Here’s how Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will be a lot more game than its predecessor

It’s not long before Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is released to the general public, but with new gameplay footage shown off a while back and a new story trailer to boot, we have a lot more information about the game and what new gameplay features to expect from it. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is one of the biggest games to come out this year and from what we’ve seen, it seems like it has improved on its predecessor in every way. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order had always seemed like a game with infinite potential, a title with some great ideas, executed well, but also a lot of scope for even more fantastic ideas in a really interesting setting. Survivor seems to be living up to this promise, with a new host of upgrades and new gameplay mechanics. 

Here are just a few of the new things you can expect from Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, based on a blog post by O’Dell Harmon Jr., Content Communications Specialist, SIE after some hands-on time with the game.

New Saber, who dis?

I know that everyone has been guilty of the cliche of comparing games to Dark Souls. But with its focus on dodging and countering in combat and using meditation spots to rest and respawn enemies, Fallen Order had a Soulsborne DNA for sure. Survivor seems to have taken its predecessor’s really crunchy combat and taken it up a notch with five different stances or combat approaches you can try out. There’s the Luke Skywalker single-blade option, the “all-rounder” stance. If you need something faster for crowd control, you can try out the double-bladed lightsaber and fulfill your Darth Maul fantasy. And then there is the fast, finesse dual-wielding stance like Asoka Tano that feels really fluid and intense. And new to the series is the cross-guard stance. You use a Kylo Ren-style saber which feels like a great sword in combat. And finally, there is the blaster stance for ranged attacks. All of these stances sound super exciting and it feels like players can either mix them up for different scenarios or master one or two and use them for most of their play through. 

Forcing the issue

In addition to these combat stances, there are also some new force abilities that you can use to make combat even more exciting and varied. There is Force Confusion which will turn enemies against their own and Tame which will allow Cal to mount different beasts, making traversal faster and more fun. And of course, the amazing slow ability, which now slows down time for everything around Cal while he goes ham with his lightsaber. Of course that is a bit OP, so they’ve put it on a timer, making it a get-out-of-jail-free card. 

At the speed of light

There are many more options for traversal in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. We have already mentioned how Cal can now tame certain beasts to help with moving across the different planets. These mounts also have specific mechanics like double jumping or gliding that can be used to access areas that were not accessible otherwise. For Cal himself, he can now slide down walls, using the lightsaber to descend. He also now has a grapple with a swing feature to access spaces horizontally. There is also fast travel between meditation points, something that we sorely needed in Fallen Order where we had to travel all the way back to our ship every time we would complete a mission. The maps have also been updated to make exploration better. 

In a galaxy far far away

While the last game only had a handful of locations, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has expanded on the universe with new locations like the base planet of Koboh or other planets from the Star Wars universe like Coruscant. Koboh, as well as being the base of Cal’s operations, also has merchants and other NPCs to interact with. There is also a base building system in place there where Cal can grow produce and make some credits off of it. There are also many different worlds to explore, each having their own unique environmental features.

Ponchos?

Customisation is another space where the folks at Respawn have made huge changes. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor finally has the option for us to make Cal look just how we like him. You can change his hairstyle and beard as well. And unlike the last game where all we had for clothing options were different ponchos, Survivor has a nice array of jackets and trousers. You can also customise your favourite companion BD-1, giving it different eyes, legs, and antenna, along with multiple colour options too. 

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is one of the most anticipated titles of this year and a lot of that has to do with the success of its predecessor. But from all the information and gameplay footage coming out, we can be reasonably sure that Survivor will just be a lot more game than Fallen Order, and you won’t hear any of us complaining about that.