Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, all we know
Star Wars Jedi
Released in 2019 and initially viewed with extreme distrust, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order then demonstrated that it is still possible to make excellent video games set in the most famous distant galaxy of the Multiverse without always bothering the Skywalker family. The game by Respawn Entertainment told the misadventures of Cal Kestis, a young Padawan who narrowly escaped Order 66. The Californian developer had put together various types of gameplay to design a title different from the usual tie-ins: Fallen Order was a metroidvania with a hint of soulslike and with a narrative component that united it to games with a cinematic imprint of the caliber of Uncharted or God of War. A hit with critics and audiences alike, the finale left the doors open to a predictable sequel that Respawn unveiled with a teaser just these days during the annual Star Wars Celebration.In fact, the announcement was in the air for a few weeks, and so the title, which had been anticipated by Jeff Grubb of GiantBomb along with the release date, an unspecified month of 2023. This means that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will only arrive on PC and last generation consoles and therefore that expectations are even greater than in the past. But what are we really dealing with?
Let's try to get a better idea by telling you everything we know about Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
The return of Cal and BD-1
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, BD-1 will also return The problem, in fact, is that absolutely nothing has been seen in gameplay. The teaser of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a cinematic in computer graphics that serves as an appetizer to the story, but even about that it tells us very little. For example, we only learned from official press releases that the new adventure will begin five years after the conclusion of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and that the disturbing antagonist in black is an imperial senator, also because you can see the Coruscant skyline on the background.At first glance, many had mistaken him for the Grand Inquisitor, a Darth Vader henchman who had already appeared in the animated series Star Wars: Rebels, in comic books published by Marvel and recently in the TV series centered around on Obi-Wan Kenobi. It's understandable: this unnamed senator is also of the Pau'an species, just like the Grand Inquisitor, but he is much older, and Jedi: Survivor is expected to take place at roughly the same time as Obi-Wan Kenobi.
This means that the paths of Cal and the Jedi Master may cross, in the game ... or in the TV series. It's hard to predict at the moment, but let's admit the timing of this teaser is highly suspicious - it came out on the same day Disney + released the first two episodes of the new miniseries - and that Respawn's ideas have already spilled over into TV when a droid BD model made a brief appearance in an episode of The Book of Boba Fett. As we know, Star Wars Jedi falls into the official canon of Lucasfilm and Disney, and Cameron Monaghan - who lent his features to Cal Kestis - has already done a lot of work on television.
We can only guess, well, and the same goes for the mysterious figure floating in the bacta tub at the beginning and end of the teaser. It is clear that this character will have a significant importance - and could be the "survivor" who gives the subtitle to the game - but at the moment it does not seem to be linked to any story already told, even if someone has already thought of Omega, the clone that appears in Star Wars: The Bad Batch.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the imperial senator in Coruscant The teaser, however, confirmed the obvious return of the pairing formed by Cal and his droid BD-1. In a recent interview, director Stig Asmussen explained that Cal and BD-1 are now as a single character, in the development team's imagination, but this shouldn't stop him from exploring new dynamics, while maintaining the strong bond that unites them. . Giving up BD-1 in the series would be a bit like taking Grogu out of The Mandalorian.
Asmussen admitted he wasn't all that surprised by the audience's overwhelmingly positive response to the little all-rounder droid - according to him, gamers they felt all the passion and affection that the artists put into making BD-1. Asmussen said he was even moved when he saw him appear in The Book of Boba Fett - he is one of the droids in the Peli Motto hangar - especially since he was watching the episode with his children, and that cameo made him realize how much important was Fallen Order for the Star Wars imagery.
Lightsaber or not?
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the senator is a Pau'an but he is not the Grand Inquisitor The processing of Survivor would have started even before Fallen Order was released, so we can imagine that Asmussen and his people had quite clear ideas about the possible future of the story and the gameplay. The five-year time jump - which affected Cal's appearance, between the more severe features, the short hair and the new costume - will also mean a decline towards new themes, and in this case the new adventure will test the qualities of Cal in terms of leadership. We suspect that our hero and his supporting actors will be in even more trouble than usual, as the teaser scene of the heavily damaged Stinger Mantis on the brink of a precipice threatens.Asmussen he anticipated that the stakes in the Fallen Order sequel will be very high, and will force Cal and his crew to make very dangerous deals. According to the director, something would have already been seen in the teaser, which focuses the spotlight above all on one detail: Cal's lightsaber, delivered to the imperial senator in a reinforced case.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the sword Cal Kestis laser delivered to the senator This detail opens the door to various speculations. By examining the teaser carefully, and especially the scene in which Cal faces a Sith, you can see some details that could also be important in terms of gameplay. Cal's opponent does not seem to be an Inquisitor, since he does not wield the peculiar rotating red lightsaber, but apparently he lacks the right arm: it is clearly seen that he wields the weapon only with his left hand, and coincidentally also the the man in the bacta tub would appear to have only his left arm.
At the same time, our hero would appear to be wielding a single-bladed lightsaber: the ring hanging from the end of the handle is clearly seen, and this means that the secondary emitter would be missing. The lightsaber that is delivered to the senator is therefore just that - given that Cal is seen retreating, perhaps to escape, leaving the weapon unlit on the ground - or the other half? Among other things, in the final scene in which Cal faces the bacta tub, another interesting detail can be glimpsed: it seems that the protagonist is now wearing a holster on his left side complete with a blaster.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, who's floating in that tub of bacta? In the StarWars.com interview, Asmussen briefly mentioned some ideas that Respawn had failed to implement in the original title and that may be in the sequel, while also referring to more fighting styles for Cal. The detail of the blaster could therefore suggest two things: it could mean that ours, for part of the game, will find itself without a lightsaber and will only be able to rely on the Force and firearms; or, it could mean that we can combine lightsaber hits with blaster hits in a hybrid fighting style. We know that the Jedi were trained to use firearms as well, so it shouldn't surprise us too much.
Another statement from Asmussen is also worth reflecting on. Cal and his parents will have to forge questionable alliances to survive ... and they don't necessarily succeed, since there is no trace of Cal in the original trilogy and in that sequel. Perhaps Asmussen is suggesting a dear, old dynamic present in other Star Wars-themed adventures, namely the possibility of turning the protagonist to the dark side to learn some specific Force powers of the Sith.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Cal Kestis against a mysterious Sith One thing is certain: Respawn are also working hard on the technical front to improve every possible aspect of the sequel. Asmussen confirmed his team is working with ray tracing and real-time lighting to deliver an absolutely cinematic feel, and new technologies are allowing you to verify the results and strive to improve them much faster than in the past. The director, in particular, praised the processing capabilities of the new consoles, which allow you to load data in a flash and develop the title as if there were no downtime, and this suggests a more open world perspective than Fallen Order.
Asmussen then specifically mentioned PlayStation 5 and DualSense's haptic feedback. In this sense, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor promises to be a full-fledged next-generation title, and we can't wait to find out more about the gameplay, even if the wait could be long.
A cinematic teaser certainly isn't enough to get an idea, but Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was a great all-round title and Respawn deserves our trust. The StarWars.com interview with Stig Asmussen revealed some goodies about the development of the new title that promise a technically improved game, especially as it will only run on new platforms, and an evolution of the narrative that could also be reflected in the gameplay. But for now we can only speculate, waiting for a real trailer that tells us more about the future of Cal Kestis.
