To make issues extra manageable, you even have mounts to ferry you round. I’m a giant fan of issues like this and whereas there isn’t a lot behind the mechanic — it’s form of like Cal’s simply borrowing random beasties for a bit slightly than having one other companion — there are some fairly spectacular colours, and whereas Cal may insist he’s in hiding, it’s nice enjoyable to ship him round on a large neon pink ostrich-type alien.
One space which Survivor improves on is by supplying you with much more customisation choices with Cal, BD-1, and Cal’s lightsaber. Reasonably than simply set outfits, you possibly can combine and match separate items of Cal’s clothes in addition to colors. You’ll be able to change up his coiffure and facial hair too. It’s a little odd to die over and over making an attempt to achieve a far-off level on a wierd planet solely to open a chest and discover a mullet, nevertheless it provides extra flexibility to creating your personal Cal. BD-1 and the lightsaber’s choices are nonetheless extra intensive, as you cannot solely combine up types, elements, and colours, but additionally how well-worn or brand-new the whole lot seems to be.
The most effective bits about Survivor, although, is the addition of a hub space to return to with Pyloon’s Saloon. Fairly other than giving Cal one thing of an anchor as a substitute of leaving him to wander round alone, this hub space steadily fills up with extra newcomers who offer you rumors to chase up, new outlets, background lore, and a little bit of life to what is usually a fairly remoted galaxy. It’s a good way to see among the affect of Cal’s actions, as folks he rescues begin popping up there and the locals begin warming as much as him. Within the grand custom of RPGs, they’ll reward you for saving their lives by pelting you with requests and favors, and it’s right here that you just’ll see examples of among the extra expanded dialogue to be discovered within the sequel. What’s extra, you possibly can see this base bettering as you progress via the sport, with the stuff you do having an precise affect — whether or not it’s filling up the large aquarium, or bringing again seeds to populate the rooftop backyard. It additionally introduces a really cool minigame — I don’t wish to spoil it in case you’re new to the sport, nevertheless it makes BD-1’s dedication to scan enemies way more helpful.
For those who have been pissed off with the best way you needed to construct up key talents within the first recreation, then it would go well with you that Survivor lets Cal preserve his talents and construct upon them. He additionally has new lightsaber stances, and the entire thing works effectively with the concept Cal is now a drive to be reckoned with. He’s gruffer and grimmer than earlier than, however he’s additionally extra highly effective, and a bit of extra unforgiving. It’s at all times enjoyable to drag enemies in direction of you solely to fling them over cliffs, sending them crusing to their doom whilst they’re insisting they’ll beat you simply, however Cal has some new methods of combating which opens issues up nonetheless additional.
Traversal is made a lot smoother too, which is an efficient factor, as Survivor has simply as a lot — if no more — wall-running, ziplining, and climbing as earlier than, in addition to some attention-grabbing gliding bits because of Cal’s new means of befriending alien beasties. It takes loads of frustration out of a recreation which asks you to take action a lot precision motion when you possibly can really do the issues it’s asking you to.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor feels prefer it actually does construct on what the primary recreation promised. We all know Respawn is “engaged on a 3rd” recreation, and whereas we look ahead to any information on that, you possibly can take a look at the whole lot we learn about Star Wars Outlaws for extra on one other upcoming Star Wars recreation!