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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor - First Impressions

Just a few things to get out of the way before I dive in: There will be a full review of Jedi Survivor once I have finished the game, this post is just my first impressions of the few hours of gameplay that I have right now. Some of these thoughts could change, though I don't really see that happening. If anything, the points will just be made stronger as I go along. As well, this post will contain minor spoilers. So read on if you like but just know that you will be spoiled on the first part of the game. Other than that, let's get on with it:

So, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, what is this game? Well, simple answer is that it's the sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The more in depth answer would be that it's the exactly the kind of sequel it needs to be without losing what makes its predecessor great. In other words, this is a shining example of what makes a great sequel, and keep in mind I'm saying this solely based on the first few hours of the game. It starts you off further along in Cal's adventure, though this time you find yourself captured on Coruscant, or so you think you are captured. Until you are brought in front of a senator who then takes your lightsaber from the guard that transported you to him. However, you quickly then find out that this was all a ploy and even the guards that transported you to the senator were in on it. You then take possession of your lightsaber again and off you go. Right off the bat, you can already tell that both the movement of Cal and the combat have been massively improved from the first game. The entire starting area of Coruscant is basically built around giving you a quick overview of the skills you already acquired from the first game, and putting them to use to find other skills that make platforming around the game even more enjoyable. Quick shoutout to the grapple, which so far has proven to be a really cool ability to use for platforming. Makes the platforming element of the game even stronger than the first game. Which again, is what a sequel is intended to do. Not take away from what the predecessor did well, but instead making them stronger while making the game as a whole stronger.

As far as graphics and performance go, keep in mind that I'm playing this on Xbox Series S, but you can immediately tell that this game was built to work well on next gen consoles. I've been hearing people talking about the performance issues they are having on the PC versions, and while that does suck to hear, you can tell that these games are meant to be played on hardware that can support next gen graphics. In my experience, the game looks and feels beautiful and there have been several screenshot moments and I've only just finished the starting planet of Coruscant.

Coruscant by the way is incredible. You really feel like you're in the heart of a city with the landscapes of skyscrapers and speeders flying by constantly. It makes the entire environment feel alive and makes it even more enticing to traverse through. I hope this stays true for the planets ahead, but I have yet to see much after the starting point, so that remains to be seen.

The combat like I mentioned before has been massively improved from the first game while still maintaining what made the combat great in the first game. This time you have access to different stances that give you different move sets depending on which stance you choose. At the current moment, I've only unlocked one extra stance on top of the two default ones that you start with, those being single and double bladed lightsabers. The new stance I got allows you to duel wield lightsabers which again, gives you a completely different move set that works with the duel wield respectively. The other stances have other move sets which keeps combat fresh and feeling tighter than ever. I always felt that the combat in Jedi: Fallen Order had more potential, and it's certainly met if not exceeded in this sequel. Again, keeping in mind that I have barely scratched the surface of the combat. But the starting area gives you many opportunities to get warmed up with it and I have already taken down two bosses early on, so you get warmed up pretty quick.

As a side note, Cal Kestis truly shines in this game already, and I'm excited to see where this adventure takes him. I'd really like to see a TV show made for this character, though I think these games are doing a really good job of setting up his narrative and making him a truly memorable character in the Star Wars universe.

I'm excited to continue my time with this game since I stopped playing once I got to the next planet, so there's still and entire game for me to experience and subsequently enjoy. So far though, all signs are pointing toward a positive experience overall. And on top of that, the reviews have been pretty good aside from the negative reviews stemming from poor performance on the PC version. Hopefully that gets fixed because this is a game people will certainly want to experience. Having played Jedi: Fallen Order twice, I would highly recommend playing both as this is just a really strong continuation of the first game, and the context will definitely help.