Jedi: Survivor offers a deep story, thrilling combat, and exciting exploration, and despite some technical issues that drag it down, it's still my new favorite Star Wars game. DualShockers was provided with a copy of the game for review purposes.
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure, Soulslike, Sci-Fi
- Engaging and challenging combat
- Excellent traversal and exploration
- Deep customization options
- Fantastic characterization and writing
- Uneven pacing
- Various technical issues
When Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order released back in 2019, I was surprised by just how good it was. Star Wars games had been on a bit of a bad track for a while, either releasing disappointing or underbaked games for years. While Fallen Order was a bit rough around the edges, it told a fantastic Star Wars story while integrating Soulslike combat with a metroidvania-style world navigation — all of that combined into one of the best Star Wars games ever made, though it still had a lot of room to grow and expand.
Now, four years later, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has a fair bit to live up to, not only as a sequel, but as a new Star Wars adventure in the tricky time between the prequels and the original trilogy. Thankfully, Survivor manages to do just that, improving on almost every aspect of the previous title to provide an exceptional Star Wars experience.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor takes place 5 years after the events of Fallen Order, and Cal has been fighting the Empire pretty much since we last saw him. His former crew has disbanded, for various reasons explored throughout this game, and he’s been primarily working for Saw Gerrera, striking out at the Empire at every chance he can get. After the opening mission, however, the game shifts away from an Imperial focus, with the Empire instead becoming almost a secondary (though ever-present) antagonist alongside the Bedlam Raiders, a new threat that has sprung up around one of the planets in the game.
The multiple main antagonists provide a somewhat unfocused feel of the story, but narratively, they work extremely well as foils for Cal, adding a wonderful subtext to Cal’s own internal struggles throughout the game. Survivor feels less like a tightly structured narrative and more like a grand unfolding of events, interweaving the constant machinations of the Empire alongside the new Raider antagonists and several wild plot twists to create a diverse, sometimes overwhelming — yet always satisfying — adventure.
Along these same lines, the characterization and writing in this game is absolutely excellent. Each returning character feels like a more fully realized version of themselves in this game. There’s a weight to their decisions, and Cal shows a depth of emotional intelligence that befits his years of experience and his self-reflective nature as a Jedi. He also shows the pain of fighting a losing battle against the Empire and the toll that takes on him, both physically and mentally.
Survivor feels less like a tightly structured narrative and more like a grand unfolding of events, interweaving the constant machinations of the Empire alongside the new Raider antagonists and several wild plot twists to create a diverse, sometimes overwhelming — yet always satisfying — adventure.
While this game does have a fairly slow start, I appreciated the chance to really sink into the setting, and by about the halfway point, it picks up quite a bit, leading into some absolutely incredible set pieces. Seriously, one in particular completely blew me away; the sense of scale, sheer chaos, and incredible use of Cal's and Merrin's abilities created an experience unlike anything else I've played before. I hate that I can’t just gush over it in greater detail here, but I don’t want to shower you with spoilers. Suffice it to say that this game delivers on meaningful personal narratives and bombastic spectacle in equal measure.
Pyloon’s Saloon — Greez’s cantina on the planet Koboh — acts as your home base of sorts when you aren’t out exploring the galaxy. Here, you’ll amass a large group of eclectic characters — ranging from prospectors, gamblers, musicians, fishermen, and gardeners — each character offers fresh dialogue whenever you visit, and many give side quests and tips for exploring the world or dealing with dangerous beasts. This all helps to establish a lived-in feel to the place, offering a welcome comfort in the game’s otherwise darker events. Some of these NPCs will also act as vendors, providing an array of purchases, from perks that will outright impact your moment-to-moment gameplay to various customization options.
Speaking of, the customization options are a major step up from the previous game. Gone are the days of dozens of recolored ponchos (though you can definitely still rock that pastel pink poncho if you’re so inclined). From choosing each piece of BD-1 to picking different jackets, pants, shirts, hairstyles… not to mention the elaborately detailed options for lightsaber customization… this game offers so much. Customizing the lightsaber — and BD-1 especially — feel incredibly tactile. The way each piece snaps into place is wonderfully satisfying.
For fans of Fallen Order, the combat and general exploration should feel familiar. You’ll be navigating alien environments, using a combination of traversal options to explore your surroundings, discovering secrets and customization options hidden throughout the world, as well as finding locked paths that you can only access after gaining a future ability. While you’ll still be navigating some fairly linear levels at times, Survivor also introduces the larger hub world, Koboh, which offers a semi-open world feel, sending you off in every direction in pursuit of side quests or secrets out in the wilds.
From the depth of combat and complexity of characters to the incredible action set pieces and genuinely thoughtful narrative work, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is the gold standard of how to approach a sequel.
Some new traversal options include the grapple hook and a mid-air dash, both of which help to increase the variety of traversal puzzles you’ll encounter during your playthrough. These additions add a great depth to the already fairly fleshed-out options introduced in the previous game, adding just enough extra variety to enhance the already engaging wall-running and ledge-climbing that made Fallen Order so fun to navigate.
Another major improvement in regard to navigation is the new ability to fast travel from any meditation point in the game (where you rest to reset your health/stims, swap lightsaber stances, and respawn enemies). A major gripe with Fallen Order’s maze-like navigation was how easily you could get lost running back through an environment to reach some newly unlocked location. Fast travel completely alleviates this frustrating aspect from the game’s predecessor, allowing me to simply enjoy the excellent level design without fear of getting too lost. It would have been nice to fast travel from anywhere, rather than from a meditation point, but I was never too far away from one.
Combat continues the Souls-inspired design, focusing primarily on the attack, block, and dodge rhythm that’s become so dominant in the third-person action-adventure genre. Survivor further evolves the combat with the inclusion of five unique combat stances, fleshing out the styles present in Fallen Order while also introducing some flashy new options, like the Blade & Blaster stance and the Crossguard stance. I regularly found myself respeccing my ability points into different combat trees to re-focus on a different lightsaber stance. They each offer their own strengths and weaknesses, on top of simply offering a different vibe altogether.
For instance, during a battle with an array of Imperial forces, I’d happily wade in with my double-sided lightsaber, making quick work of the weaker cannon fodder stormtroopers with its lightning-fast attacks. I’d force pull a flame trooper in close for a quick execution, then time my parries to deflect blasters back to their source while also parrying and dodging the more aggressive scout troopers and K2 droids. For heavier foes like the K2 droids, I loved swapping to the Crossguard stance. It’s slower and more unwieldy, but extremely hard-hitting, allowing for some devastating blows when timed right. It took some getting used to, but it allowed me to channel my inner FromSoftware Unga Bunga.
Survivor took everything good about Fallen Order and improved on it. From the depth of combat and complexity of characters to the incredible action set pieces and genuinely thoughtful narrative work, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is the gold standard of how to approach a sequel. The successes here are marred a bit by the uneven performance issues present in all versions of the game, but especially the PC version. I played through on the PS5, and while I can confidently recommend this game for all the incredible things it does well, there’s no denying that the game will simply be in a better place after a few months of polish and bug fixes. My playthrough was, I’m fortunate to say, fairly bug-free, though the performance dips in places were noticeable. I can’t say they’ve hampered my enjoyment, all things considered, but they are noticeable and disappointing.
Even with the frame rate dips, occasional fuzzy textures, and uneven pacing, this game is a phenomenal sequel, a fantastic Star Wars game, and just a straight-up great game. This is currently my favorite Star Wars game, hands down. Between the stellar writing, exploration, traversal, and combat, Survivor offers a powerful experience, and one well worth having. Whether you want to wait a bit for a few more patches or you just want to jump in now, this game is worth your time. In a year full of exciting releases, Survivor will endure near the top of the pack without question.