Star Wars games have had a prolific, if not uneven, history. There are a great many games, and lots of them are genuinely incredible, owing to the great devs and the richness of the universe. Other games though are not so much, suffering from countless other issues. If anything, Jedi: Fallen Order was a shining light in a wave of Star Wars games that seemed doomed to just be multiplayer.
As such, Jedi: Survivor has some big shoes to fill. The first proper gameplay trailer was promising and gave us a nice, but very brief, look at some of the game. Here are some things though that could help the game live up to its predecessor. If we're lucky, they'll have this and more, making the game something truly special.
8/8 Populated Settlements
One of the greatest ways of making a world feel alive isn't just cities and ruins and letters filled with text; it's a sense of history and culture, and the architecture to support it. Sure, that can come across in towns, but it doesn't have to be. Jedi: Fallen Order actually did a great job of showing how the Zeffo spread their culture across the galaxy without ever having to actually show them.
For Jedi: Survivor though, it would be great to see them go in the opposite direction. Let us see that same depth of culture shown in the ruins of the Zeffo or occupied Kashyyyk in truly bustling towns. Star Wars loves its crowded cities filled with a massive diversity of aliens, and who could deny Cal his own cantina scene?
7/8 Side Quests
In many ways, Jedi: Fallen Order was a 3D Metroidvania, one of the few to attempt and be mostly successful at it. It can suffer on some planets where there isn't as much freedom, but the pure joy of exploring in whatever way you want is very fun. In many ways, exploration is its own reward.
That said, the rewards could at times be a little dry, just being more Stims or Force increases. In that sense, a handful of unique side quests in Jedi: Survivor could serve as a means to give you more powerful rewards than those found from standard exploration. Plus, they could also be a great way to build out more stories in optional areas.
6/8 More BD-1 Utility
There's one thing you can guarantee from just about every piece of Star Wars media. No, not lightsabers or the Force. Instead, you can always expect a funny and cute little droid that will keep you company. For Jedi: Fallen Order, that came in BD-1, who is just as strong a character as Cal, honestly.
In gameplay though, he didn't actually do a massive amount. Healing you and scanning enemies. Hacking them too, if you ever found that worthwhile. A nice change could be to give them more functions. Let them play into how the blaster functions, maybe some combat abilities that operate independently of Cal. For being such a good character, they deserve some more spotlight.
5/8 Post-Game Content, Or More Optional Content
Being styled like a Metroidvania in many ways, Jedi: Fallen Order let you explore plenty of the planets in your own order and at your own pace. This was great until you got further into the game and it became clearer that, though you could choose the order, you ultimately had to explore almost everywhere anyway.
For Jedi: Survivor, a great change would be to actually make more of these areas truly optional, not just in your own order. The planets already promise to be bigger, so we can hope for more areas like Zeffo. It is of course a difficult task to make plenty of detailed areas you can't guarantee players will explore, but it would add so much richness to an already exciting follow-up.
4/8 Fewer Setpieces, More Depth
In the original advertising for Jedi: Fallen Order, it felt like it was going to be somewhat of a Star Wars take on Uncharted, featuring linear exploration and plenty of climbing. In reality, though, the game had deeper combat than anyone expected, with worlds that begged you to explore them how you saw fit. What the public was shown was mainly setpiece after setpiece, rather than what really made the game shine.
The thing is though, the game does actually still have plenty of those linear setpiece moments, and they drag the quality of the whole thing down. Returning to Zeffo always feels like a joy, intertwined in every which way. Meanwhile, Dathomir and Kashyyk were basically linear corridors with almost nothing optional, making them a real bore to explore. The fix for Jedi: Survivor is easy: just make more planets like Zeffo.
3/8 Greater Enemy Variety
When Jedi: Fallen Order was revealed, very few people probably expected themselves to be calling it a Soulslike in any sense of the word, yet it very much is. In fact, it coincidentally shares a bunch with Sekiro too, featuring a stance meter that functions much the same. Even better, the enemies that are in the game are actually great and work great with the combat system.
The only major issue is that the vast majority of enemies are various Storm and Purge Troopers. This makes sense, but can be visually tiring after a while. The bounty hunters included by the end of the game offer a breath of fresh air and Jedi: Survivor could benefit from more visually distinct enemies. Tusken Raiders, for one. Star Wars has such diversity across its vast universe, so why not play into it a bit more?
2/8 More Means Of Exploration
Travelling between planets in Fallen Order was great, seeing your ship seamlessly fly off and jump into hyperspace before landing on another. Once on the planets, exploring felt great too, with Cal having some nice movement abilities at his disposal, with even more being learned as the game went on. The only thing is that they were restricted purely to Cal's own tools and powers.
It's a reasonable compromise since Zeffo was the only large planet that had such freedom of exploration. That said, Jedi: Survivor seems to have bigger planets with more depth, so it would be great to see the methods of movement increased to fit it. A speeder to dash across vast plains, a ship of some kind to cross the water. Some means of gliding or even flying. It doesn't have to be universal, but more than just contextual. Something that truly feels like another option for exploration on certain planets.
1/8 Fewer Cameo Appearances
If there's something Star Wars loves doing, it's throwing in a cameo appearance where it doesn't belong. It's been an issue since the beginning, with Boba Fett retroactively being given extra scenes, to a digitised Luke being added to The Mandalorian. In Fallen Order it was a bit more tasteful, mainly featuring Saw Gerrera from Rogue One (and a brief Sith Lord), and none overstay their welcome.
The thing is, Fallen Order is beloved, so Jedi: Survivor should have the confidence to stand on its own two feet. It has a strong set of characters, and awhile universe to explore. Flesh out your own characters, add even more, and build your own planets. Even take characters from the wider universe that have never been visualised and give them your own spin. The whole galaxy is yours to explore; make it yours.
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