Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is real

 Tick off another one

What has been foretold has come to pass and the game with the title that we've heard testimony from certain Game's industry reporters is meant to be 'sick' has been announced but a few weeks after it was first leaked. And my very first raw reaction to the thing? 'Jedi: Survivor'? I don't know, it doesn't really sound all that imaginative to me. 'Fallen Order' was a mouthful but at least it was original. That was a name you said and instantly knew what you were talking about, but 'Survivor'? Seems generic, pastiche, uninspired. Why not call the game 'Star Wars: Fallen Order the Sequel game'? Fantastic Beasts taught us that the more of a mouthful you make the title the easier it is for the audience to forgive any narrative pitfalls you unintentionally stumble into. Well, I suppose from that logic a title as bear and unstriking as 'Survivor' is actually a statement of supreme confidence from Respawn in their ability to make this another smash hit game. They're going to make us associate the word 'Survivor' specifically with the tribulations of Cal Kestis. I can respect that Hussle.

When 'Fallen Order' first landed it became something of a hit, and though I was reluctant to try the game out for myself personally, I happened upon some content creator who likened the gameplay to a Souls-like and from that point onward my fate towards buying the game was pretty much laid out in rubble before me. And you know what? They were right! 'Fallen Order' was the first mainstream Souls-like that the world was introduced to. Call it baby steps towards the knock-out-punch-to-come when Elden Ring swept the world like a wildfire, burning up the sales charts on it's march toward total industry dominance for a time. And my what a good fit the Souls-Like formula was for a Star Wars game. Parries, Dodges, timings and flourishes; all balanced and pulled out at the exact perfect moment to score an important tip of damage before retreating back into the dance of reaction.

My general opinion of Fallen Order coming away from it, aside from what I opined in this review, was that the game hit greatness from the collaboration of some many good parts, rather than one single excelling system or design element. The combat was good and functional if not exactly revolutionary to it's own field, the storyline was good and introspective if not exactly ambitious or challenging, the world design was good and sprawling if not exactly as perfectly tipped between function and playability like some of the better Souls-games are. But when you go that far without making any big mistakes, the general competence rises all ships, and it creates hope for the future that with that solid baseline the very next game could be a revolutionary triumph now that you've the breadth to take risks. Is Survivor going to be that risk?

I've often believed that if FromSoft had made Fallen Order it would have been a masterpiece, and that's not due to some cultish reverence I have for my gothic overlords, but rather for a clear understanding in their ability to balance gameplay diversity just to the point where the average player doesn't become bored. If they had made the game, there wouldn't have been nearly as many stretches filled with canon fodder Stormtroopers, but more mixes of varied trash mob variations. There would have been more bosses, including ones that more closely resembled the variation of the Ninth Sister battle, which I still maintain was the highlight fight of the game. And maybe they would have even had the courage to do something a tad more ambitious with the narrative other than 'intergalactic scavenger hunt number 5'. Knights of the Old Republic did something but they had a twist at the fifth inning to make all the traipsing and trudging without explicit drive worth it. Alongside meaningful side quests you had to actively interact with instead of Fallen Order's side narratives which just sort of fill themselves in as you go about your own business on each planet.

What does Survivor explicitly promise us so far? Well for one we can look at this rather upsettingly sparse teaser trailer and conclude that he with one of the most regularly changing faces in the franchise is coming into the fray, The Grand Inquisitor. (Seriously, after his appearance in the cartoons, then Kenobi, and now Jedi: Survivor, all featuring distinctly different general head shapes, this guy is shaping up to be Star Wars' Chris Redfield.) I like the idea of upping the threat to the big bad of the Inquisitors rather than harping on about it being Darth Vader, a threat we know for a fact that Cal cannot even fight, let alone beat. However The Grand Inquisitor is also an enemy that Cal can't beat, isn't he? He was famously killed by Darth Maul. (At least by Darth Maul if recent news stories are to be believed...) This just makes me all the more confused why Respawn didn't keep Trilla around to be an overarching threat for their trilogy. Seems like a wasted opportunity to me.

Apart from that our little teaser appears to give us absolutely nothing to go on whatsoever. We see Cal Kestis cross blades with, and seemingly lose to, the Grand Inquisitor; watch as his Saber is made a trophy and Cal finds some corpse in a Bacta tank to stare out. Ripe ground for theory fodder perhaps, but is this really the sort of series, or franchise for that matter, with the sort of narrative richness or esoteric structure to warrant serious theory crafting? I know that a teaser trailer is supposed to do exactly that, tease; but when you're making a video game teaser surely there has to be other standards than a movie trailer. Showing us various vague scenes for a sequel everyone knew was coming isn't going to set the world on fire, give us a reveal of some sort, or perhaps even a single snippet of gameplay we haven't see before! A cool looking boss, a brand new world; anything of actual substance so that this trailer is somewhat worthy of existing as more than just a title announcement. 

But I'm not a total bore, I am capable of feeling excitement and when considering what Respawn accomplished with the first game it only stands to reason that this sequel would up the stakes. Although that doesn't mean they're going to go the distance they need to. I wonder about what we're going to get this time around, both from a story and gameplay perspective. The 'lost your lightsaber' plot point might just be for the teaser, but I suspect that's going to be the convenient explanation for losing your power level, alongside the ability to switch from a single blade to a dual blade. The companions we've already made could have a bigger purpose in the gameplay, either with them being actual AI allies in some of the battles (Which would definitely be the more difficult route to pull off well in a Souls-like framework) or maybe actual playable characters themselves! I think some developed side quests could be cool; maybe even deeper side areas with cool optional mega bosses, similar to Dark Souls. Basically I want more of everything, that would be fine.

What I'm not really fussed about is the story and Cal's journey. Kestis stopped being interesting to me as soon as he came to grips with his survivor's guilt because that was the only really compelling aspect of his character, aside from light-hearted ribbing with his droid pal. Is a sequel a perfect chance to add in some new depth to his character? Certainly. But I can't drive up the hype engine based on what might be achieved and heights the developers could reach. Maybe my scepticism spawns from my long-running lack of trust for Respawn's other current series right now, but whether it's justified or not I'm not falling over myself for this sparse teaser just yet. (Wait until they give us a snippet of gameplay.) But at the end of the day even if Respawn do literally just give us more of Fallen Order with nothing new mixed into the formula; that'll still be worth the price of commission for a single playthrough at the very least.