Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is an action-adventure video game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. A sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (2019), it was released on PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on April 28, 2023. It is the final Star Wars game published during Electronic Arts' exclusivity contract with Lucasfilm, which is set to expire later in the year.

 

Gameplay

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor maintains many of the gameplay elements from its predecessor with new gameplay elements added. In the lightsaber combat, there are five "fully realized" stances in the game that Cal Kestis can use according to game director Stig Asmussen. The single blade and double blade lightsaber stances return from Fallen Order while the special dual-wield single blade attack from Fallen Order is expanded into its own fully playable lightsaber stance. The dual-wield stance was intended to be a fully playable stance in Fallen Order but Respawn did not have enough time to finish it before release so it was changed to be a special attack. A brand new, heavier Kylo Ren-style crossguard lightsaber stance is added that requires more confidence to use due to longer timing windows in blocking and parrying enemy attacks. The second new stance is the blaster stance which allows the player to use a lightsaber and blaster combo for both close and ranged attacks. These different stances are designed to be used to combat specific types of enemies which Asmussen says will make the player "figure out what the best weapon of choice is". A new Force stasis ability, similar to the one used by Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens, allows the player to freeze enemies and blaster bolts in mid-air.

Story
Picking up five years after the events of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, the story of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor centers on Jedi Knight Cal Kestis' (Cameron Monaghan) struggle to stay one step ahead of the Galactic Empire and its relentless efforts to exterminate the last remaining survivors of Order 66. Among new adversaries is a mysterious Pau'an Imperial senator, who makes a dangerous deal, and the Gen'Dai Rayvis, who believes that the Jedi should be extinct.

Development

The development of a sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was announced in January 2022. The game's title of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was announced in May 2022 alongside the debut of a CGI teaser trailer at Star Wars Celebration. The game is being developed by Respawn Entertainment and is scheduled to be released on April 28, 2023 for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.

Stig Asmussen claimed real-time ray tracing and other next-gen capabilities enable Respawn to operate "at a quality that's much above anything that we've ever developed before." By exclusively targeting ninth-generation consoles, Survivor will enjoy significantly faster load times with a development team that is no longer obligated to support the older PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles the first game launched on. This is due to the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles featuring a solid state drive (SSD) that enables much faster asset loading times compared to a hard drive.