OUR SCORE - 9/10
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order wasn't the first Star Wars game with a more modern gameplay,. But it was a game that sought inspiration from different successful works and managed to create its own identity. That is, its combat is somewhat reminiscent of the Souls games , the style refers to Metroidvanias, not to mention the narrative with a format similar to that of the Uncharted series and so on. The focus on single-player, at a time when everything is looking for multiplayer, was also pleasing.
Almost four years later comes the sequel to Cal Kestis' journey. And it's not something simple: it's a very ambitious project, seeking to bring numerous new features in gameplay and plot. But was the step taken bigger than the leg?
First, it's important to point out that the Star Wars Jedi: Survivor experience will be much better if you play its predecessor. The story takes place straightforwardly and assumes you know everything that has happened up to this point. There is a summary to help you remember things, but if you haven't played it, but we highly recommend playing the first game if you haven't.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor takes place five years after the events of Fallen Order . Cal Kestis is already considered a Jedi and still fights - to the extent possible - against the Empire. On his new journey, Cal will make friends, but he will also meet the ones he made in the previous game. All this while he tries to unravel a mystery from the past, from the time of the High Republic.
I'm not going to lie: the story of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has its ups and downs. The beginning is pretty cool, then it can get interesting or monotonous depending on your point of view. But one thing is undeniable: the final parts are sensational. Everything that happens in the story comes to a breathtaking climax and I really hope you don't get spoilers of what happens - the experience is worth it.
And of course, BD-1 remains one of the cutest things ever created in the Star Wars universe .
The structure of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is very similar to its predecessor. You have access to the Mantis (the ship) and can visit different planets as the story progresses. But let's be frank: the amount of planets is less in the sequel. What pays off is that each of them has a gigantic area to be explored. And when I say giant, I really mean huge. The scale of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is surreal.
There's one battle in particular that you just lose track of what's going on it's so epic. Not only that, but there are times when you walk around the locations so much that you don't even realize that you are literally in the clouds of the planet soon.
All this magnitude comes with a serious problem: performance. The biggest problem (by far) with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is the technical part. I'm not an expert in that sense, so a more complete analysis by Digital Foundry should highlight these points, but the difference is clear - performance is not ideal.
And it's not just the performance. The game's loading is exaggerated at times. For the most part, like Fast Travel, it doesn't get in the way. But, for example, there is an important bar in history that you visit often. To access this bar, there is a door located at the back. The port only opens after the environment is loaded, but there's nothing to indicate that this is happening. The first time I arrived at this location, I thought it was locked. But that wasn't it: it was just loading and it took about 20 seconds to open.
There are also bugs with textures, clothes that go through the character and the like. I only had one real crash and restarting the application solved it. Let's be fair: problems of this type (ie technical) can be fixed via free patches. The game is playable from start to finish and without any really serious issues. But anyone who is “pure” with this technical side may be disappointed. Respawn Entertainment already has a patch planned for release and more should be made available in the coming weeks.
As said, I managed to finish the game in time for this review. It took me 15h to finish the campaign on Normal mode, but I basically ignored all existing optional content. If you take a little time and don't "run" like I did, it should take around 20h with the campaign. Additionally, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has massive optional content. There are numerous sidequests (rumored calls), collectibles and even bosses to discover. And we already have a New Game+ at launch. That is, there is plenty of content after finishing the campaign.
The gameplay of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a natural evolution of Fallen Order . Things like the double jump are already available from the beginning, and several new upgrades are unlocked throughout the campaign. Basically, many improve Cal Kestis' locomotion. I won't detail them, but I'll exemplify with just one to clarify my point: the air dash. At some point, Cal learns to use this move by squeezing the ball in the air. That is, you have the double jump and the air dash to reach the locations. And it doesn't stop there, there are still other "locomotion" skills that way.
Still on locomotion but which is not really a skill, we have the mounts. In certain situations and places, Cal can use some animals to advance faster. It's something fun and different, but don't expect anything too elaborate - in the end, it's just about going faster anyway.
Another important point of the gameplay is the postures. In the original game, Cal used his lightsaber and learned various combos with it. Towards the end of the journey, we had a Darth Maul-style saber. In Star Wars Jedi: Survivor , these two options still exist, but there are still others and they are now called postures. Each stance has its skill tree, with advantages and disadvantages. Taking the same stances from the previous game, for example, the saber with one hand is faster, but the double allows you to better defend projectiles (among several other differences, I'm only taking a quick and clear difference). I don't want to spoil your surprise and discovery of the mechanics, but the stance doesn't just consist of the two sabers - there are more items involved in the rest and that change the gameplay considerably.
All of this, of course, not counting Force abilities, whether picking up objects and throwing them or leaving your opponents confused. Even BD-1 gained new features. In addition to hacking enemies and doing the numerous scans around the environment, BD-1 received some mechanics to solve puzzles mainly.
Overall, as stated, the structure of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is similar to its predecessor. You'll still meditate to save your game and rest (respawning enemies in the process), follow where the story sends you, and witness Cal's journey.
The only bad point, aside from the highlighted technical issues, are the story bosses. Don't get me wrong: many are memorable (no spoilers: I'll just say "drillship" and cover for myself in the future) and the combat is great. But what happens is that at least those in the main campaign don't run away from the “human structure”, that is, don't count on giant monsters. Even the AT-ST, which in the original game was a threat, has become a kind of common enemy.
Ultimately, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor deserves praise on its accessibility part. You can configure the difficulty the way you prefer and the moment you want, for example, adjust the field of view, subtitles, assistant navigation, color blindness, slow mode and more. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is an excellent game and sequel. The graphics are sensational, the soundtrack is outstanding, the dubbing in our language is impeccable (in the same way as the predecessor), the gameplay is new enough to make it look like another game, the campaign is just the right amount of time, a lot of optional content and so on. . On the other hand, the title presents a story that may have some low points depending on your taste (with the final parts indisputably sensational, however) and serious technical performance problems. With luck, the latter will be fixed in the near future.
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