Thank you G2A for sending us the pre-order bonus and game code to review!

Star Wars Jedi – Fallen Order takes place after the Empire has executed Order 66 which has nearly exterminated all of the Jedi in the galaxy. Your character, Cal Kestis, is a young Jedi padawan who has survived the purge and is a fugitive trying to avoid detection from the Empire. Even on a remote scrapyard planet, an Empire Inquisitor senses his presence and is hot on his trail.

Right from the beginning, you’ll be forced to stay one step ahead of the Empire by running, jumping, climbing, and dodging attacks from stormtroopers and enemy probes. When you’ve come to a dead end with no options but to fight the over-powered inquisitor, some Rebellion allies show up and rescue Cal without any explanation. A former Jedi, Cere Junda, introduces herself to Cal and sets him on a path to help restore the Jedi Order.

There is a holocron that contains a database of force sensitive children and their whereabouts in the galaxy. These children can be influenced to restore the Jedi Order, or they could be exterminated and/or recruited by the Galactic Empire. The location of this holocron is inside of a vault of an extinct alien race. In order to access the vault, the mysteries of this civilization have to be solved by visiting three different planets and the tombs within them.

The captain of the Mantis, Greez, is willing to take Cal anywhere required to complete his mission. Multiple planets are available to visit from the beginning, but the one required to progress the story will be indicated for your convenience. Throughout your journey, you’ll have to visit planets on multiple occasions to access areas previously not available. As Cal learns new force abilities and his trusty droid, BD-1, gets upgraded they’ll be able to explore every nook and cranny to find secrets, treasures, and permanent upgrades.

Exploring the planets is done similarly to the Dark Souls-style games where you have numerous enemies to defeat and a limited amount of health and healing kits at your disposal. BD-1 can store a couple of health stims, which the amount can be increased to at least five if you’re good at locating the golden treasure boxes on various planets. If your health is running low, you’ll need to stop at a meditation spot to replenish your health and healing kits. However, if you rest, all of the enemies will respawn and you’ll have to face them again as you return to the Mantis after completing your planetary objective. Luckily, you can unlock shortcuts along the way that will save you time and give you an alternate route back if needed. As helpful as the alternate routes are, I did run into an issue where I completely skipped an important cut scene and halted my game progress as a result. Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one to experience this glitch and was able to locate the bounty hunter that I needed to be captured by to progress the story.

While you’re at a meditation spot you can spend skill points that you have earned by defeating foes of various sizes. Some of the skills can permanently increase your life, stamina, and force while others will teach you new attack moves like the ability to throw your light saber around like a boomerang.

There are plenty of hostile alien life forms to slice apart and stormtroopers to deflect laser attacks at. No matter how many limbs you sever or stormtroopers you impale, you will not see any bloodshed which I found somewhat baffling. There are some grotesque undead creatures and creepy rituals shown so this game may be a little too much for younger audiences even without the blood spillage.

Though the fighting is fun, I enjoyed the adventures of sliding around on ice and mud ramps, or climbing high towers to explore various cave ruins and temples. There are many puzzles to solve in order to melt open doors or unlock hidden passages. The hologram map comes in handy so you can know where you have yet to explore.

The storytelling in this game is phenomenal. The characters are likable and their backstories are intriguing. Cal has the ability to read force echoes which are typically flashbacks to something significant happening by an object. For example, if Cal touches a corpse he can see a flashback of how they died. Much of this game’s story is told through these flashbacks.

There are also moments where Cal can look into the future. In a possible future there are some scenes where Jedis are shown being tortured by the Empire. There are moments of revenge and forgiveness and the emotions definitely come through with the solid voice acting that brings these characters to life. The high-quality sound effects and classic Star Wars music make this game an immersive experience as well.

The visuals are stunning and each planet has a unique look and feel to it. You’ll get to explore ice caverns, desert ruins, dense jungles, and ancient tombs. For the most part, the characters look really good as well... with the exception of Cere - her eyes bulge out of her head so much that it’s a wonder that she hasn’t lost them after sneezing.

In the end, there’s really not much to complain about in this game. It’s definitely in the top three that I’ve played this year. While I’m not sure if it can dethrone Knights of the Old Republic in terms of gameplay, I can say that this has been way more enjoyable than most of the Star Wars movies as of late.