfully prioritizes character over plot for the most part.

The cast I enjoyed so much in Fallen Order is back in full force.

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The cast I enjoyed so much in Fallen Order is back in full force to go through those motions, and this time Cameron Monaghan’s Cal is not so easily outshined by the crew of the Mantis. His motivations are about more than simply fighting the Empire now: it’s about whether he can live a life where he’s something more than a resistance fighter, let go of his guilt, and find a home that’s safe. His path after escaping Order 66 is contrasted against what could’ve been if he’d had different priorities and made different choices. That gives him a lot more character growth than he had as purely a traumatized fugitive learning to be a Jedi. His decisions have more weight to them, making him a much more realized protagonist this time around.

Naturally, BD-1 never left Cal’s side, but the rest of the crew are all given very human reasons for their parting ways after Fallen Order and why they’re coming back together now. Greez’s loveable cantankerousness made him a favorite, and he’s happy to deliver more of that along with some sage wisdom while carefully avoiding overuse of his “grab some seat” catchphrase as he pilots the Mantis. Merrin returns with a new look to immediately rekindle some of the romantic chemistry between herself and Cal, and her more casual attitude after having traveled the galaxy makes her even more endearing. And though she’s less of a constant presence due to Cal no longer needing a mentor, the ever-intense Cere is more powerful than ever, and that power is displayed memorably in one of Survivor’s biggest action moments.

Cere’s power is displayed memorably in one of Survivor’s biggest action moments.

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Aside from a large cast of colorful alien side characters, including an ancient protocol droid with a loose screw and a goofy sea slug with a reverse diving suit and a thick Scottish accent, the other new member of the group is Bode. He’s another roguish mercenary type who, much like Cal did in Fallen Order, initially comes across somewhat blandly as the two bro it up to establish the friendship they’ve struck up fighting the Empire together. As his sympathetic backstory is fleshed out, however, he does become a more interesting companion.

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Getting to fight alongside allies on certain story missions this time around is a treat, especially watching Merrin use her Nightcrawler-esque teleportation to blink around the battle and pick off targets (riding her coattails leads to Jedi Survivor’s single most thrilling action sequence). They can’t be killed or downed in action so there’s no management or babysitting you have to do, but if you want to, you can have them prioritize an especially annoying raider to keep them busy while you thin out his friends’ ranks. Beyond that, they’re only really used to open up paths for you to reach new areas, which boils down to you pushing a button when prompted, but their banter and companionship definitely liven up the scenes in a way BD-1’s adorable bleeps and bwoops couldn’t do alone.

Survivor takes advantage of that fact that it takes place at the midpoint between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.

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Of course, with new friends must also come enemies (it made sense in my head, at least), and following a whole game of battling mostly Imperial Inquisitors it’s a relief to see that the Empire’s role here is more in the background. Their parade of trooper types and security droids are mostly here to provide variety after you’ve been fighting the main enemy army of raiders and their salvaged Separatist battle droids. It’s a clever way to plausibly merge the original trilogy and prequel trilogy enemies together into the same game – one that takes advantage of the fact that Survivor takes place at nearly the exact midpoint between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.

There’s also no shortage of beasts that resemble what we saw in Fallen Order – no matter where you go in the Star Wars galaxy, it seems life finds a way to make giant bugs and big angry wampas. It’s a good mix of enemies and subtypes that builds on Fallen Order’s already respectable lineup, and when I found myself in the middle of a fray where different factions are battling it out (including any weak-minded foes I’d temporarily Force-confused to my side) it’s a great time.

On the subject of creatures, one of Cal’s many new abilities is to tame non-aggressive animals to be rideable mounts, though that isn’t ever used for much besides galloping across empty areas slightly faster than Cal could’ve run on foot. Given that running doesn’t drain his stamina, it seems that it’s mostly just for atmosphere and to make people stop asking Respawn if they can ride the animals. Granted, it is pretty cool to watch the towering, long-legged spamel carry you across the deserts of Jedah. (Yes, they really called an alien camel a spamel.) There’s also a flying animal that can be used as a glider, though only at very specific points, so it’s not much of a game-changer either, but it does play nicely into environmental puzzles.

They’re far from the typical Star Wars one-note worlds like Tatooine or the forest moon of Endor.

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Speaking of environments, this journey takes us to a handful of never-before-seen planets, some of which are expansive and include a variety of extremely different areas within them. Koboh, for instance, has everything from grasslands to swamp to underground facilities, a massive crashed Separatist ship, and even its own version of Cloud City. They’re far from the typical Star Wars one-note worlds like Tatooine or the forest moon of Endor that are either 100 percent desert or completely covered in redwoods, respectively.

Every time I entered a new area I’d circle the camera, looking for the telltale signs the level designers leave to indicate a wall is runnable, a ceiling can be clung to, a crack can be squeezed through, and more. By the time I was done with my 30-hour run through the story I had trouble even remembering to use all of the abilities I had learned because there are simply so many. Levels are meticulously thought-out puzzles in and of themselves, and only rarely did I run across something that didn’t feel intuitive or fair once I took into account all the tools at my disposal.

Considering that this adventure is roughly equal parts combat and puzzle-solving, the fact that there’s such a broad selection of types works in its favor. Puzzles that deal with directing energy beams and even painting paths are clever and well done, on par (and sharing some ideas) with a lot of what we saw in God of War Ragnarok last year. Some involve using BD-1 to launch projectiles to trigger remote switches, some have rolling homing bombs, and some use deployable balloons you can grapple to and launch off of. A few of the main storyline puzzles gave me cause to scratch my head for a few minutes before the solution sprung to mind, which is just about the right level of challenge. They aren’t groundbreaking in their design, but consistently fun nonetheless.

Throughout it all, Survivor is a gorgeous game.

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Throughout it all, Survivor is a gorgeous game with beautifully detailed environments and characters… and perhaps as a result, not one of the best performing. My PS5 playthrough saw some fairly gnarly slowdowns from the expected 30 frames per second in 4K Quality Mode, especially when fighting around smoke or fog, which made timing by parries and dodges difficult. Disappointingly, even the 1440p Performance Mode isn’t close to holding a locked 60fps. I also saw a few crashes and bugs that forced me to quit and reload my save to progress (though this was before the day one patch). EA has naturally promised more patches will come with improvements on all platforms, but if history is any guide it might take a little while before it’s completely ironed out.

A smooth frame rate is certainly important when battling Survivor’s multiple lightsaber-wielding bosses, because there’s no shortage of challenge in learning the timing of parrying their strikes and dodging their unblockable attacks. I must confess: after several hours of banging my head against the brutal final boss I finally resorted to turning the difficulty down a notch to see the ending in time for this review, which hurt my pride because I’d made it to his final phase but couldn’t quite get over the finish line.

That said, there’s not a lot that felt especially novel about these fights; they’re well made, but conventional and one aspect that hasn’t seen a great improvement from Fallen Order. One smart tweak that does stand out, however, is that when a boss kills you, the next time you come at him he’s not glowing yellow signifying you’ll get your health back the first time you hit him like a normal enemy does. Instead, there’s a glowing pillar of light where you fell, and picking that up heals you. That allows you to save the full-health pick-up for when you need it rather than just as the fight begins – it’s a smart and welcome evolution of Fallen Order’s already ingenious system of tipping the scales in your favor when you need it.

I cannot tell you how many times I got one-hit killed by that damn rancor’s grab-and-snack attack.

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When it comes to tracking those bosses down in the first place, I certainly appreciate that the Jedi games give you a map (unlike other games of this style that I could name that delight in making you figure it out) but it does leave something to be desired when it comes to usability. Just like in Fallen Order, this map seems so dedicated to the idea of resembling a light-blue Star Wars hologram that it’s not always easy to figure out what you’re looking at and the directions its waypoints give you aren’t always accurate. However, its dotted lines were generally good enough to point me in the right direction when I struggled to find a path forward or was feeling lost, or redirect me when I was trying to figure out a way past an obstacle I didn’t have the right gear for yet. Also, this time Respawn has granted us the ability to fast-travel between save points, which feels like an act of mercy when the objective is on the other side of one of these large, labyrinthian maps.

These maps are dense, too, and Survivor is packed full of stuff to do around the edges of the main story, including bounty hunters and legendary creatures to track down and kill, combat challenges, and more. Some of them are seriously tough, even on the default Jedi Knight difficulty level; I cannot tell you how many times I got one-hit killed by that damn rancor’s grab-and-snack attack, other than that it was literally dozens. But I got him in the end! You’ll also unlock a full New Game+ mode once you beat the story, which is a welcome feature that Fallen Order didn’t have until more than six months after launch.