REVIEW: Star Wars Jedi Survivor is an EA masterpiece

Developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts, Star Wars Jedi Survivor continues the story of Cal Kestis, a Jedi survivor of Order 66 who had to live in hiding from the clutches of the intergalactic empire.

Using the foundations of combat and exploration established in Jedi: Fallen Order, the sequel expands the story and its characters in one of the best titles in the space franchise in recent years. Want to know more? Then follow our review de Star Wars Jedi Survivor:

an exciting story

Eat Survivor begins five years after the events of Fallen Order. Cal Kestis, now an older, trained Jedi, remains on a lone mission to diminish Imperial efforts across the galaxy. Now working for Saw Gerrera, Cal is sent to Coruscant, the capital of the Empire, in an attempt to obtain important information that will aid the rebel cause.

During their mission, the Jedi and his new team of mercenaries are faced with a huge ambush, carried out by the Inquisitors, the famous Jedi hunters trained by Darth Vader. In an attempt to escape the Imperial attack, the Mantis spacecraft ends up suffering heavy damage. Lost in space controlled by the Empire's forces and without many options, Cal makes an emergency landing on Koboh, a barren planet in the Outer Rim of the galactic map.

Right away, we can already see that Koboh is not just any planet. He's situated in a system surrounded by dark energy, but that doesn't stop Cal from seeking shelter. The reason he sought out this particular planet is simple: Greez, the former Mantis pilot and Cal's companion, is living somewhere on this celestial body, and he is the only one who can fix the ship back to its former glory.

As clear as Cal's goals were, he sensed through the Force that Koboh harbored a centuries-old secret. In his explorations of the planet, Kestis discovers a structure of the High Republic, which existed during a time of peace and prosperity in the hands of the Jedi. This structure hid Zee, a 300-year-old Droid, which marks the beginning of a journey in search of the lost world of Tanalorr, a planet that can serve as a refuge for those pursued by Palpatine, Vader and the entire imperial army.

These first steps take Cal, Greez, Merrin and Cere on an exciting, powerful and fun new journey, where new allies and enemies make their presence felt to establish Star Wars Jedi Survivor as one of the best canonical stories in the Star Wars universe.

Koboh acts like a main character

Planet Koboh is not just another planet in the endless ocean of space. In Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, Cal and his team traveled between various planets, which the player could explore, unlock cosmetic items, fight enemies and discover secrets. This time, the Jedi Survivor development team decided to change the philosophy of exploration, replacing the small areas spread across several planets by Koboh, which serves as a central HUB.

Koboh is giant. On the surface of the planet, the player has the freedom to explore what they want, how they want, when they want. Freedom of exploration is one of the strongest points in Jedi Survivor, and it is this system sandbox of Koboh that helps create a realistic and fun atmosphere.

The game really makes you feel that the planet is alive, filled with NPCs who live their lives, work or relax in the local tavern. Enemies on patrols, monsters hunting prey and strange creatures also exist on the planet, which evolves as the events of the story progress. In addition, the characters scattered across the planet also serve to deliver secondary missions for Cal, but in an organic and realistic way.

You won't find any symbols above the characters' heads indicating that there are missions available, that is, it is necessary to interact with all the inhabitants (some more than once, on different occasions). These characters can be found in mines, excavations, in the city or in dangerous places, and always provide information relevant to Koboh's story.

There are still other planets in the game, like Jedha, but none of them have the same depth as Koboh. Throughout the story, Cal and his team will return to the barren planet more than once, mainly after the player unlocks some new abilities. Just like the previous game, Eat Survivor has a “metroidvania” system rooted in exploration, which encourages the player to return to locked locations after acquiring certain skills over the course of the story.

Rewards are varied and purely cosmetic, allowing you to customize Cal however you like. This time, the player can unlock different styles of hairstyle, beard, jackets, pants, saber pieces, materials and even parts to modify BD-1, the charismatic droid and companion of the Jedi. There are loads of collectibles scattered around the world, and figuring out how to unlock them all is extremely addictive.

Pylon's Tavern

Koboh is a dangerous planet, but it is far from uncivilized. While away from Cal, Greez opened a small tavern in the center of a small town on the planet. This tavern becomes a second home for the Jedi, who must help maintain the place and find people available to provide entertainment.

Many of the NPCs you encounter throughout the galaxy will visit the tavern during the adventure. Some characters may even offer services, recreational activities and music, creating a relaxing and realistic environment within it. Additionally, whenever Cal returns, the game notifies you that new dialogue is available, including new missions and details about happenings across the galaxy.

Jedi Survivor gameplay has been refined

Have you ever heard that phrase "don't mess with a winning team“? The talented team at Respawn not only took this "literally", but perfected the combat by adding new abilities and new saber fighting styles. Eat Survivor Not only has it created the best lightsaber combat in a video game, it also lets you create your own. build favorite through a new skill tree.

Star Wars Jedi Survivor not it's an RPG, but that didn't stop Respawn from giving the player freedom to choose their Jedi's preferred path. In addition to classic styles with the Single Saber and Dual Blades Saber, Jedi Survivor introduces three more styles: Dual Sabers, Blaster, and the iconic Sword Saber. crossguard (yes, the same type of saber that Kylo Ren and Ezra Bridger use).

Each style is unique and provides versatility for every type of player. During my playthrough, I wanted to try a little of each to see which one I most resonated with, and I was surprised that I liked the Blaster and the Crossguard. With the Blaster, Cal can wield his saber and pistol at the same time, ensuring high-speed, ranged kills against multiple enemies. However, with the Crossguard, the saber becomes heavy, and its attacks are slower, but more powerful (perfect for breaking shields).

The Force has also been expanded, with Cal using powerful new abilities against his enemies. The main addition comes with the Super gauge, which, when charged, allows Cal to paralyze time and enemies around him. Cal can also control the minds of enemies through an old Jedi trick, turning some enemies into allies during more tense battles.

One of the most beautiful games of the new generation

Star Wars Jedi Survivor is, by far, one of the most beautiful games of the current generation. It is no exaggeration to say that, many times during gameplay, the settings and character models exceeded the limits of photorealism in 3D. For example, the characters reveal scars and dirt marks on their skin, their clothes flutter in the wind and get dirty over time, and their facial expressions are as realistic as what we can find in franchise movies.

The setting of the planets is sensational, with Koboh and Jedhah being highlights due to their architecture, lighting, sound and fauna. It's bizarre how faithful this game manages to be to the source material, from the vibrant color palette in the cutscenes to the classic little transitions during interplanetary travel. The real-time scenes seem to be taken from some forgotten movie in LucasFilm's basements, and can easily fool a lay person due to the high graphic fidelity.

Performance is disappointing

Unfortunately, next-gen consoles struggle to hold up Star Wars Jedi Survivor. The game offers players two graphical options, but both suffer from serious frame drops and image quality issues.

The game's performance mode fails to fulfill the role of delivering highs frames, especially when you find yourself in the open world or in more intense battles. In addition to the game having constant drops, the resolution also suffers from the loss of quality. In my gameplay, it was common to find graphic artifacts during character and camera movement, but fortunately these errors can be corrected when playing in “quality” mode.

The quality mode isn't perfect either, as it suffers from the same problems with drops in frames in the heaviest moments. However, the graphics quality and resolution of the game managed to remain stable. Overall, my experience with the game was great, but it would be irresponsible of me to ignore the game's technical issue in this review.

Final considerations

Star Wars Eat Survivor it is a masterpiece. Its human and emotional story, combat is better than ever, and cinematic setting make this the best game in the Star Wars franchise. The game's performance could have been better, of course, but luckily its strengths outweigh all its faults.

Star Wars Jedi Survivor will be released on 28/04/2023 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. The game is now available for pre-order at major digital stores such as Steam, PlayStation Store e Xbox Store.

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Text proofread by: Pedro Bomfim (26 / 04 / 23)