Cal Kestis awaits us in 2023 with the long-awaited sequel to Star Wars: Fallen Order. In a galaxy far, far away, we join Luke, Leia and Han Solo in their rebellion against the evil empire and its most feared champion, Darth Vader. That adventure became one of the most beloved works of cinema and space fantasy and has generated a transmedia universe that continues to this day.
New movies, series, novels, comics and video games that have introduced us to new stories and characters within the galaxy created by George Lucas. Star Wars: Fallen Order has been one of the most valued titles in the saga, and the next 2023 Cal Kestis awaits us with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, from Respawn Entertainment and Electronic Arts, on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series.
A darker installment
Survivor is set 5 years after the events of Fallen Order, with a Cal Kestis having survived the Imperial Inquisition. At Star Wars Celebration we saw a teaser announcing a sequel with a darker and more mysterious tone. This is confirmed by Stig Asmussen, director of Fallen Order and Survivor, on the official Star Wars website: “This is the purpose of the tone that we have applied in this installment. We want to leave the player intrigued and with a lot of questions. The main theme “The game is about survival, which is why we’ve called it Jedi: Survivor. These are dark times, and Cal and his companions are doing whatever they can to survive. This may mean they’re forging bonds with people who, in another age, would be considered unsavory” .
As for the combat, hardly any details have been revealed, although Asmussen has detailed that it will take Fallen Order as the foundation for its gameplay: “Before finishing development on Jedi: Fallen Order, our team had a very clear vision of how to transfer to the sequel the adventure of Cal, BD and their crew”, declares the director in the presentation of his next project. “For Jedi: Survivor, we are working closely with Lucasfilm Games to build a new title on the legacy of Jedi: Fallen Order. We are taking full advantage of new technology to create more dynamic Jedi combat and a more cinematic narrative to expand Cal’s story of growing up and surviving through dark times.”
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Respawn Entertainment Electronic Arts PC PS5 Xbox Series action adventure Star Wars George Lucas
Gameplay, narrative and exploration: the three main pillars
Regarding gameplay, Asmussen defines it on the official Star Wars website as one of the important pillars of Fallen Order, and that he plans to enhance for its sequel, as well as the union between gameplay, exploration and narrative. “Finding a way to tie these three pillars together throughout was our biggest challenge. But there were moments where I think we were more than successful, like the AT-AT moment on Kashyyyk, where Cal and BD-1 hijack and pilot the AT-AT and do some serious shredding to the Empire. That’s the pinnacle of a good fit between all the pieces.”
In the same interview, he highlights how Fallen Order was the starting point for a sequel that would take everything that had constituted excellent game design one step further: “We started working seriously, even before finishing Jedi: Fallen Order , with ideas of what the next installment could be.
There were a lot of things we left behind that we knew we wanted to incorporate into the sequel. Some of it was more stances for combat, or where to take the story, or how Cal would evolve. and his crew, how we were going to approach the worlds and levels to expand them and make them more vibrant than in the past.”
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Respawn Entertainment Electronic Arts PC PS5 Xbox Series action adventure Star Wars George Lucas
The Force of the last generation
The new generation has been a great opportunity for Respawn when it comes to creating a Star Wars Jedi: Survivor that surpasses its predecessor on a technical level. Asmussen highlights ray tracing as a technology that allows him to create lighting with greater fidelity than they have ever produced. “Because we can do it in real time, we can see the changes immediately as we adjust the light.
That means we have more time to polish, we can iterate more and get better results that look more cinematic.” Also, Asmussen praises how the new generation has faster storage which makes development much easier because they can load content faster. He also mentions the PlayStation 5’s haptic control as a very interesting extra that Respawn is paying special attention to.