Image: Respawn Entertainment, Electronic Arts via HGG / Koby Gibson Ross
My name is Gibson Vasela. I am a freelance writer who has been playing video games for almost 20 years now. I play all kinds of games, but I especially love immersive sims and RPGs.
Reviewed by Benjamin Barr
Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order is an excellent third-person action game set in the Star Wars universe. We played as Cal Kestis, a Jedi padawan who spent many years of his life hiding from the Empire. The game was very well received, and it’s no surprise that the game is confirmed to have a sequel on the way.
According to recent leaks, we now have a release window for this anticipated sequel. What’s more is that we also know the title of the game — Jedi Survivor. There isn’t a better time than now to talk about the top five things we want to see from Jedi Survivor, and that is just what we’ll be doing in this article.
5 Things We Want From Jedi Survivor
And now, let’s get right into this list of the top five things we want from Jedi Survivor.
1. Better Cosmetic Options
Let’s begin this list with something I know everyone will agree with — better cosmetic options! Now, I’m not referring to the lightsaber customization in the game. I felt that the variety of sabers and crystal colors we could get was excellent. There really wasn’t all that much to improve on when it came to lightsabers.
Something that definitely needs to be improved on in the next game is the outfits that Cal Kestis can wear. As you explore Jedi Fallen Order, you’ll come across chests that can be opened with the aid of BD1. These chests are usually well-hidden throughout the maps and make for a fun surprise when you encounter them in the world.
Now, imagine how disappointing it would feel to thoroughly explore an area and find one of these chests, only for it to open and give you yet another re-color of the poncho you are wearing. There are very few unique outfits available for Cal in the main game, and the majority of costumes you can unlock for him are just ponchos with different colors.
Towards the end of the game, we get to see a hallucination of Cal wearing an Inquisitor outfit. This outfit looks really great, and it would make for a good cosmetic unlock. Except we can’t actually acquire and use it outside of this hallucination! The only way you can get it is by downloading a mod on PC.
In Jedi Survivor, we need more outfits. Imagine dressing up Cal in a pair of traditional brown Jedi robes. A rugged and battle-hardened bounty hunter outfit. Or even an alternate Sith version of Cal with yellow eyes and black robes! This sort of thing would make exploration more rewarding, and it would give players much more freedom in how they want to express themselves through Cal.
2. More Fleshed Out Characters
The best thing about Star Wars isn’t the action, the lightsaber fights, or the cool exotic planets we get to see. It’s the characters that interact with the world and one another that create such a great experience. Jedi Fallen Order was no different, as it introduced us to a colorful cast of characters with their own personalities and backstories.
While each character was well-written in their own right, I can’t help but feel that most of them were underdeveloped. Cal Kestis was a likable character, but he felt a little basic. He is a young man trying to learn the ways of the Force. He fights bad guys and is tempted by the dark side, but ultimately resists it. It’s an acceptable premise, but one we’ve seen since the very first Star Wars movie back in 1977.
It would be great to see some more depth come to Cal’s character. Although, I’m not quite sure how they could pull it off. His PTSD from Order 66 was a great character point, and I’d like to see it explored more in the sequel. I don’t think he’ll fully turn to the dark side as he’s been shown to resist it before, but maybe he could be put in a situation where he has to use it to get out of a bad situation?
One character that just needs more screentime period is Nightsister Merrin. She was a fan-favorite character, but only joined the crew of the Mantis relatively late into the game. It would be really great to see her talk about her Nightsister background more, as well as her relationship with Cal Kestis.
There’s also Greeze, the four-armed ship captain of the Mantis. I’ll be honest, I found him to be very annoying when I first met him in Fallen Order. As the game continued, however, he really started to grow on me. It would be great to see him take on some kind of conflict and get a compelling arc in Jedi Survivor, even if it is a small one.
My favorite character from Jedi Fallen Order was definitely Cere! Watching her fear her own power and cut herself off from the Force, only to return to it in the final act, and then almost succumb to the dark side was a really great feeling and it was done well. Judging by how close she almost came to giving in to her anger, I would be very disappointed if this isn’t explored more in Jedi Survivor.
We could also see the return of Saw Gerrera, who made a cameo on Kashyyk during the last game. He is known for his darker and more extremist methods of resisting the Empire. It would be really cool to see some of that displayed in the next game. And it would be a great source of conflict for him and Cal.
3. More Choice
One of my personal favorite types of games is the ones that give players lots of freedom in how their playthrough pans out. I feel that Jedi Survivor could benefit from this in a few ways. Now, let me make it clear — I don’t want anything extreme. Jedi Survivor shouldn’t turn into an RPG or an Immersive Sim. It should stay true to what made the first game so great. There are a few things I think it can do well.
Early on in your playthrough of Jedi: Fallen Order, you are given a choice as to which planet you want to explore next. You can head off to the world of Zeffo first, which seems to be the intended choice for beginning players. Or you can go to Dathomir — the night sister homeworld — for a more difficult challenge. This sort of thing is really cool, and I feel that it should be fleshed out more in the sequel.
I’d like to see the player have multiple opportunities in the game where they can choose what planets to visit first. They could even change depending on the order you visit them, giving you more replayability.
One could be independent of the Empire if you choose to visit it early on. But if you return later in the story or start a new playthrough and visit it at a later time, it falls under Imperial control! You could even gain access to unique rewards that can only be acquired by visiting planets in a certain order and at a certain time in the story.
If that sounds like a little too much to ask for from the developers, there is something else that Jedi Survivor could do. Give us multiple endings! This is something that lots of Star Wars games have done in the past. And I would love to see it again in this game. Maybe we could get a darker ending where Cal ends up joining the Inquisitors? Even if some endings wouldn’t be canon, they’d still be great to see!
4. More Interesting Combat
One of the most common complaints that I saw when Jedi Fallen Order first dropped was that its combat felt lacking. It is definitely a very fun game and the combat is great, but many players can’t help but feel it’s too bare-bones. For the sake of making the experience fresh, as well as creating a higher skill ceiling, Jedi Survivor should do everything it can to improve on what its already done.
As for what exactly that is, there are a few different things that Jed Survivor could do. One idea I had would be to introduce companions that could help you fight in certain boss fights and encounters. We already have three perfectly good characters that you could choose: Cere, Merrin, and Greeze. When arriving at specific areas or some bosses, you could call for help from one of your three allies.
Cere would be a great melee character. Merrin can use her night-sister magic to give you buffs. And Greeze could use his trusty blaster to give you some support fire. They would each have their own pros and cons in combat, giving a certain level of strategy in choosing who helps you out. In addition to helping you with bosses, maybe they could be useful for unlocking new areas or solving puzzles?
Not all characters have the same mobility that Cal does, so obviously you couldn’t take your companions anywhere you wanted. Your companions could tag along for specific parts of a level (such as boss fights and opening areas) and for some story missions. This idea may be a bit harder to implement, but if the developers could pull it off it would breathe new life into the boss fights.
Another idea that could definitely be easier to implement would be a bigger emphasis on combo attacks. This is something that Star Wars: The Force Unleashed did very well. There was a huge variety of different moves you could only use with the right button combinations. It made the gameplay much more engaging for those wanting something more complex and rewarding.
But whatever we do get, it shouldn’t stray too far from what made the first game great. I don’t want them to give Cal a blaster or anything like that…
5. A Darker Story
Lastly, on our wishlist for the top five things we want to see from Jedi Survivor, we should get a darker story with much higher stakes. Back when the original Star Wars trilogy was released, A New Hope and Return of the Jedi were mostly light-hearted and optimistic. The Empire Strikes Back — set in-between these two entries — went for a much darker and grittier tone.
This was a very popular decision, and to this day many fans consider The Empire Strikes Back to be the best Star Wars movie. What better way to mirror the original trilogy than to make the second entry in the Jedi series darker as well? It’s like poetry, it rhymes!
This sort of direction would make perfect sense given what was set up in the first game. Darth Vader is fully aware of the threat that Cal poses, and it’s reasonable to assume he will be actively hunting him in the next game. Due to its title, Jedi Survivor, it seems like Cal will spend less time trying to rebuild the order and more time trying to evade the Empire and stay alive.
This could even tie in with giving us more choices, which I mentioned earlier. We could see a really dark and gritty ending where Cal surrenders to the Empire and his friends are captured. Even if we don’t get multiple endings, there are still plenty of different ways the story and go.
It’s really exciting to think about what they could do with a darker twist on Cal Kestis’s story. But whatever we end up getting, I’m really looking forward to playing it.
Join the High Ground
We hope that you found this ranking for the top-5 things we want to see from Jedi Survivor entertaining! What do you want to see from Jedi: Fallen Order’s sequel? Let us know, and don’t forget to subscribe to our weekly newsletter! We offer regular content on all the latest and greatest games, including more Star Wars content!
Happy gaming!
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