Star Wars Jedi: Survivor | PS5 Review

I used to be obsessed with the universe of Star Wars. When I was younger, I was ravenous for all of the books, comics, video games, and anything else that added to this expanded universe. I was in that crowd of furious fans when Disney announced it was jettisoning all of those wonderful stories into the void. As fun as The Force Awakens or as complex as The Last Jedi was, it wasn’t until Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order that I felt confident in calling myself a fan again. Cal Kestis and the crew of The Mantis told a beautiful story of loss and trauma that, when combined with exquisite gameplay, pulled me in like few Star Wars stories before it. It was one of the greatest Star Wars stories ever told. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is not.

I Will Not Be the Last Jedi

We begin many years after the last game’s ending, with Cal Kestis and the crew having parted ways. Cal is hellbent on bringing war to the Empire and fighting back, seemingly by any means necessary. Soon into the game, you’ll find the true motivating factor of Survivor’s plot: Finding the hidden planet of Tanalorr. This is your quest for the vast majority of the 30+ hour running time. It never gets any more in-depth than that, and there’s about a dozen hours in the middle of this story-based game where nothing progresses forward in the plot. It’s utterly baffling, especially after the strong pacing of Fallen Order. The whole story feels like it has 12 hours of content stretched into 30.

McGuffins are all well and good in video games, hell even Fallen Order was about following the path someone else had laid before you. The McGuffin in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is about as uninspired as the game’s title, but that wouldn’t matter if the villains were interesting. The Second Sister in Fallen Order was a terrorizing presence, and each interaction felt exciting and tense. She was fleshed out wonderfully over time, and you really began to understand her. Rayvis and Dagan are so utterly and wholly forgettable that I had to Google their names for this review. They lack presence whenever they’re on screen, and they don’t actually do much to get in Cal’s way. It’s difficult to discuss without getting into spoilers, but there is a third villainous presence in the game. However, the twist surrounding them is so laughably obvious that I was genuinely confused when the story treated it as a surprise.

This is Not Going to Go the Way You Think

The writing is generally much sloppier across the board. A character early in the game, Bode, stops in the middle of running from the Empire to show you a hologram of his daughter. It comes out of nowhere, and makes no sense in the context of the situation. Later in the game, Cal gets a blaster. He mentions that a Jedi should never use this kind of weapon, but begins to twirl it around like a gleeful child in the same sentence. There’s no tension, no fighting past his upbringing, he just uses it. Moments like these two are everywhere. It’s sloppy, it’s goofy, and I expected better of Respawn. The only consistently interesting piece of writing is Cal’s struggle with the Dark Side, but that turns out to be more sequel set up than anything.

So the plot itself is a total bust, but what about the characters of Cal and the crew? I can happily report this is generally an area that is handled well. Skipping past five years is a little frustrating, especially when you consider how little we saw the whole crew together in the last game, but it’s equally as exhilarating seeing them all interact. You can tell these people have gotten to know each other over the years, even if we didn’t get to see any of that. There are none of the slower, more thoughtful moments between crew mates that Fallen Order was so praised for, but it’s still good stuff. It’s just never great.

 

My heart weighed heavily because of these story woes, but I can’t deny the gameplay in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is nothing short of exquisite. It’s amongst the best action gameplay you’ll find out there today. Combat, exploration, and puzzles have all been expanded in this sequel, and it all feels extraordinary to take part in.

Blast That Piece of Junk Out of the Sky

Combat has gone from two stances to five. Sticking to the difficult decision-making inherent to Soulslike games, you can only equip two stances at once. I found a lot of joy in guessing which stances would work best for the areas I was in, and found a lot of versatility in each one. The dual-bladed option is a great way to quickly poke at foes, or maybe the crossguard is what you need to get those heavy hits in. It’s a great deal of fun in action, even if the game is overall considerably easier than its predecessor.

 

Boss battles are where the new combat disappoints, however. As much fun as fighting enemies is throughout, using your various stances and Force abilities, the bosses aren’t as much fun. Or, rather, they can be fun, but never challenging. I was playing on hard, and only died on a single boss. Granted, I died several times to that boss, but the point is that every other boss is shockingly easy. It’s shocking because even when I replay Fallen Order, there are bosses I get stuck on, so I know it’s not that I’m “too good” or something. Survivor simply has a bunch of pushovers as bosses.

I Need Someone to Show Me My Place in All of This

Exploration has been greatly expanded. While still a gear-gated game at heart, Survivor has some open-world aspirations. The central planet of Koboh is where you will spend the vast majority of your time, and it is massive. There’s a central town, mounts to ride, many zones of exploration, combat arenas, puzzle dungeons, and many more things to find out there. There are even side quests to obtain from a fun array of citizens, though none of these quests have a story worth mentioning. It’s all a lot of fun to traverse, and the overt Wild West themes work wonders on me. You can build up this town of Rambler’s Reach over time, introducing new citizens and really sprucing up the place with music, fish, or gardening. It goes a long to make you feel invested in this little backwater planet.

Platforming has been significantly upgraded, as well, with a ton of new traversal options. The wall-running and rope swinging are back from the previous game, but tons of new gear have been added to the repertoire, including a multi-function grapple hook. Some of these sections get downright challenging, asking precision from you that most games wouldn’t dare these days. I used to love these kinds of challenging traversal games, but they’ve mostly fallen by the wayside. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has this kind of action in spades, and I absolutely love it. It made me want to explore every corner of each world you visit.

There’s plenty of items you can unlock by exploring those nooks and crannies with the correct upgrades, as is the gear-gated tradition. The best part about these found items is that they’re cosmetic only, as opposed to a meaningless gear system. It’s so refreshing to see this in a modern AAA title, and I love that it makes every item you find actually mean something. Is it goofy to find a hairdo in a treasure chest? Absolutely. Is it fun? Hell yes. It’s so rewarding to constantly switch up Cal’s look based on what you have or have not found. The boy can look real sharp, too!

See You Around, Kid

I do not take happiness from walking away disappointed with the story of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was my game of the year in 2019, so I was rooting for Survivor to be excellent. And when it comes to the gameplay, it absolutely is. It has some of the best platforming and exploration of the generation. I looked forward to every (non-boss) battle I got into. And whenever I discovered a new region or dungeon, my face couldn’t help but smile. However, the story is mediocre at best, and that makes no sense considering what came before. It’s said only a Sith deals in absolutes, which is made all the clearer by what a confusingly mixed bag this Jedi game turned out to be.

To hear me talk more about Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, be sure to listen to the May 3, 2023 episode of the Gaming Outsider podcast around the 41:59 time stamp.

This review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor provided by fortyseven communications for coverage purposes. It is also available on Xbox Series X/S and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store.