– Spoiler Review –
Jedi: Fallen Order, a single-player action-adventure game from the developers at Respawn Entertainment, centers on the young Jedi Padawan, Cal Kestis, as he gets wrapped up in an adventure to restart the Jedi Order, set 5 years after Revenge of the Sith. The game has a rather excellent story, solid but rewarding combat, and great exploration mechanics, but little things along the way, including the main character, dampen some of the experience.
Before you go any further, since the game has been out for a bit, when I say “Spoiler Review,” I really mean it, as I’ll be digging into the story and revealing some of the surprises. So readers beware!
One of Jedi: Fallen Order’s biggest strengths is its story, which spans several planets, deals with some intriguing new characters, and connects across various parts of canon, but certain ideas and characters feel like fleeting memories by the time the game wraps up. Cal Kestis, a Padawan who has been in hiding since Order 66, marks himself a target when he reaches out with the Force to save his friend. Before the Inquisitors, specifically the Second and Ninth Sisters, close in, Cere Junda and Greez rescue him and give the wayward Jedi a purpose: solve Cere’s old Master’s puzzle to unlock a holocron containing a list of Force-sensitives throughout the galaxy. Cal, still harboring the fallout of Order 66, slowly regains his connection to the Force as he grows more confident during their adventure, giving players new abilities to unlock previously inaccessible areas, a style of gaming given the moniker Metroidvania. As much as I enjoyed Cameron Monaghan’s acting for Cal, infusing him with an infectious enthusiasm, the lack of conflict within Cal towards beginning a mission which puts him out in the open despite all his years of hiding, battling fallen Jedi (Inquisitors and otherwise), and slaying hordes of Imperial troops really made it hard to identify with or understand the character. In fact, Cal is a ready to go Jedi right from the box, resolute in the mission and his morals, despite the fact he was happy to hide for 5 years, which makes his sudden ascension and everyone’s trust in him not feel totally earned. If their’ s anyone to be called a Mary Sue in Star Wars, it’s Cal: No one ever really doubts him, his abilities, or him being a Jedi; he’s immediately a viable threat to someone as talented and skilled as the Second Sister and the hulking Ninth Sister, despite his training ending when he was 13; he can use three different lightsaber forms, despite not having honed his lightsaber skills in years, unlike the decade plus Rey fought with her staff against other scavengers; and he happens to remember his “blocked” abilities in the nick of time…to name a few things. Even the baggage of Order 66 that weighs on him, while presented in an excellent scene and being the first ever playable Order 66 moment (besides in the Revenge of the Sith game), ends up not seeming like much once the scene is over, and the emotional hook fails due to a somewhat hazy, oddly animated character model for younger Cal. He’s decent as a window into the story and galaxy of Star Wars, staying mostly as a blank slate so not too be too obtrusive, but if you look too hard, you’ll find not everything adds up. Likewise, his tame personality cuts into any reasoning to make Cal a white male, as this story could’ve been told with ANY person, race, alien, color, etc., and while I still would’ve had problems with the character as is, it at least wouldn’t have continued the unnecessary white male protagonist problem this franchise has.
Luckily the game has characters like Cere Junda and the Second Sister to more than make up for disappointments with Cal. Cere (Debra Wilson) has her own complicated past out of Order 66, which forced her to cut herself off from the Force, hence why she’s eager to get Cal to take up her Master’s mission because she isn’t willing to at the moment, despite the stakes. The revelations of what transpired to Cere during Order 66 unravel throughout the game’s story, while static chats (where you basically press a button to spend more time with Cere and other characters) expand on not only Wilson’s excellent acting of the character, but gives Cere so much added depth. It’s a shame Cere’s character model looks unfocused much of the game, unlike most other characters, so it’s a testament to Wilson’s acting it ends up not mattering too much. The Second Sister (Elizabeth Grullon), who turns out to be Cere’s ex-apprentice Trilla, is another exhilaratingly acted and intriguing character, as her struggle with the past and what she’s become offers so much to explore, but the game doesn’t spend much time with her while Cal paints her as one-dimensional until it’s far too late. Their drama and history unfolds in front our eyes via another of Cal’s visions late in the game, but a conspicuously long absence of the Second Sister, Cere’s overall character feeling like it serves Cal more than the story, and far too short glimpses into this big story moments, makes the “visceral” reveal fall flat, as it was already more compelling beforehand. I have my thoughts on how this could’ve been handled better, by basically making them the two stars and playable characters of the game, but that’s below in my “Here are a few other things” section, as it’s not part of the main review.*
I enjoyed a lot of the secondary characters as well: Greez (Daniel Roebuck), pilot of the Mantis, has some fun humor, with a lot of food related jokes, and while he doesn’t get much to do beyond be the pilot or his gambling debts resulting in you randomly kidnapped by a crime cartel, chatting with him is always a good time. I hope he has more to do in a potential sequel; BD-1, the cute little droid that hangs on Cal like a parrot, matches Cal’s chipper mood and is helpful in exploration, and while his ability to take over other droids was nice, I found it not very useful and I’d hope any sequel would see him be a bit more important to combat; Nightsister Merrin (Tina Ivlev), as some of the game takes place on Dathomir, has a story somewhat similar to Cal and I love her straight faced sarcasm/connections to The Clone Wars, but it felt like you get to recruit† her far too late in the game. She’s also the one who starts making some good points that lead to Cal’s final decision in the game with the holocron, which seemed weird to begin hearing so late in the game and not from any of the other main characters; Saw Gerrera makes a cameo, and mainly that, when you visit Kashyyyk, as he’s largely forgotten on return trips (but at least they got Forest Whittaker back again!); Mari Kosan (Sumalee Montano) is one of Saw’s Partisans you get to chat with for a bit and I liked her inclusion here, especially dealing with the fallout from Saw leaving Kashyyyk; and the Ninth Sister (Misty Lee), one of my favorite Inquisitors, was a truly imposing person to battle and didn’t disappoint with some of her trademark sarcasm here…read more about her in the “other things” section below as I go over this game’s connections to the Darth Vader – Dark Lord of the Sith comic. ¶
Jedi: Fallen Order’s story unfolds much like an Uncharted video game, with a spice of Metroidvania for good measure, as Cal follows clues about the ancient Zeffo culture across a swash-buckling, tomb exploring adventure. Being able to tackle the game at your own pace to some extent, choosing which planet to traverse next with the skills you have, is both the game’s biggest strength and weakness. Getting to return to the peaceful Bogano, a description I give it despite its endless, annoying creatures, can help get players situated with new skills or abilities, while returning to other planets to gain XP to level up or search for secrets and chests you might have missed, despite the weak rewards, is a fun way to play a Star Wars game. However, considering Cal and his crew talk about the Empire constantly hunting them, but they only hunt you once you advance the story, can remove some of the thrust and tension in the gameplay and story if you’re going back to previous planets to unlock new areas and rewards (not even the late-game endless bounty hunter encounters help). You could easily choose to tackle the story straight on and not experience the same thing I did, but it would make the later sections potentially harder without leveling up more, unless you play on Story Mode (and no judgements if you do!).
In the lead up to the game, there was a lot of talk about Fallen Order having “thoughtful combat,” and the system in place definitely doesn’t favor the button masher, meaning players will need to think before they swing, use the Force, or try to stand and block forever. There’s a good bit of enemy variety, up till a point, meaning you’ll have figured out the best combo or skill to tackle them before long, but the game throws larger groups of enemies at you to make up for it. By focusing on leveling up, several combos starting making quick work of any enemy, even the Purge Trooper variants, to the point “thoughtful” went out the window; a particularly easy combo against Nightbrothers was to pull them towards Cal and then hit square, taking them out instantly. It’s a system that takes a bit to learn and get used to, but it shouldn’t take much to master it, though if it’s causing you trouble, don’t be afraid to switch difficulties: having the Story Mode option, and in fact a whole bunch of difficulty options that tell you exactly how they affect gameplay, was an excellent mark towards Respawn (I played on Jedi Knight, which had its frustrations until I got too powerful) and will help players choose what’s most comfortable to them. The hardest and most interesting battles, where the combat system really shines, is encounters with powerful enemies like the Inquisitors in intense, challenging, but fun one on one duels; the Ninth Sister is as tough and imposing as you’d imagine, but the majority of my continued deaths against her didn’t felt more like my fault than anything unfair.
I will say Cal becoming such a powerhouse by game’s end, via getting experience for killing people, while understandable because this is a game, does feel a bit off to his righteous demeanor, as he’s mad at Cere for some of her past actions he uncovers and yet he’s out here, mowing down troops like blades of grass. There were so many moments where I tried taking a back way to specifically avoid an encounter, hoping being stealthy would prevent the Inquisitor knowing where Cal was, but there’s not really any option for stealth or avoiding fights besides running through an encounter area, though there’s no reward for doing so and no XP means a hindrance on your progress through the game. For a group so concerned about Inquisitors hunting them, a lack of stealth also weakens the narrative they are actually concerned about being located (and those random bounty hunters always find you), so I hope they add stealth in any potential sequel, as the game could easily do so by incorporating some of the traversal options into the combat sections.
When you’re not battling servants of the Empire, there are tombs and planets to explore, via running on walls, jumping between zip lines, swimming underwater, going on a LOT of slides, or solving puzzles with a combination of all the above and the Force. All the traversal is fun and looks great, making exploring easy and a joy to do, but floaty controls and some hiccups where Cal gets caught on surprisingly simple geometry or completely misses ropes/planks, can cause minor frustrations. The tombs are the real highlight of the game for me, combining both combat encounters and larger, sprawling puzzles across the ancient structures, while a lack of enemies in several moments of exploration was a pleasant experience the game just doesn’t have enough of, usually throwing random creatures at you to needlessly kill instead; I’d pick the first tomb, the Wind one, as my favorite. As fun as traversing and exploring can be, the rewards don’t feel worth it very often, there are WAY too many slides (to the point it barely makes sense in-universe), and getting back to a spot for completionists to gather all the hidden goodies is a slog without a fast travel system. Cosmetic rewards, be it for BD and the Mantis’ paint job or an endless stream of ponchos, or new lightsaber parts you’ll only see in detail for 5% of the game, have never really been my thing, but that’s often a reward for exploring or going back to old areas, and it’s less than impressive. Digging up bits of lore and uncovering old stories through Cal’s psychometry abilities is a far better reward, but even then sometimes those end up being subpar. The slides were a real head-scratcher, as while I understand one or two to provide some variety in getting around planets, there’s a section on Kashyyyk that’s supposed to be this big action sequence and instead of being caught up in the moment I couldn’t help but wonder how all these slides, in such a convenient manner, were even possible/actually part of the planet’s make-up. Lastly, returning to specific spots within planet maps to explore again can be a chore considering you have to wade through the same enemy encounters since you can’t fast travel to any of the save points.
Having both absolutely enjoyed and spent countless hours on games like God of War (2018) and Control, which offer similar singe-player games with deep stories, Metroidvania progression, and expansive variety of powers and abilities in combat, I couldn’t help but think on how Jedi: Fallen Order would’ve benefited from borrowing ideas, like: in both games, the main character has a deep and layered story, and so too do the surrounding characters, even their companions; rewards for exploring in both games offer important power-ups and buffs, not simply cosmetic items; the worlds of each game don’t feel like video game levels (I’m looking at you, endless slides) set up specifically for the player to use their abilities, but rather living breathing parts of the universe, literally in Control‘s case; Overall, even if I hadn’t played those games, the problems I found with Fallen Order would still have been as apparent.
Here are a few other things:
- *Here’s my offering for an alternative approach to Jedi: Fallen Order, focusing on Trilla and Cere, the more interesting and complex characters in the game. Begin the game as Trilla, which is where the game could train you in the basics of its systems, right up until their fateful separation during Order 66, though we don’t see what happens to Trilla after she’s captured. The game cuts to the 5 years later, when this game takes place, only now you’re playing as Cere, who not only cut herself off from the Force, but is now alone with a grumpy pilot Greez, until a fateful discovery on Bogano leads her down her old Master’s path. The Second Sister and Cere clash throughout, and the game could mine the intricacies of their past, as Cere struggles to reconnect with the Force as her greatest failure dogs her at every turn, instead of their great history being used to fuel Cal’s story. In the end, I know making video games is very complex, but this is simply what I’d offer for a story instead.
- †Considering Cere, Greez, and BD all come with starting the adventure, giving a trophy for recruiting everyone when you only convince Merrin to join seemed like they meant for you to recruit more characters in an earlier build of the game. And it’s a trophy (I played this on a PlayStation 4) you can’t even avoid getting, as Cal recruits Merrin without any player input.
- ¶A lot story and characters for Jedi: Fallen Order was set up in last year’s excellent Darth Vader – Dark Lord of the Sith comic series: The Second Sister is first glimpsed in issue #19 of the series; the Ninth Sister, first seen in issue #6, takes center stage in the “The Rule of Five” arc, where she became my favorite Inquisitor, while we learn how she lost her leg in the “Burning Seas” arc; the Inquisitors were originally housed on Coruscant, but after events in the opening of the “Fortress Vader” arc, Emperor Palpatine says they must be moved, hence the Fortress Inquisitorius on a remote planet seen here; Jocasta Nu protecting holocrons with lists of Force-sensitives, one of which she trusts to Eno Cordova and Cal hunts for here, revitalizes her character in “The Dying Light” arc.
- The strange sounding metal-like music that plays once at the beginning and then again during the arena scene once Cal is capture by the Haxion Brood? That sounds rather alien? It’s actually the furthest thing from it: it’s licensed music (the first of its kind in Star Wars!) from a Mongolian metal band, The Hu, with their song “Sugaan Essena.” And it was written specifically for the game! I loved the alien sound to it and hope their in-universe band will continue to make music in the future, as I’m eager to hear different kinds than just the Modal Nodes!
- All those cosmetic parts for your lightsaber? If you’ve visited Galaxy’s Edge and created your own lightsaber in Savi’s Workshop, you might recognize parts of your saber in the game, as they are the same! Love that little connect, as I don’t know when/if I’ll ever get to experience Galaxy’s Edge, so here’s a little way to enjoy it from afar.
- The visit to Ilum was a blast (until you run into the Imperials), considering I really enjoyed the youngling focused episodes of The Clone Wars, but it definitely seems to dispel all doubts about its connection to Starkiller Base.
- There aren’t a lot of connections, besides slightly setting things up for the game, in Jedi: Fallen Order – Dark Temple comic miniseries, but it means more time with Cere and that’s a good thing.
- I always enjoy little things, and having the AT-ST pilots climb out of their fallen chicken walkers to feebly attack Cal was the best.
- Here’s our review of the the game’s sequel, Jedi: Survivor!
Jedi: Fallen Order arrives as EA’s third Star Wars game after taking over the license nearly 7 years ago, delivering the best of the bunch, with plenty to enjoy between an expansive story and gameplay, but a lot of little things add up as disappointments.
+ Great story spanning planets and canon
+ Cere and Second Sister
+ Metroidvania progression/combat in the beginning
– Cal lacks conflict
– Mainly cosmetic rewards
– Setting your own pace for progression and a lack of stealth undercut narrative
– Seriously, another slide??!
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website @MynockManor.
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Jedi: Fallen Order – Dark Temple (comic miniseries)