Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Hands-on Preview

Courtesy of EA, we flew to Los Angles to go hands-on with Star Wars: Jedi Survivor. I’m happy to report it’s the epitome of the “bigger and better” sequel. Fallen Order was an excellent debut to an all-new Jedi adventure, and Jedi Survivor builds upon and improves what worked in every way. 

Gameplay picks up an hour into the game on Koboh, a cavernous planet with dusty cliffs, lush fields, waterfalls, and caves. It’s also the new home of Greez Dritus. Cal and BD-1 make a rough landing in the Mantis and embark on a treacherous journey to find Greez and acquire the parts they need to repair their ship and carry on. What’s immediately noticeable is the planet’s scale. You can scout the area and mark points of interest using BD’s Visor. The holomap is also a noticeable improvement. It clearly presents everything currently accessible. I most appreciate that it leaves a trail behind as you progress, making it easy to determine your exact location or backtrack.

Respawn excels in designing remarkably smooth traversal. Cal Kestis feels like butter as you sprint, Jedi flip, wall run, and shimmy all over structures. Jedi Survivor joins the grapple hook renaissance with Cal’s new Ascension Cable. It latches onto and zips him toward various points in environments. You can speak to inhabitants all over Koboh that present you with “rumors.” They’re essentially single objectives that lead to discoveries, collectibles, and combat encounters. A new faction called The Bedlam Raiders is causing trouble on Koboh, and I enjoy cutting through them as I explore. 

Cal Ketis, Jedi Knight

Combat introduces the new stance system. In Fallen Order, I like how the blade styles are mainly intended to deal with particular enemies. With the new stance system, there are significant skill trees for each of the five, including Single, Double-bladed, Dual Wield, Crossguard, and Blaster. While each stance fits particular scenarios, you aren’t forced to use them. Sitting down with Design Director Jeff Magers and Senior Producer Blair Brown, I learned you’re free to use one stance exclusively from beginning to end. 

The game limits you to equipping two stances at a time, but you can swap them out at any meditation spot while exploring. You can seamlessly switch between them during combat. It’s a lot of fun to carve through a crowd with a double-blade and immediately follow it up with some dual-wield carnage. Jedi Survivor includes some incredible new finisher animations that are brutal and satisfying. Thankfully, Cal isn’t stripped of his abilities at the start of the game. Force push and pull return alongside the new Force Confusion and Tame.

New Moves

Confusion briefly turns enemies against each other, while tame enables Cal to mount creatures for more efficient navigation. Additionally, a perk system has been implemented that drastically affects your playstyle. Throughout my playtime, I had a ton of fun with combat. Between fighting the empire, droids, and wildlife, combat encounters have the potential to be endlessly fresh with all the depth at your disposal. 

At the end of our session, Design Director Jason De Heras gave us an unbelievable demonstration of max-level combat. While the flurry of rad animations was impressive as he slashed through waves of stormtroopers, the blaster stance was the major crowd-pleaser. We weren’t provided details on its functionality, but it seems to auto-aim as you fire shots between saber swings. There also appears to be an ability that fires a homing missile-like shot that ricochets between multiple enemies. At one point, he used a force ability to levitate several enemies and began marking them like Dead Eye straight out of Red Dead Redemption. While it’s admittedly familiar, it’s undeniably cool. During the fight, he was also dashing through the air. I assume they call it something like “Jedi Dash,” which will contribute to traversal throughout the game. 

Puzzle It Out

Along the journey to Greez, you interact with the environment in multiple ways, like using explosive ball droids to destroy walls and using the force to terraform cliffs. I love the emphasis on physics. It’s always fun to feel like you’re fully in control of the objects you manipulate. That’s most prevalent in the new puzzle rooms called “Jedi Chambers.” They’re akin to puzzles in another popular game. Jedi Chambers are well adapted to Jedi Survivor. They have their own identity between force powers and Jedi lore. I only experienced two, and they both use the force to move and toss balls into various pedestals that create bridges for Cal to progress through the chambers. 

Solving them is pretty straightforward. However, I can imagine the potential for more creative and challenging puzzles that may come later. There are collectibles to find throughout. Completing them grants myriad rewards that contribute to level progression. I also stumbled into a “Jedi Tear” that presented a time-sensitive challenge focused solely on platforming. Traversal is one of my favorite gameplay aspects, and I love that I can earn rewards by putting my skills to the test. 

Defending the Galaxy with Style

Respawn has absolutely addressed Fallen Order’s criticism regarding limited customization and cosmetics. There are a ton of clothing options for Cal to discover. You can mix and match shirts, pants, and jackets, change the colors of each, and change Cal’s hair and beard. It’s classically video gamey and hilarious to discover a goatee and mullet in supply crates as if Cal’s wearing wigs and fake mustaches. Jokes aside, the options look great, and it’s cool that you can give Cal many different looks. You can also discover many new parts for BD-1 to drastically alter his appearance. 

As I entered the wild west-inspired town of Rambler’s Reach, I encountered The Bedlam Raiders leader, Rayvis, and threw down with one of his boys. Little is known about Rayvis, but he’s an imposing presence and will undoubtedly play an integral role in the story. Following my tussle in the dirt, I was reunited with Greez. I was introduced to all his cantina has to offer, including a hideout for Cal, a pair of DJs, and new characters that will impact the story and gameplay.

Cal can also tend to a garden that provides valuable materials. I explored as much of Koboh as possible during the remainder of my time playing. Its vastness blows me away, and all there is to discover, collect, and interact with. Seeing as it’s one of the multiple explorable planets in Jedi Survivor, there’s plenty to keep you busy, and I’m glad I can say it’s all a lot of fun so far. 

Thrills Await

We previewed the game on PC. For the most part, Jedi Survivor looks and performs beautifully. However, I did experience multiple frame drops when entering some areas. Fortunately, I never encountered any performance hiccups when it mattered most during combat or platforming. We experienced a work-in-progress build that isn’t representative of the final product. Between now and the release, there’s a strong chance those minor bugs will be patched. 

I can’t reveal details about the story portion of the preview I experienced. I can say another thrilling, high-stakes adventure is in store. Respawn has taken everything they built in Fallen Order to the next level in Jedi Survivor. I had a blast with the few hours I played and can’t wait to experience the entire game. Star Wars: Jedi Survivor launches on April 28th for PS5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC. For more on Jedi Survivor, you can check out the top 5 new things I’m most stoked about.

***Flights, hotel, and access to preview event provided by Electronic Arts***