Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order had a lot going for it. Taking the best elements of Dark Souls' combat system, sprinkling in some Jedi Force power flair, and delivering a surprisingly emotional story, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order turned out to be a quality representation of the Star Wars IP, and now Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is set to improve on it all in 2023.
One of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order's most praised aspects was its selection of planets, both original to the game and based on iconic Star Wars locales. While the level design within those planets could arguably be improved, the atmosphere and visuals of each one felt truly impressive, as if the player had been directly transported to these beloved planets themselves. While Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will make some big gameplay changes, its greatest improvement could be its approach to planets.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's Planets Could Be Its Greatest Aspect
The moment the player first steps out of the Stinger Mantis ship on Bogano, they'll likely feel an immediate wave of nostalgia. While Bogano was wholly new to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, its general atmosphere, visuals, and sound design are all masterfully woven together to make the player feel that same sense of nostalgia they get whenever they visit any of the beloved locales seen in Star Wars. Adorable little Boglings pop out from the ground, the skybox is filled with a gorgeous sunset, and the towering Zeffo vault that guides the player's way just screams Star Wars.
Bogano acts as the perfect introduction to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order's planet exploration, and sets players up to look forward to the next location they'll get to visit. Exiting a Hyperspace tunnel is one of Star Wars' most effective tropes, and Fallen Order pulls that off every time, with the Mantis making its approach to the planet's surface filling the player with wonder and anticipation of what's on the surface. Respawn Entertainment also nails the planet design for those locations already fleshed out in Star Wars canon. Planets like Dathomir and Kashyyyk have been seen plenty of times throughout Star Wars history, and Jedi: Fallen Order makes each of these environments feel suitably authentic to the source material, with each planet having the correct creatures, foliage, and architecture fans have come to expect.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor can take this even further, and make its planets its greatest feature. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor doesn't necessarily need more planets than Jedi: Fallen Order in order to be an improvement, it just has to make those planets feel even more authentic and lived-in than ever before. With Jedi: Survivor only releasing for PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC, the game will presumably be much more graphically impressive than its predecessor, and therefore its planets should feel even more realistic. Highly-detailed lighting, shadows, and textures should make all of Jedi: Survivor's planets pop.
Of course, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's planets should also be a big step-up from its predecessors in terms of gameplay as well. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order had some fairly interesting Metroidvania-inspired levels, but the cramped nature of most planets felt a little too linear to really live up to the genre's potential. Jedi: Survivor should take this Metroidvania inspiration and double down on it, but this time give players much more space to move around in and explore. Based on the recent gameplay trailer, it seems as though Jedi: Survivor may be doing this, with the player being able to ride mounts now.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor releases on March 17, 2023, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.