Now with even more force

Jedi Fallen Order is still considered one of the better Star Wars games in a long time. Respawn did a fantastic job creating a new story within the universe and a beloved character in Cal Kestis. It was only a matter of time before we got to continue Cal’s journey. Jedi Survivor is the next-gen only follow-up and continues the story of Cal and his crew. Much like the original game Survivor is a third-person action game that incorporates mechanics from plenty of other titles while also expanding the universe and crafting a massive experience that has plenty of highs and lows throughout.

Jedi Survivor picks up a while after the events of the first game. Cal is still fighting against the Empire, but with a new set of compadres. The crew from the original game has set off on their own throughout the galaxy. I am not going to dive into specifics here as the way things fold out feels like a solid Star Wars TV show. There are plenty of twists and turns and the new characters are great. Once again Cal is moving from planet to planet via the Mantis while interacting with new and old faces. The back half of the game truly sticks the landing even if the middle pieces struggle with some pacing issues.

MSRP: $69.99
Platforms: PlayStation (reviewed), Xbox, PC
Price I’d Pay: $59.99

This adventure feels strikingly similar to the first game. Cal once again moves from planet to planet taking on various missions and hunting down the Empire. There is a lot of backtracking within the game. I revisited several planets multiple times. There is a hub planet now that is simply massive. There are lots of side quests and optional activities to do here. There are bounties to collect, shops to peruse, and even a saloon where conversations can unfold new stories about the characters you meet along the way. This is all entirely optional though and the game can offer as much or as little as the player wants. The side missions called Rumors are interesting, but I didn’t exactly dig too deep into the roof garden.

The combat feels similar to the original game. It continues to ape the Dark Souls formula. This time around though Cal can get up to five combat stances to swap between. I could have two equipped at any one time, so I mainly stuck to ones I liked and rarely switched it up. Each stance also has a unique set of upgrades in the skill tree. Enemy encounters this time around focus more on humanoid enemies and less with creatures in the world. Of course they are still there, but this game has me mostly taking down Stormtroopers and Battle Droids. Some encounters can be frustrating with enemies putting Cal into an animation loop with cheap hits. The parry system still feels good, and I will never get tired of whipping around my saber while also deflecting blaster shots. It just feels empowering.

The upgrade tree has been expanded and fleshes out the combat quite a bit. The Force powers feel more dynamic and there is even a perk system now. These perks can be found in the world as well as purchased from a shop on the hub planet. These are standard passive perks such as earning more XP. There are quite a few and each one takes a set number of slots so you can’t just equip them all. Much like the stances it is designed to cater to your play style. There are also a ton of cosmetics scattered around the world. Cal has plenty of outfit options as well as hair and beard styles. You can literally don a mullet and stache if you so choose, which looks hilarious in cutscenes. There is a seemingly endless amount of content and things to collect, but I rarely found myself going out of the way for a new mustache.

Once on a planet exploration is clearly encouraged. The maps are massive with plenty of markers and areas to explore. There are new powers Cal will earn as the game progresses that open up new areas on past planets. Yes it has some of that Metroid DNA in it still. My issues with exploring are that the fast travel system is decent, but not as effective and it requires a meditation point. The markers to show you the path are only visible on the map, so that is going into a menu, even when a marker is set. Survivor also added mounts which can be called once earned, but they don’t feel like they are moving any faster than Cal’s run speed, so I really never used them. It just feels like the game wants you to explore, but never aids the player in making it easily accessible.

The first game launched with a bevy of technical issues and the sequel feels somehow worse. During my playthrough I ran into a number of technical issues and glitches. Characters would float in the air or simply disappear or fall through the world. There were also progression bugs that would force a restart. One example is a section where I had to use one of BD-1’s powers to progress. For some reason the game would not register pressing down on the d-pad to bring it up. I had to reload my previous save and lose 10 minutes of progress, plus the time it took me to figure out what was wrong. This happened quite a few times.

There are also performance issues. The game has two modes, one for 30fps and 4K with a performance mode that “targets” 60fps. I was rarely hitting that 60fps target. The inconsistency was unbearable at times. There were occasions where transitioning into an area or cutscene the game would drop well below 30fps in this mode. It was some of the worst optimization I have experienced in a long time.

Visually the game itself looks good with some solid character models and interesting environments. I know there are likely pieces I am not noticing, but I feel like the game isn’t a huge leap from the first. The areas are larger, but even being current-gen only there are still constant squeeze sections that were used to mask loading in games like this. Still the lighting and areas are well designed and feel ripped right out of the Star Wars universe. It is a good looking game, just not as good as I expected a current-gen only game to look. Also the game defaults to having film grain on out of the gate and I will never understand wanting that feature turned on. It dulls the look so much and once I turned it off, everything looked so much smoother.

Jedi Survivor is a great Star Wars game with a lot of technical mishaps that really drag it down. The story is excellent, and I loved the characters. The combat still feels good. I just wish the navigation system was better. It feels like the game could have used a little more time, but once these issues are ironed out this game will go down as one of the better Star Wars video games just like the first one. The story of Cal is a great addition to the universe and I hope we see him again in other projects down the line.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.