Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

The sheer scope and content in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor make it easily one of the biggest Star Wars games ever. This sequel largely uses the increased scale and depth to enhance its dramatic storyline and the core gameplay for Cal's adventures. Although this sequel's ambition shows some signs of buckling under its weight, it still manages to strike at the core of why a Star Wars adventure can be so satisfying and fun to immerse yourself in.

It’s the pacey propulsion of the game’s story that pulls the journey together, though, and keeps its long runtime fresh and exciting the entire way through. There’s a confidence and an assurance in its storytelling direction that simply hasn’t felt apparent in Star Wars of late. It says a lot that, when Survivor ends on a clear nod towards an inevitable threequel, that this could end up being a stronger set of stories than the most recent Hollywood trilogy. At the very least, we’re left actually excited where a Star Wars adventure might go next, rather than worrying if it’s going to deteriorate with each new jump to hyperspace.

Star Wars: Jedi Survivor remains fundamentally really fun. Cal's platforming skills expand even more, and Jedi: Survivor's set pieces have become even more elaborate. There's a whiff of Force Unleashed at times, with the angsty but wonderfully over the top sense of action and melodrama. It is always enjoyable to ping yourself around runnable walls and ziplines and now grapple hooks (I know) like a human pinball. It is much more desirable that Star Wars games have a little goofiness, from genuinely funny companions like Greeze to the sheer amount of Jedi Suspension of Disbelief you have to harness throughout, than it is that they become too self-serious or stoic. UItimately this is the almost impossible tradeoff Respawn has with Star Wars: Jedi Survivor. Its lack of focus is what holds it back - and also what makes it such a blast.

All the problems Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has are clearly and unsurprisingly tied to its ridiculous scope. There’s stuff piled on top of stuff, and not all of it feels substantial, fully baked, or in some cases functional. But the foundation Respawn laid in Fallen Order is still here, and everything about Survivor that’s connected really shines. The characters are more fleshed out and their conflicts are compelling and relatable. The level design is appreciably authored in that way that makes “Metroidvania” a stupid-looking word that means so much. And when it comes to combat, there are so many different ways to brutalize droids and Stormtroopers, the combo video community will feast for years to come. It’s a hearty stew, even if you still have to watch the sodium.

Like how Rogue One (and now, Andor) told a new epic in a familiar universe, Survivor puts on enough of its own spin to feel unique, enhanced by a deeply detailed story and world environments.

So, did Jedi: Survivor sweep me off my feet? Am I about to introduce him to my mom, and talk about getting a condo? Probably not. For starters, we need to discuss that beard before there’s any talk of moving in together. That said, if he hit me up again for a second date? That’s an easy yes, provided that I’m picking where we go. A healthy relationship is about boundaries, after all.

Despite our grousing, though, the basic promise of Fallen Order persists here: This is probably the best game available about running around in the Star Wars universe, hitting dudes with lightsabers, and just generally being exactly the Jedi that the title promises. And while Survivor occasionally ascends past this—most notably in a fantastic mid-game sequence that sees Respawn cut back on the open-world elements and pile on the spectacle, sending Cal and his teammates acrobatically, and thrillingly, diving through the air of a canyon on an Empire-beset desert world—the idea we kept coming back to while playing was this: Loving Star Wars has, over the years, become an exercise in accepting that, 90 percent of the time, what you’re going to get is a modestly above-average action-adventure set in a well-textured sci-fi universe. On that score, Jedi: Survivor perfectly fulfils its brief (and then some), and should leave fans thoroughly satisfied.

So no, Jedi: Survivor isn’t any less derivative than its predecessor, its story is bland, and Cal is still boring as hell. But once again, none of that really matters: this is the closest most of us will ever get to feeling like a Jedi, and at that, the game succeeds. The sequel builds on the original in small ways, without messing up the parts that made it work.