– Spoiler Review –
After three years, the sequel to Jedi: Fallen Order has arrived, continuing Cal Kestis and crew’s adventures in a galaxy where hope is few and far between as the Empire’s reign seems unstoppable. With Jedi: Survivor, Respawn Entertainment expands on its formula for the series for its betterment, resulting in a more refined package and rewarding gameplay, while its story remains a highlight, implementing aspects from recent shows and publishing initiatives to help flesh out its world, though certain developments across the game’s many aspects hold it back in little, but important ways.
One last time, this review covers the game in full, so expect heavy spoilers
Picking up five years after Jedi: Fallen Order, Jedi: Survivor sees Cal Kestis (Cameron Monaghan) and BD-1 working with a whole new crew, pulling a job deep in the underworld of Coruscant. As things go sideways, he’s forced to track down Greez (Daniel Roebuck) for help repairing the Mantis, stumbling into an entirely different situation changing everything for the young Jedi Knight in his unending fight against the Empire. A mysterious planet, hidden from visitors in a deadly nebula, seems like a great place to regroup and rebuild outside the Empire’s reach, though the only way to it is locked away by secrets from the High Republic era, some 200 years ago. When a key component from the era reawakens, the race is on for Cal to get there first, which sees him reuniting with Merrin (Tina Ivlev), Cere Junda (Debra Wilson), and even Jedi Master Eno Cordova (Tony Amendola), all while recruiting new allies in the fight, like mercenary Bode Akuna (Noshir Dalal), but enemies, from an ancient Jedi, the head of a deadly raider faction, and of course the Empire hinder his every move. How far will Cal go to make this dream of a sanctuary from the Empire a reality, especially as those arrayed against him have nothing holding them back? There’s some excellent themes this time around, from what it’s like to live in the past instead of the present and if the ends really justify the means, and I felt like Survivor had a better overall story because of them, as characters and their choices felt like foils for one another and cautionary tales for present courses of action. Pulling a character literally from the past, High Republic Jedi Master Dagan Gera (Cody Fern), and involving a long-lived character in the Gen’Dai Rayvis (D.C. Douglas), shows Cal both what obsession with the fight and not letting go the past can do to a person, while Cere’s new groove on Jedha and Merrin’s newfound confidence in who she is offer him important counterpoints. And Bode’s story, his fight for his daughter, delves into something far more interesting we don’t often see, but I question the choice of it becoming the focus after so much other story already played out, though either way I quite enjoyed what his actions can mean for Cal going forward.
There’s also some better character development this time around, and while most main characters have changed since we last saw them (thanks a lot to the events of the brilliant Jed: Battle Scars novel), not all of them get enough development nor on-screen time to make it worthwhile. Cal saw a big improvement from Fallen Order, in my opinion, as he’s struggling with the seeming futility of his fight, what it means for those he cares about, and how long it may have to continue, where in the first game he seemed to lack conflict about almost anything. His struggle with continuing on, with what Dagan represents, Bode’s later betrayal, and finding a way to make this potential haven more than about himself led to some good story beats throughout. There’s some attempts late in the game to push Cal over the edge to the dark side, but they feel half-baked, as opening up to the dark side is prompted on screen in a rather cheesy way (Press X for Jason or Doubt, anyone?), and any time he does it gives players either overpowered moments (which recall the ghost of Legends’ games past, The Force Unleashed, but not in a good way) or the only way to achieve victory, so it only seems to be a good thing, while Cal’s ‘struggle’ with tapping in isn’t fleshed out enough to feel like he’s actually struggling with it at all; heck, even Merrin’s words to him make it seem like the struggle is already over before it starts. There’s hope a third game, a likely end of a trilogy, will delve into this deeper, but I’m not totally sure if it’ll do it justice if Survivor is anything to go by.
Speaking of Merrin, her leading role in Jedi: Battle Scars was such a revelation, and it was great to see her only grow from there by the time players run into Merrin again. She’s got impressive new abilities and a more worldly-vibe, and she at least gets to join Cal for missions on Jedha. The romantic subplot between the two feels earned from playing the first game and reading the book, but without the book, and how Survivor treats her after they finally take the dive, almost feels like she’s forgotten at times, like the peak of her story has been reached and she’s there for moral support afterwards, though at least she’s involved with the finale to some extent. Outside of those moments, their conversations are once again static ones, meaning you’ll need to walk up to her and click if you want to hear more, and sometimes it doesn’t seem to address anything going on between them. Cere, having finally found peace after her bout with the dark side to help fight Darth Vader in Fallen Order’s finale, is full of wisdom and focus, rebuilding the archives and building out the Hidden Path, the very same one Obi-Wan found himself involved with in Obi-Wan Kenobi. I felt like she should’ve been the first game’s protagonist, and while I’ve made peace with it, I felt like Survivor, despite giving her this serenity, being able to bond with her former Master again, and later letting players control her and see the extent of her abilities, still short-changed the character. Most of her interactions with Cal are either relegated to cutscenes or optional conversations, so players can miss details of her development and Wilson’s performance, and the moment you get to experience the breadth of her abilities comes to a crashing halt with a grueling duel with Vader. While it makes total sense the fight would be so difficult, many of my defeats felt cheap rather than my explicit fault, as it came down to the length of an action’s animation and when it can be interrupted, so the big moment felt more like dragging out the inevitable than some epic battle. Together, Merrin and Cere feel like they have less to do than the three other vital, and male, characters of the game, one an ally and the other two antagonists of the game. Out of his old crew, players will spend the most time with Greez, even if he’s not out on missions, as the player hub centers on him setting up a saloon and he later pilots the Mantis again, though his journey back to confidence over his lost arm (as seen in Jedi: Battle Scars, which I like said, you should read!) both feels like an afterthought and rewarding in the end.
When it comes to Survivor’s antagonists, which all three are male characters, there’s interesting work here for foils to Cal and his choices, but it often comes at the expense to the few main female characters. Dagan Gera’s story, of what happened in the past, led him to renounce the Order, and his goals now, make him an interesting character I didn’t feel like was used to his full advantage; in fact, he’s just so quickly a villain, there’s not even much nuance in Cal’s psychometry flashbacks where we see Dagan’s choices and interactions with his old Master and sort of flame Santari Khri (Tracy Ifeachor). There are some interesting comments he makes later in the game which dig into the differences with the galaxy from the High Republic era to now, but they come too little too late (and it’s all something you’ve heard in a trailer) I almost kept forgetting he wasn’t a recent Jedi, though at least his presence is often unnerving as you never quite know what he’ll do next or what he all has planned; the final fight with him was a trippy, cool experience which didn’t always make sense, but I was totally here for more of it. Personifying not letting go of the past, his actions are important for Cal as he still struggles with fighting the Empire and trying to live up the ideal of an Order that died out 10 years ago. Rayvis, the Gen’Dai warrior who controls the Bedlam Raiders and made a deal with Dagan centuries ago, is a menacing presence and it was just really neat to face one of his species, as they are well-known from Legends days and popularized by Durge in the Clone Wars microseries (who is now in canon, by the way). Rayvis’ loyalty across centuries and wanting it to end certainly shows Cal the cost of giving up, while his thoughts towards the lack of honor in wars these days felt a bit like commentary on our world at this moment. And then there’s Bode, in a way Cal’s foil, as his newest friend and ally, who fights for a future for his daughter, is later revealed as a Jedi who made a deal with the Empire for their safety. I always felt there was something off with Bode, beyond a slight dislike for his “bro”-ish attitude at times, so I wasn’t terribly surprised something was up with him, but I liked the twist as it presented a situation we don’t see very often about the Jedi who survived Order 66. Typically, they become Inquisitors, so this was a nice change of pace, while it shows the hazards of attachments in a whole new way. However, after both Dagan and Rayvis, having another person to chase down and face over Tanalorr, the hidden planet in the Koboh Abyss, felt more like an excuse to extend the game, with too much story tacked on after what already felt like a conclusion enough, while Bode also being a Jedi and have Force abilities further made him feel a bit redundant. Otherwise, Norshir Dalal puts in a great performance for the role, though no surprise after his time on The Bad Batch!
Greez’s saloon, named after his great-grandmother Plyoon, sort of becomes Cal’s home, as he helps recruit people to grow its population and open certain rewards in the game. There are a lot of great personalities here, with interesting stories to share, tons of variety in aliens (new and old), genders, and orientations (the LGBTQIA+ representation is a wonderful touch, even if it’s mostly for these static characters), while minor changes to the little town and the saloon itself as the numbers grow were appreciated as well. I quite enjoyed this addition, as it grounded Survivor in the era and the galaxy better than Fallen Order ever did, but in the end it felt like an interactive painting and less of a growing situation. After a High Republic droid Cal and crew befriend is taken by the deadly Bedlam Raiders while players are off planet, beyond comments from Plyoon Saloon’s regulars, I would’ve never guessed any incursion occurred, as everyone stays roughly where they were and there’s no damage or fallout from the raid. Recruited characters, while they open up cool new rewards for players, feel like a missed opportunity at times, as historian Toa is scared off exploring, never goes out again (seemingly), and then Cal doesn’t really discuss his findings with her at all, while the High Republic droid Zee (Kendal Rae) does offer some interesting comparisons and contrast to how things were 200 years ago to now, but the data discs she unlocks just provide upgrades/cosmetics and not maybe some fun little tidbits of lore. This a game, after all, and not some novel or comic, so these choices make sense and it is how NPC’s work, though the static nature of the saloon, besides more people in it and some cosmetic changes, both make the game more dynamic but exposes the superficial nature of it.
But at least they gave us fast travel! What’s funny is, as much as this was needed in the original game, the improved traversal mechanics, amount of shortcuts, overall level design, and combat options made me not use it terribly much at first. After I got close to the end of the game, I found myself using it more to help clean up some collectibles or chase after bounties, though it’s a testament to all the little slice of life improvements that I even wanted to go out my way to collect or chase things down as much as I did over the first game, with the fast travel option being icing on the cake. Jedha and Koboh stand out the most, from the big areas you can roam in that lead to story areas, the wildlife, to the enemy encounters spread throughout that change with where you are in the story. There are little puzzles to solve along the way, some environmental to move forward or others pulling you away from the main quest if you so choose, and I often delighted in checking out what it might lead to, be it legendary enemies (so harder version of normal creatures), cosmetics, or even Skoova Stev’s (JB Blanc) fishing expeditions, though most of the above get a little repetitive and less interesting the more you collect or find. The puzzles this time around, High Republic Jedi Chambers instead of Zeffo ones from the first game, provide fun diversions, test one’s mettle a bit, and serve the story to some degree, but it certainly left me wanting more. Thankfully there were Force Tears to help pad the non-story quests and puzzles, which offer a different level of variety of obstacles, from tough platforming sections to enemy encounters, and they were some of my favorite challenges in the game (minus the dual legendary enemy battles, ouch!).
The additional lightsaber stances and skill tree upgrades brought a healthy dose of variety to combat, with my favorite being double-bladed and crossguard, with the blaster stance a far last as I didn’t feel like it was implemented very well. My go-to choices had to do with double-bladed helping with crowds, and there are many moments where crowds can overwhelm the other stances (including little creatures), while crossguard, though slow, takes out huge chunks of health on enemies so it helped make quick work of difficult bosses or encounters. Crowd control is a tricky thing in Survivor, as blaster enemies can interrupt attacks or parries, and cause frustration. The amount of enemy variety helped with some of the repetitive feeling of the first game, as Imperial troops including everything from standard stormtroopers, baton-soldiers, KX security droids, and even DT Sentry droids, while the Bedlam Raiders have brutes, blaster wielding folk, and a variety of Clone Wars-era droids, which were fun to battle against. Despite complaints from the first game about Cal’s hunger for destroying eco-system’s worth of creatures, there’s tons of creature variety too, from the creepy shiverpedes to giant rancors to battle, which were often cool or intriguing to look at but once again left questions why it’s necessary. Better yet, Survivor tells Fallen Order to hold its beer, as it now tells players to destroy plants to gather seeds to build a garden, though the logic of destroying plants which are growing in their habitats and move them elsewhere because they supposedly aren’t growing, according to Cal, gives me the biggest case of “Sure, Jan” I’ve ever felt in my life.
Silly collecting aside, the lack of stealth or no-kill options is once again a disappointment, though I was able to skip some encounters like in the bigger open areas of Koboh or Jedha and at least there are more droid characters to face this time around, while the story somewhat (almost) supports the lack of stealth a bit more since Cal is actually trying to be aggressive rather than hiding. Also, while the bounty hunting aspect is a fun addition, for someone who is supposed to struggle with the dark side late in the game, going out to kill people for credits (as there is no non-kill options) doesn’t feel particularly Jedi-like at all, and while I get Cal is ready to let the Order go, the fact he’s ready to get out there and cut people down feels like a hard swerve; if this was built into the narrative somehow, maybe it would work better. Regardless, Caij (Verona Blue) is a cool new character, so at least there was that from this aspect of the game (oh, and a little encounter with a very familiar bounty hunter…). Lastly, the expanded cosmetic options and rewards throughout the game more than make up for poncho-heavy nature of Fallen Order, while I appreciated them making funny trophy/achievements for finding this game’s only poncho or drop-kicking someone while wearing the mullet. The ability to customize so much of Cal, his lightsaber, and BD-1 has led to a lot of players sharing screenshots of their choices, thanks to a good photo mode, and it feels like more thought was put into the process than just another poncho.
Here are a few other things:
- The High Republic has quickly become one of my favorite parts of Star Wars, ever, from how it depicts the Jedi, the galaxy at large, and its intriguing villains. Its second Phase was coming to a close as this game released, while Phase III begins in October 2023, picking up one year after the events of Phase I. If this game piqued your interest, definitely give the publishing initiative a shot, you won’t be disappointed!
- I totally thought Eno Cordova was already dead by the beginning of Fallen Order, so his return here came as quite the surprise. His presence was neat, but like other characters, felt underutilized and his ending left me with a shrug.
- I appreciated the meta-ness of encountering the Oggdo’s spawn in this game, as its parent was one of the first game’s tougher encounters and sort of the poster child for the wanton animal destruction. After the fight, Cal notices a creature watching him, and interacting with it leads to Cal feeling like it’s judging him, and therefore the player. It appears in Doma Dendra’s (Rebecca Wisocky) shop later, leading to you having to fight both the spawn and the original. I see you Respawn, and while I appreciate this, yes, as you can see in the review above, I’ll still be calling out all the creature killing.
- There’s a very, to be diplomatic, ….interesting Titanic reference hidden deep with in the game, which I only learned about thanks to the internet and had to check out for myself.
- I am a Turgle (Richard Steven Horvitz) fan and not as much a Skoova fan, as much as I laughed at the Scuba Steve reference from Big Daddy, as it came more down to how long his conversations can be and the limited time I have to play (there is a way to skip dialogue, as I can read faster than listen, so that helped a little).
- Verona Blue, who voiced Caij, was the first female stormtrooper voice ever in The Force Awakens. Cool she gets more roles in the franchise!
- Masana Tide, aka the Ninth Sister, has been one of my favorite Inquisitors, and I was sad to see her pass early in the game.
- The Perk system was a nice addition too, even if I basically stuck with the same ones.
Jedi: Survivor is what happens when a game and the team behind it evolves and improves on an already solid foundation, making for a sequel that unlocks more of the series’ potential, but still reveals places it can improve.
+ Themes and foils deepen the story
+ Improvements abound in gameplay, traversal, combat, and more
+ Puzzles/Force Tears
+ Merrin and Cere’s new grooves/interacting with the Plyoon Saloon regulars
– Female characters short changed by male antagonist focus
– One more villain feels redundant/brings fatigue to the final act
– Some improvements reveal superficial nature
– Cal’s late game “struggle”
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.
RELATED STAR WARS: JEDI REVIEWS:
Survivor: Jedi: Battle Scars (novel)
Fallen Order: Fallen Order (game) | Jedi: Fallen Order – Dark Temple (comic miniseries)