Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Review

at first I was afraid I was petrified look at this a lightsaber I kept thinking how could respawn follow up on its outstanding Star Wars Jedi Fallen order but then I spent so many nights just playing the sequel and seeing how they got it right and cowcaster grew strong and I learned how to get along and now we're back in outer space Oh okay okay okay don't leave I'll stop the point is that with vastly expanded combat options bigger more open maps many more abilities to play with and enough collectible stuff to fill a corellian freighter Star Wars Jedi survivors in many ways the Batman Arkham City to Fallen orders Arkham Asylum and much like those Arkham games did for Batman nothing else convincingly captures the power fantasy of playing as a force user quite as well as this everything especially considering there's no reason not to go back and play Fallen order before starting Survivor if you haven't I greatly appreciate that the sequel starts you out with most of the powers and upgrades that Cal had already acquired there's no corny Amnesia or oh no my Force powers are gone gimmick to make you relearn how to double jump or use Force push and no darwaz showed up to steal away the climbing claws that make scaling walls much faster this complaint that lets bd1 hack things outside of having to earn back your healing canisters and life and four spark extensions this is more or less Cal as we left him five years prior so we're already off to an exciting running start when things kick off with a brief Caper on Imperial Coruscant you're quickly thrown right back into Force pushing Stormtroopers off Ledges and chain into other movement tricks like wall running climbing swinging and sliding down ramps and that's just the beginning the Spider-Man style grapple is introduced before you leave the planet and the unlocks keep coming from there at a rewarding Pace when you get the mid-air Dash ability to pair with your double jump things really take off you can cover such crazy distances without touching the ground changing directions twice to reach things around corners that I had to completely rethink what was possible it's not as though Survivor invented the air Dash but respawn makes excellent use of it and further flexes those Titanfall muscles lightsabers are of course the stars of the war and survivor kicks up the excellent dueling from Fallen order by several notches with five different fighting stances that are all brilliantly animated to create some of the flashiest and fiercest Star Wars melee battles I've ever seen you don't even have to be all that good at nailing the timing of strikes parries and Dodges for fights still look spectacular and smooth and did you notice the arms and legs getting cut off it's great Cal's lightsaber has many customizable cosmetic parts and all of the available blade colors are unlocked shortly after the start so you can make Cal more your own from the very beginning that also goes for his Blaster and his range of clothing Which is far more extensive this time around as well as his new haircut and beard options he'll always be the same cow cast as underneath it but your character will likely have a very different vibe for mine yes it is a little silly to find haircuts and beards and treasure chests but sure why not and I'm just delighted at the customization for our loyal companion bd1 in Fallen order you could only change his paint job but just look at all of this and look at the way his body reacts it's another lovely little touch in a game that presents so many but anyway you can only equip two lightsaber stances at a time which gives your cow another dose of personality really don't want us inside so after dabbling in the single double bladed and dual wielding stances that carry over I settled on the two new ones kylo Ren inspired cross guard style is like a slow and heavy broadsword that's great for hammering a stunned Target into the floor while the Blaster style lets you dispatch small enemies without having to close the gap it is quite literally a blast wear them down they pair nicely with the expanded set of force powers that allow you to do things like this you can of course swap out your stances at any meditation Circle but each stance has its own skill tree so you're encouraged to specialize by the time I reach the second half of the story I had my clear favorites and no regrets the story does the job that it needs to do well get you from one exciting action scene to the next quite literally by accidentally falling into it Cal finds himself in a race to locate what's effectively a map to a Lost Treasure Planet that's very much in keeping with him as the Nathan Drake of the Star Wars universe what is this and it leads to plenty of excuses to visit old abandoned puzzle Chambers it might take you 20 hours or 30 depending on how long you spend taking a detour to get eaten by the dam Rancor and other optional bosses for me it was in the 30s my main issue with the story is that nearly every big twist is foreshadowed so heavily that it was only ever a matter of when a reveal would happen not if the key we have been searching for the identities of the main villains are a secret as of now and shall remain unspoiled here but they're pretty easy to see coming a light year away in any case at least they're written and acted with enough death that they don't feel like retreads of anyone Cal has faced before and neither is a two-dimensional Sith Lord who has somehow returned there's more to them than that and Survivor successfully prioritizes character over plot for the most part kill them oh no hey we're all together ah yes the cast I enjoyed so much in Fallen order is back in full force to go through those motions and this time actor Cameron Monahan's cow is not so easily outshined by the crew of the Mantis his motivations are about more than simply fighting the Empire now it's about whether he can live a life where he's something more than a resistance fighter let go of his guilt and find a home that's safe his path after escaping Order 66 is contrasted against what it could have been if he'd had different priorities and made different choices because of that context his decisions have more weight to them making him a much more realized protagonist this time around Macau this is beauty one where are you cute little Droid naturally bd1 never left cow's side but the rest of the crew are all given very human reasons for their parting of ways after a fallen order and why they're coming back together now may you the space witch see her Reese's lovable cantankerousness made him a favorite he missed the Mantis huh sure I was worried about the kind of abuse you were putting it through and he's happy to deliver more of that along with some Sage wisdom while carefully avoiding overuse of his catchphrase all right make like a rock and quit moving around my cabin Marin returns and immediately rekindles the Romantic Chemistry Between herself and Cal I missed him Aaron and writing her teleporting coattails leads to survivor's single most thrilling action sequence and though she's less of a constant presence due to Cal no longer needing a mentor the ever-intense air is more powerful than ever and that's memorably on display and one of the story's biggest moments they both have our roles to play in this struggle aside from a large cast of colorful alien Side characters the other new member of the group is Bode he's a friend it's so nice to finally meet you he's another rogus mercenary type who'd much like Cal did in Fallen order initially comes off somewhat blandly as the two brought up to establish the Friendship they've struck up fighting the Empire off screen together as his backstory is fleshed out however he does become a more interesting companion don't get to see her as often as I'd like but at least I can provide for her fighting alongside allies on certain story missions this time around is a treat especially watching Marin blink around the battle and pick off targets keep babysitting because they can't be hurt but you can have them prioritize an annoying enemy beyond that they're only really used to open up paths for you to reach new areas when prompted how's this but their banter and companionship definitely liven up scenes in a way that bd1's adorable bleeps and whoops couldn't do alone of course with new friends must also come new enemies and following a whole game of battling mostly Imperial inquisitors it's relief to see the Empire's role here is more in the background their parade of Trooper types and security droids are mostly here to provide variety after you've been fighting the main enemy Army of Raiders and their Salvage separatist battle droids it's a clever way to plausibly merge the original and prequel trilogy enemies together in the same game there's also no shortage of beasts that resemble what we saw in Fallen order no matter where you go in the Star Wars Galaxy it seems life always finds a way to make giant bugs and big Angry Wampus it's a good mix of enemies and subtypes that builds on the previous games already respectable lineup and when I found myself in the middle of a Fray where different factions are battling it out including any weak-minded foes I temporarily Force confused over to my side it's a great time on the subject of creatures one of Cal's many new abilities is to ride mounts though that isn't ever really used for much besides Galloping across Big Empty areas slightly faster than Cal could have run on foot there's also a flying animal that can be used as a glider though only at very specific points so it's not much of a game changer either but it does play nicely into environmental puzzles speaking of environments this journey takes us to a handful of never before seen planets some of which are expansive and include a variety of extremely different areas within them your new home-based world of Kobo for instance has everything from grassland to swap to underground facilities across separatist ship and even its own version of cloud city they're far from the typical Star Wars one note worlds like Tatooine or the forest Moon of Endor this place is in ruins every time I entered a new area I'd Circle the camera looking for telltale signs level designers leave to indicate a wall is runnable a ceiling can be clung to a crack can be squeezed through and more these levels are meticulously thought out puzzles in and of themselves and only rarely did I run across something that didn't feel intuitive or Fair once I took into account all of the tools at my disposal on gaps considering that this adventure is roughly equal parts combat and puzzle solving the fact that there's such a broad selection of types Works in its favor puzzles that deal with directing energy beams and even painting paths are clever and well done on par and sharing some ideas with a lot of what we saw in God of War Ragnarok last year they aren't groundbreaking in their design but they're consistently fun nonetheless starting to think we're in the right place throughout it all survivor is a gorgeous game with beautifully detailed environments and characters and perhaps as a result not one of the best performing my PS5 playthrough saw some fairly gnarly slowdowns from the expected 30 frames per second in 4k quality mode especially when fighting around smoke or fog which made timing my parries and Dodges difficult disappointingly even the 1440p performance mode which most of this review footage is recorded in isn't close to holding a lock 60 frames per second I also saw a few crashes and bugs that forced me to quit and reload my saves to progress EA says the day one patch will come with improvements on all platforms but if history is any guide it might take a little while before that's completely ironed out a smooth frame rate is certainly important when battling survivors multiple lightsaber wielding bosses because there is no shortage of challenge in learning the timing of parrying their strikes and dodging their unblockable attacks I confess after a few hours of banging my head against the brutal final boss I finally resorted to turning the difficulty down a notch so I could see the ending in time for this review that said there's not a lot that felt a specially novel about these fights they're well made but mostly conventional and one aspect that hasn't seen a great improvement over fall and Order Jedi when it comes to tracking down those bosses in the first place I certainly appreciate that the Jedi games give you a map but it does leave something to be desired when it comes to usability just like in Fallen order this seems so dedicated to the idea of resembling a light blue Star Wars hologram that it's not always easy to figure out what you're looking at and the directions its waypoints give you aren't always accurate however its dotted lines were generally good enough to point me in the right direction when I struggled to find a path forward or was feeling lost also this time respawn has granted us the ability to fast travel between save points which feels like an act of Mercy when the objective is on the other side of one of these large Labyrinthian Maps they're dense too Survivor is packed full of things to do around the edges of the main story including bounty hunters and legendary creatures to track down and kill combat challenges and more some of those are seriously tough even on the default Jedi Knight difficulty on top of all that there's just an intimidating amount of stuff to collect and yes there is a new game plus I'm sure the emperor won't mind if I deliver you to him in pieces what Star Wars Jedi Survivor takes what Fallen order achieved and wall runs with it then double jumps and air dashes straight into an epic lightsaber battle rather than taking us back to square one to begin Cal's Journey as a Padawan again we're trusted with control of a full-fledged Jedi Knight can grow into a master of superhuman mobility and fantastic and challenging combat larger more diverse and densely packed worlds to explore and a memorable cast of returning characters Survivor tells a story that may be predictable at times but is still fun and emotional to watch play out launch performance issues aside it's a sequel that does virtually everything better than the original which was already an exceptional Star Wars game if respawn makes one more like this it'll be the best Star Wars Trilogy in 30 years hands down for more check out our reviews of Dead Island 2 and Resident Evil 4 remake and for everything else stick with IGN copy that Bravo [Music] nice work everyone

Channel: IGN

Views: 1,885,424

Keywords: Action, Adventure, Electronic Arts, Lucasfilm Games, Metroidvania, PC, PlayStation 5, Respawn Entertainment, Star Wars, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Xbox Series X|S, ign game reviews, ign review, star wars jedi survivor, star wars jedi survivor review, jedi survivor, jedi survivor review

Id: ndMPzks0pq0

Length: 14min 22sec (862 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 26 2023

Reddit Comments

[u/Hoosier_made]

I greatly appreciate that the sequel starts you out with most of the powers and upgrades that Cal had already acquired – there’s no corny amnesia or other, “Oh no, my powers are gone!” gimmick...

That right there is pretty cool

[u/markaurel121]

This gaming year is crazy good so far

[u/Boriski_GMC]

Talk about a spoiler-fest.

[u/VerminSC]

Scoring really well. Damn I was gonna wait on this game until after I beat TOTK but now I don’t know if I have the self control

[u/Collector_of_Curios]

Is it just me, or are reviews not really reviews anymore. Like I want to know about the sound design, the graphical options, the environmental design, voice acting, haptic feedback etc.

I watched about 4 reviews by the big name publishers, and felt like I learnt nothing. I wouldn't even know how long the game is.

[u/CaptainRAVE2]

Anyone been able to preload it yet in the UK?

[u/UberGnar]

Purchased and downloading. EZ purchase.

[u/BassMasterClassic]

What an awful review filled with so many spoilers and terrible jokes. Game looks awesome though.

[u/geolink]

Looks so damn good. Final fantasy. Tears of the kingdom and this. My walllet is hurting bad. I’ll probably start an only fans.