Jedi: Fallen Order is made by Respawn, the makers of Apex Legends and Titanfall 2, and just like those two titles, Fallen Order is a masterclass sort of game. And, even better, since EA has the rights to make Star Wars canon games, all of this title actually matters in the greater Star Wars plotline! So, what did Cal Kestis, the absolutely boring but relatively competent Jedi, actually add to the canon?
DISCLAIMER: In order to talk about important canon elements, we'll need to go into some spoilers for the game. We know fans hate just about anything spoilery when it comes to Star Wars. So, we'll try to keep it as basic as possible.
10 Orange Lightsabers Are Canon Again
We gotta say, there's so much fun lightsaber stuff here! All the customization options, the perfectly captured sound effects, and even the interchangeable colors. Yep, all of the different hues are back that we're familiar with. Frankly, they look better than ever. While much of the expanded universe sort of got wiped in the "Disney ownership purge" it looks like they're doing their best to add everything back in over time, on their own terms. And thanks to that, Orange Lightsabers are back! A fan favorite that was only ever seen in the Star Wars Legends series.
9 Darth Vader Really Is Insanely Strong
Yes, Darth Vader does make a brief appearance in this game, sorry to spoil. But, it's only to show how insane he was in his prime. In the original trilogy, Darth Vader was imposing, but his Force powers left much to be desired. This is mostly due to the limitations of film at the time, as we didn't have the absurd amounts of CGI tech that VFX artists can use nowadays. But, Vader's appearance in Fallen Order does confirm that this guy is an unstoppable unit of the dark side. Sure, the comics and side-stories show Vader's peak power, but nothing as mainline as this game has seemingly done it yet. Now we can't wait to see what might happen with him in a potential sequel.
8 Saw Gererra's Balder Past
Saw Gererra briefly shows up in the spin-off/prequel movie Star Wars: Rogue One. And sadly, he doesn't do much. Well, Forest Whitaker is back to reprise his role in the prime of his characters life, where he at least moves around a bit more.
Gerrera is the NPC Cal deals with most often during his adventures on Kashyyyk, and it's awesome that they got Forest back just to voice act. Unfortunately, he doesn't do much more than bark orders and zipline away, but it's still neat that Respawn made the effort to expand upon a character that was sort of wasted in their movie of origin.
7 The Entirety Of The Zeffo As A Species
So, most of the plot of this new game has to do with a Jedi Hermit by the name of Eno Cordova. Cordova had been studying a bygone race of aliens named the Zeffo who were extremely force sensitive in their prime. This species had a thriving civilization that all but vanished long ago. But, unless we missed something, this is the first time this species has been introduced in the Canon. The game explains it away by saying Cordova tried to have the Jedi Council research them a bit more, but they ignored him. Still, we love their designs and story, so we hope to see more of them in DLC or other canon-entries.
6 A Jedi Using A Sword And A Gun
The most obvious flaw of a lightsaber wielder in the Star Wars universe has to do with the age-old saying "Never bring a knife to a gunfight". And, while Jedi make do with the force and some incredible deflection skills, it's still silly that they don't use any sort of ranged weapons.
Luckily, Cere is here to show us how it would look, as the previous Jedi Master travels with Cal through a certain compound and struts her stuff. The scene where she takes out an entire room of elites while using both a gun and lightsaber is one of the best moments in the game by far.
5 Ilum Becomes The Starkiller Base
So, there have been hints spread around since The Force Awakens premiered about The Starkiller Base. Not content with a moon-sized W.M.D, the First Order decided to turn an entire planet into one. What planet you ask? Turns out its Ilum, the planet where Jedi go to make their lightsabers! That's a pretty dang savage move there, First Order. Well, Fallen Order just confirms this theory even more, showing that the Empire had already started mining all the crystals off of the planet right after the Clone Wars. Plus, it also explains how the Death Star was able to use thousands of said crystals for its planet-destroying beam.
4 Psychometry Is Back Again With Cal's Force Echoes
Cal's Force Power in Fallen Order is one of mechanical importance. The dev team obviously wanted a way for the player character to unlock powers and interact with the world, and this is what they came up with. But, he's surprisingly not the first character with this ability. Previous, it was called Psychometry instead of Force Echoes, and Master Quinlan Vos used it to become an expert tracker during the time of the Clone Wars. Two other things were confirmed about the power in this game as well. First, you have to be born with it. And second, using it on items closely linked to the Dark Side is very harmful to the user.
3 The Lightsaber Hue Is Dependant On Which Crystal Calls Out To You
During our run through Ilum, we finally get to see how a Jedi finds his Lightsaber crystal. Turns out there's no real mining involved, instead, the Jedi are naturally pulled towards a chunk of crystal that they can break off. It's neat that these crystals literally resonate differently with each user of the Force, essentially restricting crystal gathering to only those who are Force-sensitive. Well, usually, but for some unexplained reason, once the lightsaber is built, the crystal just works no matter who wields it. Otherwise, the Death Star just wouldn't have turned on. At least we think so, but the color of the blade definitely isn't up to the choice of the wielder, like the game tries to tell us it is. But that's obvious just for customization's sake.
2 Darth Vader Vulnerable To Water And Shock More Than Space Magic
Remember how earlier we kept going on and on about Darth Vader's absurdly powerful Force powers? Well, don't forget, he's still just a dude missing most of his skin locked into a futuristic iron lung. Darth Vader might be invincible against Jedi, but when it comes to electricity and water, he's vulnerable as an iPhone. Cal couldn't land a single hit against the guy, but BD-1, good robot that it is, is able to stun him for multiple seconds with a single electric show. Plus, the only way Cere and Cal stop him is by attempting to drown him, something Vader is very weak too.
1 The Ninth Sister Still Missing Her Foot From The Comic Series
So, we haven't read many of the comics. We know there's a series of them that lead up to the events of Fallen Order, but we haven't quite checked them out yet. But, the Inquisitors that appear in this game have also shown up in other Star Wars properties. The Ninth Sister, in particular, has been seen before. And Respawn, being the awesome developers that they are, managed to keep this character entirely true to their comic book appearances. Vader likes to maim each of the sisters as a rite of passage, and the 9th Sister's sacrifice was her foot. And hey, what do you know, look who seemingly has a prosthetic leg in-game?