Spoilers for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor AheadFor all ofStar Wars Jedi: Survivor’s strengths, it’s held back slightly by the world in which it lives. Set between the originalStar Warstrilogy and the prequel trilogy, and taking place at the exact same time asObi-Wan KenobiandStar Wars Rebels, there’s only so much the creators can do. Cal and Cere aren’t major players in the Rebellion inA New Hope, nor are they there to help train the new, young Jedi Luke Skywalker.Darth Vader is actively hunting Obi-Wanand doesn’t get defeated untilReturn of the Jedi, so he can’t be the main antagonist.
Of course, a big part of this is just logistical. When the original trilogy was created over 40 years ago, nobody could have foreseen the half century of movies, TV shows, and video games that would follow. The very DNA ofStar Warsis rife with prequels, retcons, and stories set between other main canon entries.Jedi: Survivorthreads the needle perfectly between telling a new story with high stakes, without shaking up the existing canon.
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The Star Wars Universe is a Blessing and a Curse
The game itself acknowledges the issue with the stakes in thevery first mission on Coruscant. When Cal and his group of rebels capture Senator Sejan to extract military intel from his yacht, Cal learns that they have barely made a dent into the empire’s plans despite years of fighting. He reckons with the existential crisis of if his fight matters, which becomes central to the story the rest of the way. Cal has always struggled to find a true purpose since the fall of the Jedi Order, and future meetings with the rest of the Mantis crew reveal that as a main reason the group split up.
A more cynical viewpoint could frame this as a major storytelling frustration with the game. Without a lot of time in the franchise to back in the timeline, and even less to go forward, there weren’t many options. However, theSurvivorteam used the timeline restriction creatively.
There are other smaller antagonists Cal meets along the way, but the main one is Dagan Gera, a former Jedi Master from the High Republic era turned quasi-Sith Lord. Trapped in a Bacta Tank for over two centuries,Survivorcreatively jumps back past the prequels altogether for its adversary.Dagan gives Cal a powerful, Force-wielding villain to fightwhile telling a new story centered around the failings of the Jedi Order during the height of the Republic’s strength that parallels Cal’s history. Dagan’s fall, and Bode’s betrayal that follows, pulls in story elements from each of theStar Warsstories that take place around this time while making sure to tell its own tale. The stakes may not be galaxy-altering, but maybe they’re that way because Cal handles the threats on his own.
On the other side, Cal and the rest of the Mantis crew not being present in otherStar Warsproperties provides some new stakes. Cal does not appear as a Jedi Knight in the original or sequel trilogy, leaving his fate unknown. There’s a chance he meets a similar fate to his mentor, Cere, at the hands of Darth Vader or one of the Jedi-hunting Inquisitors. There’s also the possibility that he escapes and remains in hiding thanks to the help of The Path, or finds himself in the World Between Worlds, stuck in limbo likeAhsoka Tano inStar Wars Rebels.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivorimproves onFallen Orderin almost every meaningful way. There’s no reason to think a third game would be any different. Whatever direction the Respawn team takes Cal and BD-1 in the future, it’s clear that his story is in the right hands.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivoris available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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