I'm not very big into Star Wars nowadays, but after having a blast with Battlefront II and seeing how hype the trailers for Survivor have been I decided it was the perfect time to replay this as I've been meaning to get to it for a while. I also made sure to play it over a month before the sequel comes out to avoid burnout and as I'm sitting here writing this while watching the credits scroll I think that was definitely a smart decision.

That is not to insult this game as I did actually even enjoy it a little more this time around, but there are some pretty big issues I have with it that hold it back for me. For one, the gameplay isn't always the most satisfying. When I first played this game I had virtually no experience with Soulslikes but now I consider them a genre I really enjoy (even if I rarely find the time to play them) and I was able to pick up on more of the similarities this time around. But really its more of a Soulslite and I don't find the implementation of many staples the genre is known for to really compliment this game in meaningful ways. The lightsaber combat is pretty good - the lack of dismemberment disappointing but understandable - but it doesn't really feel as tight or as in depth as I'd expect other games like this to be. Also quite frankly while there is a good amount of enemy types, I found virtually every single one that wasnt a stormtrooper variation to be a huge pain in the ass to fight. Thats not to say that its not fun still and pushing enemies off cliffs will never not be fun, but by the time i reached the final boss I was just pretty over the system in general and ended up dropping it to story mode just to get done with it. Skill issue? perhaps but I know if FromSoft added an easy mode update to all of their games right this moment I would still never go for it. Basically the combat is good but the challenge feels more reliant on being annoying than actually honing skill.

My only other big issue with this is that the PS5 version at the very least is quite buggy. I don't remember if it was this noticeable for my first playthrough on ps4 but there were a whole lot of little things that just kinda got in the way. Once or twice Cal just randomly died for no reason during platforming sections, sometimes in fights where you get swarmed and stunlocked the camera fucked off and made it really hard to see and there were multiple cutscenes with out of sync audio that had to be fixed by closing the game. Another thing thats not really a glitch but a bit bothersome is the huge amount of clipping. The ponchos are stylish (but severely lacking in color options like cmon) and optional but its a pretty big distraction to see Cal's hands and legs phase through them in every cutscene and I wish they put a little more care into that. And this is the game that has multiple different lightsaber holstering animations that have a lot of personality so I really doubt its from a lack of love.

Story wise I think the game is pretty solid. I like the whole cast and it has some pretty good arcs and emotional moments. But it does really suffer from feeling like the first in a series. I am very curious to see where the story goes with Survivor but the story definitely feels a little underwhelming where Fallen Order ends off. Its kinda at a point where the main goal is complete but theres no real setup for how the story will continue and it just doesnt entirely work. Cal is a likeable protagonist and I am looking forward to see what they do with his character, I especially want to see more of Merrin as well. The gameplay loop mostly has you traveling back and forth between planets and there is maybe a bit too much backtracking but there are always new areas opened up so its not like you're replaying the same exact thing again and again. I also found the puzzles to be a lot more enjoyable on this playthrough where I remember them being kinda annoying to begin with. I don't generally like puzzles but the ones in this are pretty well thought out and done so I dont have any complaints about them. Overall despite having some technical issues and some complaints about the story and combat as a standalone this is a really great single player Star Wars game that I'm glad is as successful as it is.

Seeing as its been said that this story is planned as a trilogy I am more than okay with that. I definitely am a little unsure on what the story of Survivor will end up being. My biggest hopes after completing this was for a bigger cast and more of them beyond mostly just staying back at the Mantis but It seems like Survivor is going in a different direction. There is apparently a prequel graphic novel meant to explain what happens inbetween the two games but I ain't paying 15 dollars to read it and so I really just hope they have some good ideas and that they don't give the game an ending that super suffers from middle child syndrome. Beyond that I just hope its a little more polished and honestly it's looking like a big step up in a lot of ways. I'll get back to you in May for my review on that one as well :p

Thanks for reading y'all. Still working on a couple other reviews but can't say when they'll be out. I really appreciate you if you've made it this far. See you next time <3

Nancymeter - 81/100 (oh wow a 2 point increase!!)
Time Played: 14 hours for this playthrough
Trophy Completion - 100%
Game Completion #4 of March
Game Completion #54 of 2023

Reviewed on Mar 08, 2023


3 Comments


1 year ago

Star Wars gaming
It's kinda silly to point this out since I only played the game a bit in one of my friend's house, but I found the combat to be... floaty? I don't know how else to describe it, the force stuff is cool but everything with the lightsaber didn't have that punch that other games have in their combat, specially against bigger enemies and bosses. As you put it best, it isn't the most satisfying.

Great review!

1 year ago

Still in my backlog, I really need to get to this game.