One of the sequels in gaming I was pretty eager to get into, it initially looked miles better than the first and seemed as if it's writing was a lot more competent, too and people seem to praise this one over it's predecessor.

Going into it, I definitely felt as if I enjoyed it more. The gameplay was an improvement and in certain aspects it graphically surpassed Fallen Order and I also felt as if I enjoyed Cal Kestis as a character a little bit more. Unfortunately, the game would start to slowly lose it's touch and it ended up almost feeling like a chore to finish.

I think a persisting problem remains with these games and it's the tedious platforming and often times lackluster navigation. I probably got lost in areas more time than I did doing much with the combat. The navigation also drips into tedious platforming which more times than not would lead to me dying under stupid conditions. And while in bursts, the combat is much better, I also felt like it was a little too easy in comparison to Fallen Order. A lot of the bosses here were just way too piss easy save for maybe three in a 30 hour game. While they were still fun, it just felt like the game had lost it's difficulty edge. And while, yes, the platforming was tedious at times I still felt some sort of enjoyment out of it regardless. There was a specific sequence on Jedha with Merrin that was really fun, but I also felt had been let down a little by the fact that there was not much control over Cal using a certain ability that felt more like it was half cinematic and half gameplay, which was a little jarring.

Performance wise, I did not have the greatest time. The game is still very unpolished on the PS5 port. There were so many texture issues no matter whether I used quality or performance mode. Tons of immersion breaking bugs still persist, such as Greez / Bode / Merrin t-posing in the Mantis cockpit, falling through the map on Fractured Endurance, textures popping in too late resulting in low poly environments, cutscenes jarringly running at 30fps opposed to the gameplay and not even looking good enough to justify such a change and even just generally what looked like weird chromatic aberration at times that affected Assassin's Creed Mirage as well. A tad bit of nitpicking at this point, but the hair effects were also pretty goofy at times, specifically on Cal. Albeit these issues do arise for me at a time where my brain is kind of in a fight or flight mode because of certain personal issues that makes me judge things a little unfairly and harshly, I still feel as if I'd have the same issues if that were not the case.

Now, for me, I didn't really see the first game as some masterpiece-like, crafted narrative that did as much innovative things as the Metal Gear series, The Last of Us or even Alan Wake, but it was mildly pretty solid for what it was. It was a solid Star Wars story, one of the few (especially in recent years) that felt like it did justice to the universe's lore and worldbuilding thereafter. Going into Survivor for the first time, it felt as if this trend persisted but after a short while, personally, it started to feel a little bland. I felt as if Dagan wasn't nearly as large of a threat as he could have been, the story hinged on the same idea for too long and it definitely overstayed it's welcome for me. I kept expecting some big twist to happen, akin to Fallen Order, which would up the stakes a little bit more but that didn't really seem to happen. Although, I give credit to the twist that occured on Jedha and the consequences that befall the characters because of it, but it maybe felt just a tad bit... shoehorned in? When it comes to Boda, I kind of already deducted from the get-go, literally as soon as he is introduced to the player, that this guy wasn't good news. I saw the twist coming about 20 hours before it did and so when it actually happened it felt very weightless to me and as if it was done just to give the story actual stakes and consequences that it wasn't presenting before which in turn also made it feel like a very rushed ending. So, structurally, I wasn't a fan of the narrative, even if there were moments I did mildly enjoy, I feel like it could have been polished and fleshed out a lot better than it was, unfortunately.

That's not to say I think that this is a bad game by any means. It was enjoyable and was, for a time, a nice escape and change of pace. Some sequels aren't always going to top what came before and very few of them end up being even good. What I can say about this one was that it was decent at best and that I really wish I had enjoyed it more. I suspect on another playthrough, with a clearer mind, this might be the case but, for now... I think I'll give the Star Wars franchise another rest on the top shelf.

I suppose the play was to pick the game up a year later and hope the performance issues have been fixed, from what I've gathered that's not really the case but for most part it ran perfectly fine for me on PC, the only crashes I've encountered were shortly after beating the game or leaving the game running for a couple hours while not playing it. Turned off ray tracing and maintained a consistent 40-60 fps depending on the area. As for the game itself, absolutely a step up from its predecessor which I already adored and maintain is one of a handful of good examples of 3D metroidvanias done well (the other is Arkham Asylum). Much as I loved Fallen Order the story didn't really impact me much emotionally but Survivor definitely did especially in the final act. Combat feels much better and more fluid (though at times force lift and slam can be a little unresponsive because of their button combo) and I enjoyed testing the different stances as I progressed through the game. I wanted to like dual wield a lot more than I did because it's right up my alley but unfortunately its playstyle didn't resonate with me so much of the game I stuck with trusty single blade and most of the back half of the game I used crossguard (killing an enemy by drop kicking them in the face never gets old). Didn't use double-bladed at all but it does seem significantly more interesting than in the previous game. Really appreciated the number of customization options over Fallen Order as that game was really lacking in that regard beyond your lightsaber, the poncho looked ridiculous let's not kid ourselves. Definitely looking forward to what I assume will be the final game to round out a trilogy, but I certainly hope Respawn invests a bit more in quality control next time because the state Survivor was released in is absolutely unacceptable.

You really can't go wrong with a Dark Souls-like Metroidvania, where it's constantly challenging and includes backtracking to previous areas when you get new powers. This is a proper sequel, where it carries over all the skills and abilities from the previous game and expands on them while also adding new skills and abilities. I also like Cal's journey, he's just trying to survive and do what he can against overwhelming odds. At this time, performance was up and down. Certain areas had higher framerates, while others didn't, mostly a non-issue for me.