STAR WARS Jedi: Fallen Order™

I'll be straight with you: the first three hours of Fallen Order nearly killed my enthusiasm. Cal Kestis is a Padawan on the run from the Empire, and Respawn spends the opening act introducing mechanics at a drip-feed pace that can feel like a pre-flight safety video. Stick with it, because once the game finds its stride it delivers something that has been absent from the Star Wars game catalogue for a very long time: a focused, no-microtransactions single-player adventure that actually respects your time. The core of what Respawn built here is a deliberate, parry-and-dodge combat system that critics have consistently compared to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - but tuned to be somewhat more forgiving. Every lightsaber swing carries weight, and boss fights demand that you learn enemy move sets rather than button-mash through them. Cal gradually unlocks Force abilities across three skill trees - Survival, Lightsaber, and Force - and watching those powers compound over a 15-20 hour playthrough produces a genuine sense of becoming a Jedi rather than just playing one. Force Slow, Force Push, and eventually Force Pull each slot naturally into combat and traversal, letting you hurl stormtroopers off ledges with a satisfaction that never really gets old. Companion droid BD-1 handles mapping and healing stims, and his presence gives the quieter exploration moments genuine warmth. The Metroidvania structure is the game's other big pillar, and it works more often than it doesn't. Planets are densely layered, and unlocking a new ability then fast-tracking back through earlier zones to pry open previously blocked routes is exactly as satisfying as the genre promises. The map system - delivered through BD-1 - is clear enough to keep you oriented without ever feeling like it's holding your hand. The real frustration is that fast travel between meditation points is limited, and backtracking across large planets on foot starts to feel like chores rather than exploration, particularly mid-game. Where the game is rougher: the story is serviceable but safe. Cal is likeable enough, antagonist the Second Sister is genuinely well-written, and the supporting crew aboard the Mantis ship hub grows on you slowly. But the central plot - hunt for ancient Jedi secrets while the Empire closes in - never swings for anything ambitious. The platforming sequences, specifically the repeated sliding and rope-swing sections, are the game's low point mechanically; collision detection is occasionally generous in the wrong direction, and deaths that feel unearned stack up. At launch the game shipped with a meaningful number of bugs, though patches over the years have addressed the worst of them. None of that should deter anyone who has appetite for this genre cocktail. If you enjoy Dark Souls-style combat where learning enemy patterns is the reward, Metroidvania exploration, or cinematic traversal in the vein of Uncharted and Tomb Raider, Fallen Order brings all three together inside one of the most well-realized audiovisual interpretations of the Star Wars universe in gaming history. The lightsaber customization workbench aboard the Mantis, the way the audio design makes every weapon clash feel physical, the environmental design of planets like Kashyyyk and Zeffo - the craft is evident. It earned an 81 on Metacritic for good reason, and the sequel, Jedi: Survivor, only expanded on the foundation. This is the entry point.

Alex · Scout Team

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