Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Gameplay - Light Years Ahead
Apr. 3, 2023Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Gameplay – Light Years Ahead
Disclaimer: all the video coverage the footage is taken from is a work-in-progress build, and might not be representative of the final product.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Gameplay picks up 5 years after the events of the Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, Cal has matured and persevered, and he’ll continue to look for ways to rebel, survive, and protect those he cares about against the Empire in increasingly bleak circumstances. The Mantis crew has been separated for reasons unknown, so Cal will have a lot of work to do, and hopefully find his crew and reunite.
Like the first game, finding new equipment will not improve stats or your character of any kind. However, cosmetic improvements have received a huge upgrade when compared to Fallen Order. Rather than just getting new ponchos, there will be new different clothing like hats and bandanas, and you’ll even be able to change Cal’s facial features – from beards to a goatee, or maybe you want to give Cal a mullet, or a buzz-cut with a mustache.
For the light sabers alone, there are many different blades, components, materials, and colors to choose from that make Cal quite unique to you. As expected, you’ll need to explore and find cosmetic items on each planet, or you can trade them in to Doma – the de facto mayor who sells cosmetics that the player can purchase with Priorite Shards. You can find these shards by exploring every nook and cranny of the game.
In the intro cinematic, the Mantis crashes and lands on “Koboh” – a huge planet that Cal will go back to often as you won’t be able to access all the areas on the map until you acquire certain abilities. Koboh is actually more of a home base for the player, and this is especially due to a town inside Koboh called, Rambler’s Reach. Inside the town, you’ll find shops, NPCs, and even a bar where you’ll find new NPCs that show up there every now and then.
This kind of reminded me of the Souls series, where you would revisit the Firelink Shrine or your central hub, with new dialogues and rewards after completing certain tasks, or just simply progressing throughout the game. There’s even a new rumor system in the game where you can talk to NPCs, which is more narrative-focused and will help guide you along the way to the places you should visit. Lastly, you can also recruit residents who can help improve Rambler’s Reach outpost by adding new shops and you gain more rewards in the process.
As you meet these NPCs throughout the planets, some will give you side quests, which really stand out in comparison to Jedi: Fallen Order, where there were literally no side quests in the game. Touching briefly on the side quests, you’ll be rewarded with either a cosmetic, skill points, perks, more story, recruiting people to improve Rambler’s Outpost, etc. What’s more, is that new shops will open up as you progress throughout the game, so you’ll want to come back to Rambler’s Reach often.
Jedi Chamber Roomsare a welcome addition to exploring each planet. Basically, they are like Shrines in Breath of the Wild. Each Chamber room is basically a puzzle that you need to solve, and when you do, you are rewarded with a perk, and there are many to acquire throughout the game. You’ll need to use the force and think carefully in order to solve each puzzle. I can see players spending a lot of time finding every Chamber Room and then taking even more time to make your way through each one of them.
Force Tearswill put your Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Gameplay agility and hand-eye coordination skills to the test. I found a Force Tear that was hidden in a cave. As soon as I entered the Tear, a timer started and I was off to the races. I had to jump from one platform to another. There were two catches though: some of the platforms were crumbling as you jumped on them but the even bigger catch was that there was a massive laser wall that comes your way and if you run or jump into it, you have to start the Tear over again. Furthermore, every time you jumped, the laser wall would switch over to the other side, so you had to be careful with the timing of your jumps. At first, I thought the timer was important, but it really only served as a competitive way to beat my fastest time. Once I completed the challenge, I was awarded a skill point.
When I spoke with the developers, they made it very clear that Jedi: Survivor is vastly larger than Jedi: Fallen Order. This is due to the fact that the developers can solely focus on PS5 and the Xbox Series X/S. This is huge considering that load times will be much faster as well as the game getting a graphical upgrade with more details, more enemies, bigger planets, etc.
The first game had seven planets, but only five of them could be fully explored. While I’m unsure of how many planets there are in the sequel, there are at least seven of them, and there are many places to explore, more rewards, new challenges, and lots more. They did not give me an estimated amount of hours it will take to complete the game, but I think it’s safe to say that you’ll at least double the amount of time that you put into Fallen Order.
It’s also important to note that the devs made clear that Jedi Survivor is not an open-world game, but rather, I was told that each planet is better defined as an “open area.” You will be able to go off the beaten path and you will typically be rewarded for doing so, so you may be better off treating Jedi: Survivor as an open-world game, even if it is technically an “open-area” game. I really don’t see this as a problem, especially because they made it much easier to navigate and make your way through each planet.
Although you’ll still be jumping around a lot in your Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Gameplay, doing plenty of wall running and climbing, you will also have the grappling hook (aka Ascension Cable), which certainly does make it easier at times. However, there are designated locations where you can use it, and you will be notified on screen when you are within reach. This will help immensely, and also open up more possibilities of exploration in the game, which also adds additional challenges when you’re in the Chamber Rooms.
Themap additionshave also improved greatly. While exploring, I was able to use the new BD-Visor, which then enabled me to use the BD-Noculars, where you can place specific beacons to keep track of everything you’re doing and where you want to go. The improved Interactive Holomap UI will also help you find places that you didn’t know were available to explore and it makes it much easier to make your way through the planets, which was not the case in the first game.
This new addition to the Star Wars Jedi series is huge. You will be able to travel faster with a creature like Nekko – the bipedal creature that Cal tames to ride around the environment. Then there’sBelter – a flyer that Cal can tame to soar through the skies. You can also jump with certain creatures to get to higher heights in the game, and, you can even do mounted combat. In short, this addition alone is a game-changer.
And finally, for traveling improvements, you can now fast travel, which is available by traveling to the mediation points in the game, a very big win for Respawn.
The good news is that you will not have to start from scratch with Cal in your Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Gameplay, as he will start with the 3 stances that he learned in the first game, including dual sabers that Cal used at the end, but he didn’t really have it as a stance. Regardless, this addresses a concern brought up by many fans who do not want to learn everything all over again. Of course, I decided to use dual sabers most of the way through the demo, especially when facing enemies 1 on 1.
Using dual sabers is a very aggressive playstylethat may make you vulnerable at times if you’re having a difficult time blocking and parrying attacks. There is a high skill ceiling though, so you can dominate more as you hone your craft and focus on the dual saber skill tree. The other 2 stances that I did not have the chance to use were Crossguard – a powerful, deliberate stance that allows you to deal massive damage at the cost of long wind-up times, and Blaster – a stance that allows Cal to deal with long-range foes, by using the blaster.
As for your Force abilities, you’ll start with Push, Pull, Slow, and Force Confusion. For Push, you’ll now be able to push enemies off precarious ledges, which is truly a delight in and of itself. Slow is a force power that Cal can use to slow down enemies around him, which is great when fighting a host of enemies or a really tough boss/opponent. Force Confusion adds a whole new element to the game, where you can turn enemies against each other. This comes in really handy when you confuse big creatures who can then take out anyone in its path.
There are plenty of interesting enemies included in your Star Wars Jedi: Survivor gameplay. Among them are new humanoids like Zeik – the Bedlam Raider boss that you fight right before entering the Cantina. For the droids, You have B1 and B2, the BX Droid Commando, who, if I’m not mistaken, can also do jump attacks off of walls. There’s also a scavenger droid. Chase it down and slay it before it gets away and you will be rewarded.
As for new creatures, Mogu really stood out to me. He looks like a big gorilla who just loves to slam you onto the ground. However, press the X button fast enough before he slams you and you will cut his arm right off. Dismemberment in the game is also a new feature added that certainly adds more depth to the combat. Mogu also likes to throw Scout Troopers at you, so beware.
I then had a blast facing a boss earlier on in the demo: Rancor. The big troll-like boss you might remember from the movies, ate me up, spat me out, ran me over, and knocked me down with his AOE attacks. I started the demo on the Jedi Master difficulty, so taking Rancor down was no easy task. In fact, I never beat him. He sometimes took me down in one single hit. I even had one of the devs tap my shoulder and encouraged me to maybe take the difficulty down a notch so that I could finish the demo in time. I later discovered that no one had beaten Rancor on the Jedi Master difficulty. I was only a couple of blows away at one point, but then I decided to move on and take the developer’s advice.
By the time everyone reached the end of the demo, we were given a special demonstration of all thestances and abilities that Cal has and let me tell you, everyone in the room was very impressed. It seems clear, that once you master your abilities and stances with Cal, you’ll be able to dominate and take out many enemies at a time. I was also told by the devs that while you can go back and forth between two stances throughout the game, you can decide to only focus on one stance, upgrade all of its skills and finish the game that way if you’d like.
Those looking forward to Jedi: Survivor should rest easy. Respawn Entertainment clearly listened to their fans by making much-needed improvements and rectifying some of the annoyances in Fallen Order. In short, Jedi: Survivor is bigger, better, darker, and far more rewarding than its predecessor. Come April 28th I know what I’ll be doing, and hopefully I’ll have a blast doing it!
Check out our otherStar Wars Jedi: Survivor articles here, and make sure to check out ourYouTubeandTwitchchannels as well for more information!
Castielle
Senior Editor at Fextralife. I enjoy gaming, playing and watching sports, cooking yummy food, watching a good movie and hanging out with Fex.
