‘Star Wars: Jedi: Survivor’ is the sequel to ‘Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order,’ and is a marked improvement on many levels. With its stunning visuals, the beautiful cinematics, the incredible story, and improved game mechanics, it’s a fantastic game to play. However, it’s not without its flaws.

The story follows Cal Kestis five years after the end of the previous game. It follows him reconnecting with his crew, and making new friends like Bode Akuna, Mosey, and others. It is a fantastic story and one that I will not spoil.

A reminder: double check your PC’s specs before playing the game. I didn’t do this and I found myself frustrated with my incredibly laggy, glitchy, and frankly unplayable experience after the main story wrapped up. Before that the game ran smoothly, for the most part. I got a new Graphics Card, and that seems to work, but my game is also crashing now. Which hasn’t happened before.

Discounting the performance issues, this game is an improvement in every way in comparison to ‘Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order.’ The Navigation Assist button saved me from getting lost numerous times, and helped me stay on track to complete the game. While the puzzles still confused me, it felt less frustrating as the puzzles were primarily side content and a part of the rumors side-quests than a necessary part of the main story.

doubled bladed lightsaber defense stance

The combat is more fluid and more customizable in comparison to its predecessor. Now with the choice of single blade stance, double-bladed stance, dual wield stance, blaster and blade stance, and cross guard stance. Each stance has its drawbacks and bonuses, and you can have two selected at a time. For two of my playthroughs I had dual wield and double-bladed, blaster stance and double-bladed for another, and dual wield and blaster stance for my most recent playthrough. The dual wield stance is fast and highly adaptable, making it quick work to cut through an enemy’s defenses. What makes dual wield stance unique is you can choose to block or parry mid-attack sequence, controlling to fine detail how and when you attack and defend. Blaster stance is great for ranged attacks; it’s useful for which of the attackers is real or fake in one of the final boss fights. It’s fantastic for combos and dealing intense damage over a short window of time. Timing the blaster shot to parry an attack is an awesome ability, and great for getting rid of opponents. However, double-bladed is reliable, great for taking care of multiple opponents at once, and is great defense. With the double-bladed stance you get to reflect all of the blaster-rounds from the Heavy Assault Trooper back at them. It’s incredibly satisfying.

Movement and parkour are much, much more prominent in this game than ever. With the new grappling hook and dash ability, the places you can go and the distances you can reach are more varied than previous games. There are numerous challenges (the Force Tears) dedicated to just movement and parkour, which really test how well you can move, plan, and react to what’s happening in the game.

The fast travel system is incredibly useful, and something the previous game desperately needed. Despite the maps on ‘Jedi: Fallen Order’ being smaller, planets like Zeffo are incredibly tricky to navigate, and being able to fast travel from the Mantis to the Tombs would have been helpful.

The rumors were a welcome surprise for this game. I went in blind for ‘Jedi: Survivor,’ so I had no idea what the rumors were until I started completing them. Other than exploration for the sheer joy of it, the rumors are a great way to get people to explore parts of the map they normally wouldn’t. Very few would have traversed into the Phon’Qi caves just to explore. I greatly enjoyed completing the rumors on Koboh, exploring the caves, caverns, and the different meditation chambers were a blast. The puzzles were less annoying and a little easier to complete, though I did have to google how to solve a few of them. The surprise waiting in the abandoned mine while you’re trying to find the missing prospectors was fantastic. If I could relive that moment of sheer terror I would.

Caij Vanda

The vendors, and the differing items they offer, were interesting. There are four items you can trade – Priorite in Doma’s shop, Data discs for Zee, Bounty Pucks for Caij, and Scrolls for Sister Taske. Sister Taske has lightsaber customizations, Zee has perks and perk upgrades, Caij has blaster parts and blaster upgrades, and Doma has some songs and clothing customizations. I spent most of my time at Doma’s and Sister Taske’s shops, but I also spent a good amount of time shopping for blaster upgrades.

Speaking of customization, this game delivers an amazing variety of customization for Cal, BD-1, your lightsaber, and your blaster too. The sheer variety and combinations make no two playthroughs quite the same. It’s sometimes fun to just play dress up with Cal and his outfits if you have enough of them.

I’ve played New Game+ three times now, and jumping right back into the game with all my customization, BeeDee upgrades, and all the lightsaber stances, is delightful. I could tear through the beginning map with ease, even on Jedi Knight Difficulty.

Cal looking at BeeDee in the Mantis's cockpit

A word of advice, get all of BeeDee’s upgrades as soon as possible. Not only can you slice droids like in the previous game, you can also find chests, treasures, and stim canisters too. There are a total of 10 stim canisters you can find, and one extra you can get from a perk. 1 on Coruscant, 1 on the shattered moon, 5 on Koboh, and 3 on Jedha. The perk that grants an extra stim is called ‘Fellowship’, and you can get it from the Chamber of Clarity on Koboh.

Despite the performance issues, issues I’m still dealing with even after a GPU upgrade, I adore ‘Jedi: Survivor.’ The storyline, the combat system, and the sheer fun of exploration make this game fun to play and replay. I would highly recommend this game, if your PC meets and exceeds the specifications.