Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

• 1. Introduction

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  Star Wars Jedi: Survivor opens with a break-in on Coruscant, the Imperial capital world. Jedi Knight Cal Kestis, played by Cameron Monaghan, steals military data from a senator named Daho Sejan. The 2023 game comes from Respawn Entertainment and was published by Electronic Arts.

  What Cal reads in the stolen files is bleak. Despite everything he has done, the Empire has grown more powerful and now reaches farther across the galaxy. The story is set five years after Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, the 2019 game that came before it. Cal has left the friends he made there and now fights as a resistance fighter under Saw Gerrera.

  Several questions drive what follows. Is there any place where people hunted by an empire could finally hide? Which of Cal's allies can he trust? Why would a studio give its hero doubt, weariness and a taste for the dark side? And how does a game built around lightsaber duels teach players to read an enemy before the blow lands? The answers begin with the lightsaber itself.

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• 2. The Art of the Parry

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  Every fight in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a contest of two meters, health and blocking, and both Cal and his enemies carry them. Cal can strike with his lightsaber or raise it to stop melee hits and incoming projectiles. Watching an enemy's attack patterns pays off, because a parry timed just before impact drains much of the enemy's block meter. That opens a moment to land heavy damage. Some foes glow red when they prepare an unblockable strike, and the only answer to those is a dodge.

  Five lightsaber stances give the fights their variety: double-bladed, dual-wield, single, blaster, and crossguard. Players can carry only two of them at a time. The double-bladed stance suits crowds of enemies, while the crossguard stance is slow but hits with great force. Five difficulty modes let players tune how hard the game pushes back.

  Beyond the blade, Cal can use the Force to pull and push enemies and projectiles, and to slow time for a moment. Later powers include lifting enemies and slamming them to the ground, or confusing them into attacking one another. Each use drains a Force meter, which slowly refills. A droid named BD-1 rides along, healing Cal with Stim Canisters and hacking hostile droids. Sometimes a companion character joins them to help in combat and in crossing difficult terrain.

  Three branches of a skill tree absorb the experience points that defeated enemies provide: combat stance, Force powers, and survival. Each stance has its own skills and special abilities, and perks add passive bonuses in battle. Spending those points, however, means visiting a meditation circle, and resting there carries a price.

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• 3. Mapping Koboh

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  Across the planets of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, meditation circles restore Cal's health, though each rest makes every defeated enemy return. The circles also work as fast travel points and as places to swap stances and spend skill points. If Cal is killed, he wakes at the nearest circle. Striking the enemy who defeated him recovers all the experience he lost.

  Wall-running, air-dashing and double-jumping, all powered by the Force, make Cal remarkably agile. Early on he unlocks the Ascension cable, a grappling hook that reaches distant ledges. Players chain these moves to cross great distances, and ridable mounts speed up travel across larger spaces. The structure follows the Metroidvania style, where new tools for Cal and BD-1 open areas that were once out of reach. Shortcuts make repeat visits quicker.

  On Koboh, players can find seven Jedi Chambers from the High Republic era. Their puzzles and challenges reward perks or skill points, and optional challenge rooms called Force Tears each grant one extra skill point. Lead level designer Martin Badowsky said the team wanted a dense central area on Koboh, with more open land around its outskirts. The team also moved the landing pads for the ship, the Mantis, closer to the center of each planet. The puzzles in the chambers drew on the shrines of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

  Terraced rice fields and canyon overhangs shaped the look of Koboh, with its mix of tall cliffs and flat ground. The designers aimed for an Old West feel, basing settlements on farm buildings and modular homes. Jedha, a spiritual world for Force users, was meant to feel "ancient" and "almost mythical," with Mediterranean and Egyptian antiquity as inspiration.

  Pyloon's Saloon is where Cal's recruits gather. Characters who hand out side quests, called rumors in the game, can be persuaded to join him there. Their presence unlocks extra activities such as hunting bounty hunters, planting alien seeds, and playing a tabletop game called Holotactics. BD-1 opens hidden treasure chests holding cosmetic items, and Force Essence raises Cal's maximum health or Force, or grants skill points or perks. All of that sits beside a main quest that points toward a hidden planet.

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• 4. Secrets of Tanalorr

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  ZN-A4, a droid nicknamed Zee, turns up on Koboh while Cal searches for parts to repair the damaged Stinger Mantis. Zee once served the Jedi Order in the High Republic era and hands Cal a tuner device. The tuner activates a facility called the Forest Array, which Zee was ordered to switch on centuries earlier. At the Array, Cal sees a vision of two High Republic Jedi, Dagan Gera and Santari Khri. They had found the mythical planet of Tanalorr, hidden behind the Koboh Abyss nebula. Cal also finds a one-armed Dagan inside a bacta tank. Hoping to recruit a Jedi, he frees him. Dagan has turned to the Dark Side, attacks Cal, and escapes with a Gen'Dai warrior named Rayvis.

  Jedi Master Eno Cordova, once the owner of BD-1, fills in the history on Jedha. There he, Cere and Merrin are rebuilding the Jedi Archives with a resistance group called the Hidden Path. Dagan was the first and only pilot to find a path through the Abyss. Santari built special compasses to navigate it, and the Republic founded a settlement and a Jedi Temple on Tanalorr. Then a band of raiders called the Nihil attacked. The Republic withdrew and destroyed the compasses. Furious at the Jedi for abandoning the world, Dagan killed several of them while trying to take one compass. Santari cut off his arm and locked him in the tank.

  A planet the Empire cannot reach is worth fighting for, so Cal, Bode Akuna and Greez repair the Mantis and head for Jedha. Three compasses remain to be found. Bode hopes to find a refuge for his young daughter Kata. Merrin believes the Hidden Path could make Tanalorr its new home.

  Dagan was written as a "foil" for Cal, a reflection of the dark path Cal might follow. The team made sure he was not a "static" villain. Over time he gathers other grievances, including blame for Cal's failure to stop the Empire. Concept artist Theo Stylianides said Dagan's pale skin and light eyes helped create an "aura of mystery." His bond with Santari was designed to mirror Cal's bond with Merrin.

  Rayvis, a Gen'dai, has a body made of regenerative tentacles. The team described him as a "chivalrous knight in his world," with a strong sense of honor. His Bedlam Raiders were "resourceful" and "ruthless," and their settlements were inspired by nomadic tribes of the Tibetan Plateau. Tanalorr itself was described as a "heaven-like, otherworldly" place. Blue and purple dominate its palette to create a "very mild and quiet" mood. Cal eventually kills both Rayvis and Dagan and recovers a compass that Cordova might repair. Soon after, the Empire attacks Jedha.

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• 5. Bode's Betrayal

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  Bode Akuna, the mercenary who fled Coruscant beside Cal, murders Eno Cordova on Jedha and steals the compass. When Cal confronts him, Bode reveals that he is an Imperial spy and a fallen Jedi, then incapacitates him. Meanwhile Cere Junda tries to keep the Empire away from the archives. Darth Vader uses the assault as a chance to incinerate the collection, and Cere is killed.

  Grief and fury send Cal to an Imperial Security Bureau base on Nova Garon. There Bode explains his bargain with Commander Lank Denvik. He would work as a spy, and in return Denvik would keep him and Kata hidden from Vader. Bode escapes with the compass and his daughter. Cal briefly embraces the dark side to break out of the garrison and nearly kills Denvik before Merrin talks him down. A recording left by Santari then shows that the arrays on Koboh can open an alternate path through the Abyss.

  At Tanalorr, the group urges Bode to surrender, but he refuses in a rage. Cal turns to the darkness a second time, decides his former friend cannot be redeemed, and shoots Bode dead. The group holds a Jedi funeral for Cere, Cordova and Bode. Cal, Merrin and Greez decide to adopt Kata, and they plan to ask the Hidden Path to relocate to Tanalorr.

  Narrative technical designer Joanna Robb called Bode "tricky to handle at all levels." Players had to believe he was an ally for much of the game, while hints of his betrayal were planted along the way. To earn that trust, the team made him genuinely useful in combat and wrote banter between him and Cal. Some moves he uses against enemies later turn up against Cal in boss fights. The team called their friendship "tragic," since the two men had similar upbringings. Narrative designer Aaron Contreras created Bode, taking inspiration from the character Bodhi in Point Break.

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• 6. A Weary Hero

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  Cameron Monaghan described Cal as a young hero bearing a "weight beyond his years." Years of fighting the Empire had stripped away "a lot of his naivete over the years," he said. Respawn framed it simply. Cal is tired of fighting a losing war, but too many people have sacrificed for him to quit. Compared with the scrappy figure of the first game, he is more experienced and confident, closer to a classic Star Wars hero.

  Respawn worked closely with Lucasfilm so that the story would not clash with films or other projects. That led the team to place Cal in a conflict not seen before on screen. The use of a blaster, a weapon Jedi typically frowned upon, symbolized Cal straying from the Jedi path. He taps into the Dark Side several times, and the writers wanted to leave him in an "uneasy state" at the end. Cutscenes were designed to feel "gritty," "visceral" and "grounded." Composer Gordy Haab gave the score a darker tone to reflect the "omnipresence" of the Empire. Even so, the writers kept some adventure and moments of humor.

  Cere Junda returns as an ally of the religious Anchorites, working to preserve the Jedi Archives. Her shaved head reflects a simpler and more spiritual life. Merrin is more confident than before, and during the hunt for compasses she and Cal confess their feelings and decide to pursue a relationship. That romance became a central theme. Respawn called BD-1 the "emotional cornerstone" of Cal's story. On set, Gideon Emery followed the same motion capture process as the human actors, wearing a nose flute for the droid's sounds and trailing Monaghan with a cardboard replica of BD-1. The droid's voice is credited to Ben Burtt.

  For Cal, wandering the ruins of the High Republic, an age when the Jedi Order was at its height, was meant to be uncomfortable.

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• 7. Making and Launching

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  Development began in late 2019 and ran for three and a half years, with Stig Asmussen returning as director. The COVID-19 pandemic affected production heavily, and a large part of the game was built with the team working remotely. It was also the last Star Wars game that Electronic Arts published under its 10-year exclusivity contract with Lucasfilm, which was due to expire later that year.

  Respawn called the sequel "an expansion of Fallen Order in every possible way." Players had asked most often for fast travel and a better holomap, and both arrived. The dual-wield stance, planned for the first game, had been reduced to a special attack for lack of time, and it returned here as a full stance. Because Cal was no longer a weak apprentice, all his skills from the first game are unlocked at the start. To keep him from becoming too powerful, the team added enemy types that counter some Force powers. Droids became a more prominent enemy, since they gave designers more freedom with weapons and attack patterns. New skills and upgrades are tied to the story rather than hidden as collectibles. The team compared the more fluid combat to dancing. Companions react to the player's actions with their own skills, and the game never teaches this, hoping for "emergent" moments choreographed like movies.

  A sequel was announced in January 2022, and the title Star Wars Jedi: Survivor followed in May 2022, with a CGI teaser at Star Wars Celebration. On the 8th of December 2022, Electronic Arts showed expanded gameplay at The Game Awards and set a release date of the 17th of March 2023. On the 31st of January 2023, it pushed the date to the 28th of April 2023 so Respawn could fix remaining bugs. The game launched that day on PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. Versions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One arrived on the 17th of September 2024. Pre-orders came with cosmetic sets, including a "Hermit" set modeled on Obi-Wan Kenobi's outfit and lightsaber, and "Scoundrel" and "Rebel Hero" sets echoing Han Solo and Luke Skywalker in the deluxe edition.

  Sam Maggs wrote a tie-in novel, Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars, released on the 7th of March 2023 to bridge the five-year gap between the two games. Cal also became a playable character in the mobile game Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes. Hasbro and the Lego Group released figures and sets of Cal, Dark Horse Comics published an art book, and Disney sold a replica of his lightsaber in August 2023. A free PC copy came with certain AMD Ryzen 7000 processors in a promotion that ran until the 1st of April 2023. Hasbro figures of Cal, Merrin, Turgle and Skoova Stev are set for August 2025.

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• 8. Reception and What Comes Next

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  On OpenCritic, 88% of critics recommended Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and Metacritic described its reviews as "generally favorable." Many reviewers saw a clear improvement over its predecessor. Rick Lane of The Guardian called it "visually spectacular, mechanically sophisticated and riotously entertaining." Matt Miller of Game Informer praised the challenging combat and the memorable boss fights. Dan Stapleton of IGN enjoyed the flashy melee battles and the dismemberment mechanic. Todd Harper of Polygon disagreed in part, finding the parry window tight and some fights "intolerable."

  Traversal and level design drew mixed responses. Alice Bell of Rock Paper Shotgun felt there were too many gadgets and options. Ali Jones of GamesRadar wrote that Koboh "dwarfs all of Jedi: Fallen Order combined" but felt it lacked more than constant challenges. Miller found the story slow to start, yet thought the character interactions made the campaign "memorable and rewarding." Will Nelson of PCGamesN called the plot "formulaic."

  The PC version was the clear weak point. PC Gamer measured an average of 35 frames per second, with dips as low as 15-20 frames in cutscenes. Electronic Arts released a day one patch and promised more. It blamed part of the trouble on players running Windows 10 with processors built for Windows 11. Digital Foundry still named it "the worst triple-A PC port of 2023," and said performance remained unsatisfactory more than 500 days after launch.

  Sales were strong. In Japan, the PlayStation 5 version sold 16,742 physical units in its first week, ranking seventh among retail games. In the United Kingdom, launch sales ran thirty percent above those of Fallen Order. It was the best-selling game in the United States in April 2023 and the ninth best-selling there for the full year. Electronic Arts chief executive Andrew Wilson said the company was "overjoyed." Award nominations included Best Action/Adventure Game at The Game Awards 2023, Adventure Game of the Year at the 27th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, and Best Score Soundtrack at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards.

  Stig Asmussen left Electronic Arts in 2023 to form his own company, and the studio said veteran Respawn leaders would guide the team. He had said he meant the series to be a trilogy, possibly built on Unreal Engine 5. In September 2024, EA president Laura Miele told investors that a third game was in production and would be the final one in the series.

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