Review: Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Star Wars is such a complicated beast in 2023. I say that a lot as a general critique about long-running franchises, but rights-holders did this to themselves as a result of oversaturation.
On one hand, you have creators striving to move the series forward (and away from the Skywalkers) with the meticulously-crafted and brilliant Andor series. On the other, you have…whatever the sequel trilogy was. But there’s a middle ground for pulpy stories involving Jedi; combining the youthful spirit of adventure that George Lucas was known for while injecting some modern nuance into the mix. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor manages to walk that tightrope while improving on its predecessor mechanically.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (PC, PS5 [reviewed], Xbox Series X/S)Developer: Respawn EntertainmentPublisher: Electronic Arts Release: April 28, 2023 MSRP: $69.99
I dug Jedi: Fallen Order at launch, but was able to clearly recognize its shortcomings. Some of those were addressed after launch, but you can’t deny that some elements of the original had an air of sterility to them; like someone was checking boxes on a “Star Wars Souls-like” directive from on high. The best way I can describe the sequel is that the team seems to have jettisoned that notion of being chained to a singular vision; adding in decades of character-action history while doing its own thing, while micro-managing the larger Star Wars universe. It’s a tall order.
Cal (played again by Shameless alum Cameron Monaghan) is back, and although he’s aged up five years, you can customize that beard right off his face and feel like you never missed a beat from Fallen Order. That’s mostly a good thing because Survivor starts immediately in the thick of it: with a “Chewbacca prisoner” type
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