Star Wars Jedi: Survivor - Review

Let me start by saying two quick things: (1) I will talk a lot more about Star Wars Jedi: Survivor on this week’s episode of DLC, so be sure to subscribe to the podcast if you aren’t already; (2) I LOVED THIS GAME. It is up there at the top, or very near the top of my favorite third-person action-adventure games. What a ride!

The basics, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is an action-adventure game developed by Respawn Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts. It is a direct sequel to 2019’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. And it also happens to be a sequel that improves upon the original in practically every single way. The map is easier to read, you can wear more than just ponchos (huzzah!), the plot is more grounded and focused, the combat is refined and oh-so-dang fun!

And truth be told, I am, generally speaking, a lapsed Star Wars fan. I didn’t finish the Obi-Won show, I didn’t watch Andor, I didn’t watch the Book of Boba Fett; and I’m not caught up on The Mandalorian, and I didn’t really like Star Wars: Episode 9.

I’ve loved the Star Wars IP pretty much my whole life… I even own a Star Wars pinball table that is proudly set up in my living room… but all this newer Disney+ stuff, etc, it’s just felt like… well, a lot. And a lot of it has felt more like “content” and less like essential storytelling.

That said, I should repeat again what I said at the top, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is fantastic. The story kept me interested and it felt like it committed to telling its own story, which I very much appreciated. There is also something so satisfying about the core combat loop: throwing Storm Troopers off ledges, changing stances during battle, using force powers to get an advantage, and doing it all in a “flow state” of sorts. Also, the traversal around the world(s) is simply sublime too. You feel powerful. It is that “I want to be a Jedi” wish fulfillment realized 100%.

But, while I was playing a pre-release build of the game on PC for my review, I do need to note the game was not without its share of technical issues for my play through. During the first third of the game, the game crashed on me A LOT. Like, a lot, a lot. Like once every hour or more a lot. I was playing on my PC with an RTX 4080, updated drivers, and yeah, crashes. I turned off Ray Tracing and the game stopped crashing, more or less, for me. So I am not sure if the first 1/3 of the game was problematic, or if there was/is an issue with Ray Tracing. I also experienced the now too common on PC ports, “pc stutter” throughout the game. It wasn’t anything that hampered my enjoyment of the game, the combat, or traversal, but it was present throughout for brief seconds here and there. Lastly, I experienced an audio issue during some cutscenes where the characters’ voices would loop, delay, or double. It was distracting, but not a deal breaker. Hopefully these issues are fixed with something like a Day One patch.

I also played through the first 2 hours of the game on PS5. I played in “performance mode,” and while I 10000000000% noticed the graphical hit vs true 4K on my PC, I did not encounter the technical issues described above.

So yeah, more on this week’s DLC FOR SURE.

I was provided a PC and PS5 code for the game by the publisher.