Posted on 17 May 2024
Purchased Through: Steam
Hours Played: 36.3
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is the sequel to Fallen Order, which I played and reviewed back in 2022. Jedi Survivor released in 2023, and like the previous installment in the series, I didn’t play it on release. One, because I typically wait for games to go on sale before I buy them, and two, because I had no idea how the game would perform on PC, which is where I do the vast majority of my gaming.
As it turned out, the game was pretty janky on release – not just on PC, but on console as well. I waited until January 1st, 2024 to play it, and by that time, the performance on PC was pretty decent. Not perfect, but decent. I got around 60 FPS while playing the game, and did experience a few visual glitches, including textures taking some time to load. Additionally, small pools of water, including all of the water on Tanalorr, consistently had low-quality textures. The rest of the water was fine, so I’m not sure what was going on there.
One very annoying screen that you’ll be seeing a lot if you play on PC is this:
This happens every single time you start up the game. It’s not quick, either – at least, it wasn’t for me. I have no idea if the compile time changes depending on your PC specs.
Like the first game, this one says it’s best played with a controller. It’s not lying. This game is obviously not designed to be used with a mouse and keyboard. I didn’t have to remap any of the key bindings like I did with Fallen Order, but I did spend a lot of time hitting Caps Lock when I wanted to hit Tab or Shift.
Even the menus themselves aren’t meant to be used with a mouse and keyboard! There’s a lot of “scrolling” through menus that’s done with Q and E which I imagine are done with the left and right tabs on a controller.
The game plays similarly to the first one, with improvements. Fast travel was added to Meditation Points. The map is no longer as confusing as it was in Fallen Order. There are more lightsaber styles (a single blade, double-bladed saber, two individual sabers, a crossguard saber, and a single saber/blaster combo). I ended up using the blaster a lot, as one thing I found myself wanting in the first game was a way to hit enemies without having to walk right up to them.
In addition to lightsaber and BD-1 customization, Cal himself can be customized. There are more outfits than just ponchos in this game. On the downside, the Mantis has one paintjob the entire game.
While Fallen Order had four major planets, Survivor only has two: Koboh and Jedha. Most of the game takes place on Koboh. It’s the largest planet with most to do, including:
- Recruiting people to the saloon
- Getting sidequests from the people you recruited to the saloon
- Finding fish for the fishtank in the saloon
- Collecting seeds to grow in the garden above the saloon
- Petting boglings
The other planets are Coruscant (where the game starts), the Shattered Moon (which is exactly what it sounds like), Nova Garon, and Tanalorr. Those four really only need to be visited once unless you’re a completionist. Given that most of the collectibles in the game are entirely cosmetic, there’s no real reason to do a 100% run unless that’s your particular preference.
There are two more things added in this game: Force Tears and Meditation Chambers. Both are optional challenges and given non-cosmetic rewards. I didn’t out of my way to find them, but did at least attempt to complete all the ones I found.
There’s a lot of stuff in this game. It’s a lot! I didn’t take much longer to complete this game in comparison to Fallen Order, but I still feel like I spent a lot of time on things completely unrelated to the main story.
Speaking of the main story, I think it goes on too long. After you defeat the person who seems to be the main antagonist of the game, there’s more! You travel to three different locations afterward. The first of those locations contains a plot twist and introduces the real final antagonist. The second two locations are entirely new to the game and cannot be visited before this point.
I finished the game about 5 hours after defeating the decoy final boss. Honestly, it felt like the final chapter went on for way too long. Even though the two final locations were short levels, I just wanted to be done with the game at that point.
Despite all my complaining, I really did like this game a lot. It was a massive improvement on the first game, and I’m eager to see where Respawn goes with the next game. I just hope there’s a better balance between main story and optional content.
