A day after my 19th Birthday, I used my recently gifted Steam gift cards to buy ‘Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order.’ It’s a game I’ve been eager to play for years, along with its sequel, ‘Jedi: Survivor,’ and the ‘Knights of the Old Republic’ reboot. I don’t typically play video games because I’m more of a reader, but a story is still a story regardless of its medium. Over approximately 4 days and 17 hours, I finished the game and replayed it again. Finishing that playthrough in 7 days and 21.9 hours. To say I was hooked would be a horrible understatement.

This game and storyline captivated me, and the mechanics and the thrill of playing a Jedi cannot be understated. I encountered problems, I cried from frustration, and I finally understood the concept of rage quitting. That doesn’t take away from how much sheer fun I had, from the story and from the gameplay.

Since this game came out in 2019, this story recap will not exclude spoilers or plot details. 

The story revolves around Cal Kestis, a Jedi Padawan who survived Order 66. He’s been in hiding for 5 years after the purge, and making ends meet by working as a scrapper on Bracca. He saves his friend, Prauf, from falling to his death using the force, which brings the Inquisitorious to Bracca. The Inquisitorius, or the Inquisitors for short, are mostly former Jedi and current Jedi Hunters who were tortured into turning to the Dark Side of the Force. 

The Second Sister, formerly Trilla Suduri, hunts Cal across Bracca, before he’s saved by Cere Junda, former Jedi Master, and Greez Dritus, a Lateron Captain. Cere takes Cal to Bogano, a place untouched by the Empire, where we learn about a Jedi Holocron containing a list of all the Force-sensitive children in the galaxy. This Holocron was hidden by Jedi Master Eno Cordova, who was Cere’s Master. 

The Holocron is the key to potentially rebuilding the Jedi Order, and truly defeating the Empire. They retrace Cordova’s steps as he learned and studied the Zeffo, an ancient Force-sensitive civilization that disappeared millennia ago. Here we meet BD-1, Master Cordova’s former droid, who decides Cal is the one to take up Cordova’s tasks.

They go to the Zeffo home world to enter a Zeffo Sage tomb also known as “The Tomb of Eilram.” Then, after following a hint, head to Kashyyk, home of the Wookies. We fail to find Tarful, the Wookie Cordova had met with the first time around, but we do make allies with Rebel fighter Saw Gerrera. Heading back to Zeffo we explore deeper than ever before finding the second Tomb, the Tomb of Miktrull. 

We return to Kashyyk, where Tarful tells us to climb the Origin tree to the top, where he’ll get the next clue. At the top, we befriend a Shyyo bird, and defeat the Ninth Sister, who in the sequel we learn is Former Jedi Knight Masana Tide. Our next destination and final tomb is the Tomb of Kujet. However, this tomb has a horrible power to show you your most horrible regrets, and force you to face them. This causes Cal to break his Master’s lightsaber, one of the few things he has left of him, forcing him to run away from the dead and living Nightsisters and Nightbrothers.

Cere, after many hints and half-true stories, explains her full story.  She and her Padawan, Trilla, were survivors of Order 66 along with a few younglings they were able to save. Cere tried to draw attention away from her Padawan and the youngling’s location, but was captured. She broke under torture and revealed their location. Trilla was tortured into Falling and became the Second Sister. This broke Cere, seeing what her actions wrought and broke out of the Inquisitorius headquarters. Cere urges him to move on, telling him to make a new lightsaber.

They travel to Ilum, where we traverse icy caves and surprisingly warm waters to find our crystal. With our new crustal in hand, we utilize Cere’s old lightsaber, and combine them into something new. Cal fight’s through Imperial forces, and returns to Dathomir to make peace with himself.

He meets his Master’s copy again, promising to carry his sacrifice and his teachings with him for the rest of his life. The copy reminds him, “persistence is the path,” and the Tomb of Kujet opens. Inside we meet the Nightsister who’s been harrying us this entire trip, Nightsister Merrin, one of the few survivors of General Grievous’s slaughter of the Nightsisters. We defeat a fallen Jedi named Taron Malicos, who Merrin then kills. Merrin joins the crew of the Mantis, and with the key in hand to the Holocron, they return to Bogano.

Cal experiences visions of what could be, if they rebuilt the Order in this time of darkness. Their safe haven is invaded by Imperials, all but the youngest killed, and Cal forced into the Inquisitorious to save the few he could.

The Second Sister arrives, having followed his trail to get to the Holocron. They fight, but Cal picks up her lightsaber and is incapacitated by the horrible memories embedded in the lightsaber. The Second Sister takes the Holocron, and Cal takes the lightsaber to Cere. She uses it to raise Cal from Padawan to Jedi Knight, and they head off to the planet Nur, the home of the Inquisitorious.

On Nur, Cal and Cere fight through the halls to get to the Interrogation chamber. Cal gets there first and fights ‘The Second Sister.’ He wins, Cere arrives, and properly apologizes for her failings to her. Trilla is not given the chance to live, as Darth Vader walks in and kills Trilla and seemingly kills Cere. Cal is nearly killed several times, and he and Cere barely manage to get out with the Holocron.

After a reunion with the rest of the Mantis crew, Cal decides to destroy the Holocron, choosing not to interfere with the children’s fates.

I cannot even begin to compliment the environmental and structural design. Kashyyk is a stunning jungle environment, with fantastic,if annoying, creatures. Bogano is simple, but it’s more intriguing at a second glance. While Zeffo’s worldbuilding is rich and lively, it is also annoying because of the Tombs and their puzzles. I played this game twice and got confused both times. The collectables were also very fun. Being able to customize Cal, the Mantis, and BD was a great addition to the game. 

In my opinion, the best customization is unlocked when you complete the game for the first time – his Inquisitor Uniform that we see in the vision sequence on Bogano. On my second playthrough I primarily played in that appearance, but ended up changing Cal’s appearance on a whim.

Something that I had a lot of fun with was the combat system. I deeply enjoyed being able to fight with a lightsaber, and be able to switch from one blade to two depending on the fight. I also enjoyed pushing my enemies off cliffs and ledges, which was surprisingly satisfying. Another thing I wish I could have been able to do was take photos in photo mode for the cutscenes.

However, I ran into the same issues other gamers ran into with this game; The puzzles were difficult, the wind and ball puzzle confused me both times, and I was lost on how to raise the Spire of Miktrull both times. I also got straight up lost several times. This game encourages exploration, but I would have liked to know how to get to my objective without having to look up a YouTube video to do it.

Overall I love this game, even with its flaws. After all, I played it twice in a row. I would recommend it, however keep your phone or other device on you so you can look things up if need be.