Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a long-awaited third-person action-adventure sequel to the ever-popular Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. As a lifelongStar Warsfranchise fan and a passionate Fallen Order player, I couldn’t wait for the sequel. Indeed, swinging a lightsaber around and slaying foe using an arry of Force powers is a recipe for hours of good fun. I figured: what could go wrong? It was right after I began the game that I realized the Force wasn’t with me.
Graphics
From a pure visual standpoint, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a gorgeous-looking game. I got to visit six different locations, and each was breathtakingly beautiful in its unique way. Despite being vast, the environments didn’t feel desolate or empty. Instead, the planets made me feel like the galaxy was teeming with life.
Narrative
The story of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor takes place aboutfive yearsafter the first game’s events. It continues the first entry’s dark tone, which makes sense since the story is set in the most traumatic period for citizens of the former Republic (my personal favorite). The Jedi Order was subjected to the infamous purge ordered by Chancellor Palpatine. The game’s protagonist, Cal Kestis, is one of the few survivors who made it thanks to his master’s sacrifice. Haunted by the survivor’s guilt and the loss of his comrades, the young Jedi apprentice must tread carefully in a galaxy ruled under the imperial boot.
After a botched mission on Coruscant, Cal’s ship gets badly damaged during escape, and he makes an emergency stop at the planet Koboh. There, he begins to uncover ancient secrets of the Jedi Order from the era of the High Empire. During his adventures on the planet, he soon learns of the existence of the planet Tanalor inside the dreaded Koboh Abyss nebula. Tanalor is a planet of significant importance due to its location, making it a small hidden utopia perfect for the forces of resistance.
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Gameplay
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor took the gameplay from the first entry and gave us a significant upgrade. The combat system has a distinct souls-like feeling, as it required me to learn the game’s innards and how opponents work to defeat them best. I was almost pre-planning fights as I encountered them, scanning strengths and weaknesses with each group of enemies.
The game gave me five combat stances in total. For each, Cal wields his lightsaber in a radically different way. The Dual Wield stance, my favorite by far, allowed me to fight aggressively and toss multiple blades at separate enemies. On the other hand, Crossguard Stance had me wield the lightsaber more akin to a giant Claymore sword and fight accordingly. My swings were sluggish, but the damage I did more than compensated for it.
Performance
The graphical brilliance of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was, unfortunately, marred by constant visual bugs. Screen tearing was the least of my problems, as I encountered numerous frame drops throughout the game. The drops were especially prevalent on Coruscant for some reason, which is the first planet I was on, giving me a poor first impression of the game. Moving on to Koboh, several locations there also seemed to kill framerate for me, especially those around bodies of water.
Verdict – An action-adventure masterpiece marred by technical problems
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a small masterpiece of a game in which everyStar Warsfan should find some enjoyment. Excellent story narration, gorgeous graphics, and level design promise hours of fun, if not only for the abysmal game performance. This is the single biggest flaw of the game, and it impacts the gameplay experience on all levels. The developers should patch the game eventually, making it the polished masterpiece that it deserves to be. But still, until such a time comes, I must also consider bad performance when rating the game.
