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Key · 05-09-2023, 12:47 PM

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor - Full Review

A word of caution: There will be massive spoilers in terms of gameplay and story so if you are not interested in having the game spoiled for you, I do not recommend reading on. However if you are curious of my overall thoughts of the game now that I have officially completed it, read onwards

Well, I have done it. I have completed the main story of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and now it is time to finally give this game a full review and give my final thoughts on what I think of it as a whole. And what do I think? Well, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a ****ing amazing game and should be played by anybody who is either a fan of Star Wars, a fan of the Star Wars Jedi series, or just a fan of gaming in general. There are many reasons that attributed to me basically giving this game an 11/10 as my final score. I'll be going into those reasons here in this review, but yes, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor gets an 11/10 score from me. Long story short, this game exceeded every expectation I had for it and threw in some more to make game even sweeter. We're talking amazing gameplay, platforming, landscapes, everything. If you look at the positive reviews for this game, you'll see that what I'm saying is not too farfetch'd. And as you've seen from the past few posts of Jedi Survivor that I put up during my time with it, you can already see the positive momentum of this game and how it was honestly really easy to want to keep playing it. When I looked at the stats of my gameplay, I came in at about 21 hours which is pretty standard based on what I've seen from other reviews. You'll see a lot of the end game screenshots at the end of this post, but let's get into the story for a little bit.

First things first, I did really enjoy the story and the overall feel of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. I felt that Cal Kestis had a really good introduction as a character in a new game series, but I didn't come out of the game thinking that the potential was fully met for the game. Not saying Fallen Order is any sign of negative in any way. In fact, it's quite a fantastic game in its own merits, but now that I have a game like Jedi Survivor to compare it to, it's hard to really recommend playing it again now that I have experienced Jedi Survivor in its entirety. We basically find Cal being captured early on, but soon realize that he can't be help captive for long, and we meet a new character in the form of Bode, who throughout 95% of the game, is leading us on to believe that he is one of the good guys. Though as we find out at the end of the game, Bode turns out to also be a dark Jedi capable of giving Cal a good whooping, which in turn leads to Bode being the final boss in the game. And perhaps it's my experience with Elden Ring and fighting those bosses and learning how to take them down, I didn't have too terrible of a time with Bode as a final boss or any of the bosses in the game for that matter. What we'll get to next is why that is, and it all boils down to gameplay. But basically, as you fly throughout the galaxy, you bring back together your team from the previous game minus Cere whom we later find out is also aiming for the same overall goal as we are, to find a safe haven in Tanaloor. At the same time, we are also met with an unexpected though very welcome romance between Merrin and Cal, and simultaneously seeing Cal struggle with his feelings for her and also his feeling towards attachments in general. Jedi are not allowed to form bonds. However, in this case, we are in a time where there is no more Jedi Order so there's even more disconnect between his connection to typical Jedi ways and going with his own feelings. Fortunately, we do later find out that he does give into his feelings for Merrin and we see more of a romantic connection between the two. And honestly, it doesn't feel too forced or anything of the sort. It feels natural as they are two lone survivors with a similar past, and they wrote Merrin in such a way that she feels strong connections towards those she connects with, so the connection between herself and Cal just feels more natural given that they are both very emotional characters. All the other characters like Dagan Gera, and the other bosses were also very well written, and much like the show Andor, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor truly made me feel for the characters throughout the entire game. Even if they offered little assistance to you, they still shined and the entire cast should be proud of how they created such a story that elicits such emotion through a game. The cutscenes also just add to this even further as you'll see in the screenshots later, but god damn there were moments where I was just sitting back in my seat sort of in awe of what I was watching. At times, it honestly felt like I was watching something that was meant for a TV show or even theaters. Hell, I'd love to see Cal Kestis as a character being written into a movie. I'm sure it would be fantastic. All in all, we do succeed in making it to Tanaloor accompanied by Kata, Bode's daughter, Merrin, and Greez. Cere unfortunately gets struck down by Darth Vader later on in the game. I enjoyed the story and thought it was very excellently written and again, all the characters that were in the game were very well thought out and had good scripts to accompany them. An overall great story that lends itself to a really great sequel. Seeing as they are expecting this to be a trilogy, I'm excited to see what they can come up with with another sequel. No doubt it'll be amazing.

Enough about the story, let's talk about the gameplay. When I made previous posts about Jedi Survivor, I also talked endlessly about the gameplay, but the reason for that is simply because the gameplay is just so so so good. It took everything that made Jedi Fallen Order great and just boosted it by like 500% and consistently throughout the entire game, I felt satisfaction in how they managed the level designs with platforming sections and combat sections. The combat was simply the most satisfying it's ever been in a Star Wars game and it really makes me feel like I did when I figured out the combat for Marvel's Spider-Man for Playstation 4. From the boss fights down to just taking down swarms of stormtroopers, the combat mixed with the new stances and skill trees really allowed the gameplay to shine bright overall. There were very few moments where I couldn't figure out what to do or how to progress and that was simply because something was just out of frame or a command didn't show up properly. Otherwise, traversing the landscapes and levels and dungeons and figuring out the puzzles weren't terribly difficult, but I did have moments where I had to sit back and sort of look at the puzzle and figure it out, which I eventually did.

Overall everything just feels massively improved from the predecessor which is obviously what you want out of a sequel. But Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is not just a sequel, it's a great sequel. And aside from it being that, it is also a great game that really warrants at least one playthrough if you're curious of it. If you're not interested in playing Fallen Order beforehand, they do give you a pretty nice recap as to what transpired during the time in that game, but experiencing it first hand is always better, obviously. To each their own.

And while I know I'm writing this review having not had any performance issues whatsoever, it is still rather unfortunate that PC players are not able to get the same experience because honestly, it is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played on my Xbox and on top of that, just plays so smooth and really allows the game to feel alive throughout. Whether you're going through a small tunnel or riding on the backs of creatures to traverse the land before you, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor makes the game far larger than its predecessor, but the things that make the games interesting is not lost in this big space. In fact, I'm sure I'll be going back to the game at some point to finish exploring the maps and collecting everything. However, the new Zelda will be coming out in a couple days, so I won't have time. But, it is on my to do list, so Jedi Survivor is not entirely finished yet.

I mentioned before writing this review that I'm giving the game an 11/10, and I want to explain further as to why. I usually don't rate games that low unless it's an overall poor experience. My average for rating games sits right around the 7/10 and 8/10 range. So, basically it doesn't take much to impress me with video games. However in this case, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was not only worth of a 10/10 but it exceeded all my expectations much in the same way that Middle Earth: Shadow of War did when it came out. It's just so good that it's hard to put simply how good I think this game is. And it's been pretty well received other than the obvious PC port issues.

I hope I made it pretty obvious in this review that I think Star Wars Jedi: Survivor overall is a great game, but if it wasn't entirely obvious at this point, I'm probably going to conclude this with the added thought that this game will be in my top 5 favorite gaming experiences of all time now that I have finished it. I haven't been this excited to write a review for a game since I wrote my review for Breath of the Wild, and with Tears of the Kingdom soon coming, you'll probably see another full review in the same respect as this one and the one for Breath of the Wild. I'm happy with my experience with Jedi Survivor but I definitely will miss playing it. I really enjoyed the story and the gameplay and everything just allowed for a really nice feeling overall that it's the kind of game that just doesn't come by too often. And when it does, you want to enjoy it as much as you can. I will miss it, but I enjoy it as much as I feel I wanted to. Highest recommendation.

05-09-2023, 12:47 PM	#117 (permalink)
Key . Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 13,153	Star Wars Jedi: Survivor - Full Review Star Wars Jedi: Survivor - Full Review A word of caution: There will be massive spoilers in terms of gameplay and story so if you are not interested in having the game spoiled for you, I do not recommend reading on. However if you are curious of my overall thoughts of the game now that I have officially completed it, read onwards Well, I have done it. I have completed the main story of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and now it is time to finally give this game a full review and give my final thoughts on what I think of it as a whole. And what do I think? Well, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a ****ing amazing game and should be played by anybody who is either a fan of Star Wars, a fan of the Star Wars Jedi series, or just a fan of gaming in general. There are many reasons that attributed to me basically giving this game an 11/10 as my final score. I'll be going into those reasons here in this review, but yes, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor gets an 11/10 score from me. Long story short, this game exceeded every expectation I had for it and threw in some more to make game even sweeter. We're talking amazing gameplay, platforming, landscapes, everything. If you look at the positive reviews for this game, you'll see that what I'm saying is not too farfetch'd. And as you've seen from the past few posts of Jedi Survivor that I put up during my time with it, you can already see the positive momentum of this game and how it was honestly really easy to want to keep playing it. When I looked at the stats of my gameplay, I came in at about 21 hours which is pretty standard based on what I've seen from other reviews. You'll see a lot of the end game screenshots at the end of this post, but let's get into the story for a little bit. First things first, I did really enjoy the story and the overall feel of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. I felt that Cal Kestis had a really good introduction as a character in a new game series, but I didn't come out of the game thinking that the potential was fully met for the game. Not saying Fallen Order is any sign of negative in any way. In fact, it's quite a fantastic game in its own merits, but now that I have a game like Jedi Survivor to compare it to, it's hard to really recommend playing it again now that I have experienced Jedi Survivor in its entirety. We basically find Cal being captured early on, but soon realize that he can't be help captive for long, and we meet a new character in the form of Bode, who throughout 95% of the game, is leading us on to believe that he is one of the good guys. Though as we find out at the end of the game, Bode turns out to also be a dark Jedi capable of giving Cal a good whooping, which in turn leads to Bode being the final boss in the game. And perhaps it's my experience with Elden Ring and fighting those bosses and learning how to take them down, I didn't have too terrible of a time with Bode as a final boss or any of the bosses in the game for that matter. What we'll get to next is why that is, and it all boils down to gameplay. But basically, as you fly throughout the galaxy, you bring back together your team from the previous game minus Cere whom we later find out is also aiming for the same overall goal as we are, to find a safe haven in Tanaloor. At the same time, we are also met with an unexpected though very welcome romance between Merrin and Cal, and simultaneously seeing Cal struggle with his feelings for her and also his feeling towards attachments in general. Jedi are not allowed to form bonds. However, in this case, we are in a time where there is no more Jedi Order so there's even more disconnect between his connection to typical Jedi ways and going with his own feelings. Fortunately, we do later find out that he does give into his feelings for Merrin and we see more of a romantic connection between the two. And honestly, it doesn't feel too forced or anything of the sort. It feels natural as they are two lone survivors with a similar past, and they wrote Merrin in such a way that she feels strong connections towards those she connects with, so the connection between herself and Cal just feels more natural given that they are both very emotional characters. All the other characters like Dagan Gera, and the other bosses were also very well written, and much like the show Andor, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor truly made me feel for the characters throughout the entire game. Even if they offered little assistance to you, they still shined and the entire cast should be proud of how they created such a story that elicits such emotion through a game. The cutscenes also just add to this even further as you'll see in the screenshots later, but god damn there were moments where I was just sitting back in my seat sort of in awe of what I was watching. At times, it honestly felt like I was watching something that was meant for a TV show or even theaters. Hell, I'd love to see Cal Kestis as a character being written into a movie. I'm sure it would be fantastic. All in all, we do succeed in making it to Tanaloor accompanied by Kata, Bode's daughter, Merrin, and Greez. Cere unfortunately gets struck down by Darth Vader later on in the game. I enjoyed the story and thought it was very excellently written and again, all the characters that were in the game were very well thought out and had good scripts to accompany them. An overall great story that lends itself to a really great sequel. Seeing as they are expecting this to be a trilogy, I'm excited to see what they can come up with with another sequel. No doubt it'll be amazing. Enough about the story, let's talk about the gameplay. When I made previous posts about Jedi Survivor, I also talked endlessly about the gameplay, but the reason for that is simply because the gameplay is just so so so good. It took everything that made Jedi Fallen Order great and just boosted it by like 500% and consistently throughout the entire game, I felt satisfaction in how they managed the level designs with platforming sections and combat sections. The combat was simply the most satisfying it's ever been in a Star Wars game and it really makes me feel like I did when I figured out the combat for Marvel's Spider-Man for Playstation 4. From the boss fights down to just taking down swarms of stormtroopers, the combat mixed with the new stances and skill trees really allowed the gameplay to shine bright overall. There were very few moments where I couldn't figure out what to do or how to progress and that was simply because something was just out of frame or a command didn't show up properly. Otherwise, traversing the landscapes and levels and dungeons and figuring out the puzzles weren't terribly difficult, but I did have moments where I had to sit back and sort of look at the puzzle and figure it out, which I eventually did. Overall everything just feels massively improved from the predecessor which is obviously what you want out of a sequel. But Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is not just a sequel, it's a great sequel. And aside from it being that, it is also a great game that really warrants at least one playthrough if you're curious of it. If you're not interested in playing Fallen Order beforehand, they do give you a pretty nice recap as to what transpired during the time in that game, but experiencing it first hand is always better, obviously. To each their own. And while I know I'm writing this review having not had any performance issues whatsoever, it is still rather unfortunate that PC players are not able to get the same experience because honestly, it is one of the most beautiful games I've ever played on my Xbox and on top of that, just plays so smooth and really allows the game to feel alive throughout. Whether you're going through a small tunnel or riding on the backs of creatures to traverse the land before you, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor makes the game far larger than its predecessor, but the things that make the games interesting is not lost in this big space. In fact, I'm sure I'll be going back to the game at some point to finish exploring the maps and collecting everything. However, the new Zelda will be coming out in a couple days, so I won't have time. But, it is on my to do list, so Jedi Survivor is not entirely finished yet. I mentioned before writing this review that I'm giving the game an 11/10, and I want to explain further as to why. I usually don't rate games that low unless it's an overall poor experience. My average for rating games sits right around the 7/10 and 8/10 range. So, basically it doesn't take much to impress me with video games. However in this case, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was not only worth of a 10/10 but it exceeded all my expectations much in the same way that Middle Earth: Shadow of War did when it came out. It's just so good that it's hard to put simply how good I think this game is. And it's been pretty well received other than the obvious PC port issues. I hope I made it pretty obvious in this review that I think Star Wars Jedi: Survivor overall is a great game, but if it wasn't entirely obvious at this point, I'm probably going to conclude this with the added thought that this game will be in my top 5 favorite gaming experiences of all time now that I have finished it. I haven't been this excited to write a review for a game since I wrote my review for Breath of the Wild, and with Tears of the Kingdom soon coming, you'll probably see another full review in the same respect as this one and the one for Breath of the Wild. I'm happy with my experience with Jedi Survivor but I definitely will miss playing it. I really enjoyed the story and the gameplay and everything just allowed for a really nice feeling overall that it's the kind of game that just doesn't come by too often. And when it does, you want to enjoy it as much as you can. I will miss it, but I enjoy it as much as I feel I wanted to. Highest recommendation.