Welcome to our review of Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, the next Uncharted Star Wars game and despite some technical issues brings us a rather decent experience.
The story of Cal Kestis continues in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, a third-person, galaxy-spanning, action-adventure game from Respawn Entertainment, developed in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games. This narratively driven, single-player title picks up 5 years after the events of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and follows Cal’s increasingly desperate fight as the galaxy descends further into darkness. Pushed to the edges of the galaxy by the Empire, Cal will find himself surrounded by threats new and familiar. As one of the last surviving Jedi Knights, Cal is driven to make a stand during the galaxy’s darkest times — but how far is he willing to go to protect himself, his crew, and the legacy of the Jedi Order?
When I called Star Wars: Jedi Survivor the next Uncharted game, I actually meant it as a compliment, so do not get me wrong. The parkour and overall sensation of this game has very high Uncharted feeling as the majority of the game, you are solving environmental puzzles that range from serious rock climbing to ultimately pushing the boundaries of your Jedi powers. Having read reviews that claim there were too many puzzles in this game, I can just nod and say yes, but I never found them to be disturbing or forced upon you as a gamer.
It is just part of the game and well, I like how it just flows from lightsaber battles to puzzles and back to parkour and all the way round again. Mind you that the battles are probably the worst part as it is the one side of the game where I encountered bugs, from the silly ones all the way to failing fights because of the enemies seemingly being able to parry through my timings. Mind you again that this was only at the toughest of settings, I also gave the easy mode a try and wow, it really was easy and almost made the game a breeze to play through and literally feel like Uncharted. Just the puzzles were challenging at that time.
Storywise, the influence of Disney has been well spread throughout all the newest series and well, I feel like a lot of this game is very PG as well, though the way Cal finished some of his enemies… I wonder how “Jedi” like the violence really is, like a true samurai, you are seemingly effortlessly killing enemies by any brutal way available, think Ghost of Tsushima here, the entire samurai finishers, that is the feeling you get. Now, I love the toughness Cal shows, but it seems like it is needlessly tough.
Another remark I would like to make, but this is purely personal, it is hard to see the Gallagher Kid from Shameless being a Jedi… I was such a fan of the family and now seeing him as a pure good character while I had known him for years as the “scoundrel” from the family, it just feels odd/off. It does not take away from the fun I had or the way the story evolves into a deep experience, it just feels funny really.
What I loved about the game, it is character development. Very unlike Disney’s Star Wars, you actually get a lot of time with the character and you are very free to explore most nooks and hidden bits of the worlds you visit. At times I did wish the map was easier to navigate, that would probably be my sole real gripe with Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, the map sucks the big one. I have very often made remarks about how games often lack guidance, well, a simple beacon on screen where to go after you tag a place… It goes a long way.
In conclusion, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor is a great game if you like puzzles, parkour, and lightsaber battles.
