 After much prodding, the most down-voted Reddit comment in the history of the world and the lion's share of the blaming jump-starting a plague of governmental inquiries into loot boxes are corporate overlords over a TA at long-last days to bless us with a single-player Star Wars game developed by really quite good multiplayer shooter studio Respawn Entertainment. The results? Unexpectedly good and amusingly glitchy. So please join me on this journey as I break down Jedi Fallen Order's gameplay, story and presentation. I will be staying away from most spoilers sticking to the basics and choosing instead to concentrate on how well the writers managed to capture that very familiar yet unique Star Wars feeling, how the characters developed and which end of the Star Wars spectrum the dialogue leans towards original trilogy or prequels. I will also be taking a close look at where Fallen Order draws its many many many inspirations from. Be warned, the Dark Souls of Star Wars jokes loom at every corner, so buckle up, press that like button and enjoy the ride. The Story Calcestis. Jedi Padawan has kept himself hidden ever since the purge obliterated the Jedi Order shortly before the formation of the Galactic Empire, masquerading as his cavenger on the junkyard planet of Bracka. Cal has forgotten much of his past, but when his cavenging job forces him to use the Force to save a friend, the life he left behind comes crashing down on him. Hunted by the Imperial Inquisition's second and ninth sisters, Cal finds unexpected help in the form of a pair of travelling companions, the former Jedi Knight Seir and the pilot and ship captain, Gries. This is a simple enough setting up of the story, but with some mighty good writing, a game I had no high expectations of turned out to be the best single player experience in the Star Wars setting since Knights of the Old Republic 2. So let's dig into it. A Star Wars story without compelling characters would be, well, it would be pure torture, like spending a third of a movie on what feels like a ham-fisted, irrelevant message that makes no sense or impact on anything and anyone whatsoever. Oh, we're discussing fallen order. Right, the primary antagonist is phenomenal. I'm not exaggerating, the second sister is written and performed in an excellent way. Following her development took me through the full spectrum of emotional responses. We are introduced to her early on. For everyone present shall face summary execution. I think it's time someone came forward. We all know the truth. We're just too afraid to say it. To the Empire, we're all just expendable. Yes, you are. The casual wrotlessness second sister exhibits here. It's a hell of an introduction. And followed by her offhand mockery of Kyle the first time he crossed lightsabers, it immediately told me there's something special about this one. The designer's who works in her favor, inspired by that of inquisitors we've seen on Star Wars Rebels, but taken a notch further. More stylized, darker, really leaning into the threatening aspects. Borrowing some from Vader, I will freely admit that, but in the best ways without being blatant about it. Because while Vader in the original trilogy is constantly threatening this looming presence over everyone and anyone we see. And this is also something Kiran Gillen captures in his Darth Vader Marvel series. The second sister is much more gleefully evil. And I mean that in the best possible way. Like your Hannibal Lecter or hells like Palpatine. Second sister is loving her Jedi hunting life every minute of it. Also she presents herself at first. What makes her truly memorable is the psychological complexity and the need. As it unfolds, the second sister becomes one of the central points of interest to the story. One of those hooks that just gets deep into your skin and doesn't let go till the last. The secondary antagonists were quite entertaining in their own way. The ninth sister was a fun, blundering idiot with presence. Kind of like a Dungeons and Dragons Barbarian. That's the closest thing that came to mind as I was looking at her, watching her and eventually fighting her. There's one secondary antagonist on the planet of Datamir who leaves a hell of an impression almost as strong as that of second sister, but I don't want to dig into him for fear of spoilers. I'll just say, there's something fun on Datamir. But any antagonist wouldn't have space to shine without a likeable hero whose face to punch into a wall. And Cal Kestis has a hell of a punchable mug. Call is traumatised by the horrors he survived during the Purge. His connection to the Force is wounded. His ability is severely blunted. What's worse, Cal is lost. But after five years of hiding, the violent opening of Fallen Order at last offers him a route back to himself and a renewed purpose. He's likable and seeing him heal and grow up and overcome his trauma is a great experience. The one to pull him out from the brink of Imperial culture early on and a fair bit of despair is Seir, a former Jedi knight who has closed herself off from the Force for reasons not only made clear at the beginning of the game. She plays the role of stalwart ally to Cal and their relationship borders out of mentor and apprentice in an interesting way. Our next character is Gries. And he is, well, he's a comic relief character. He's funny and if you cut right down to it, he's alien Han Solo without the really badass part. He's got a past with intergalactic cathals, check, he's a gambler, check and a smuggler, check and most important of all, he's got a heart of gold. Double check. Gries is the comfort food character who'll make you grin, chuckle and occasionally draw up emotions from a place deep inside that you didn't expect he might touch. And now, for the real star of the show, the one the ladies all love, BD1. This little droid is the bomb. By the end of the game, he's won the MVP medal a dozen times over, having saved your skin on a daily basis. You told Barshock inferences Elizabeth was helpful, well BD1 carries within himself several canisters worth of steam bugs ready to heal you at a moment's notice. BD1 has the coolest weirdest map to navigate and he's also got the sweetest gadgets. He's willing to use them to help you chime in again, opening doors, shutting things, turning things on. Everything you might possibly need is basically a teeny tiny R2D2 with very likeable personality. My friends, BD1 might very well hold on to the greatest secret in the galaxy, the secret of friendship. There are a few others, important characters whose mention would spoil considerable sections and twists and turns, but what's most important about all of them, commendable really, is that all the members of the main cast grow and change in interesting ways. Even our droid. What about the dialogue? Dialogue, after all, has had a tempestuous history in Star Wars. At its best, we've got cinematic lines that even someone unfamiliar with the franchise knows, and at its worst, we've got the prequels, with their outlandish clunkiness. Where does Jedi Fallen Order's dialogue fall on that scale? It's actually quite good, and you have no idea how happy I am to say that. Interactions come across as earnest, thanks to a synthesis of good writing and excellent delivery. It's never tried, and there are occasions, more than just a few as well, which were very clever and poignant, deconstructing some of the aspects, some of the relationship between the Jedi and the Force, in subtle ways. For this, I blame Chris Avalon, who did much of that in his work on Nights of the Ogre Republic too. Remember that one? It was called the Sith Lord's Subtitle. Subtitle, subtext, coincidence, Chris Avalon, I think not. There is one character in particular, the Wanderer, who is, I will admit, so utterly dark souls-y in his first interactions with Carl. It's a hilarious juxtaposition. But it works, because the universe of Star Wars does have that melodramatic, operatic aspect codified in its DNA, thanks to the best parts of the prequel trilogy. As well as, I would argue, the Nights of the Ogre Republic RPGs. The themes of Jedi for an order I would formulate in the following way. Letting go of pain, seeking to forgive one's mistakes, while learning the lessons the past has to offer, and accepting that you can turn from despair, even while drowning in the deepest darkness. The gameplay. The many influences of Jedi for an order. The combat, as anyone who has seen even five minutes of gameplay knows, borrows heavily from dark souls. It carries weight, dodging and parrying, playing important roles in every engagement, no matter how small, and the general idea of learning enemy patterns in order to improve in this mantle said enemy is key. I wasn't sure how I'd like it to begin with, since I've only ever watched others play dark souls never got into it myself, but after experiencing this, I am in! This sort of combat captures well the measured feel of the lightsaber fights of the original trilogy. While showcasing the complexity and techniques developed for the prequel trilogy, let's break down the combat into three categories. Humanoids, beasts and horrible, no, scratch that, horribly fun and challenging boss battles. Out to that last one, a caveat for our Lord and Saviour, the Oogdu Boogdu. The humanoids are mostly imperial, and those come in all shapes and outfits, all of which you can get as collectible action figures for only 99 dollars and 99 cents, with tax. Fighting groups of them is some of the most enjoyable the game is at, getting the timing right for that blaster deflection at the surprisingly accurate storm trooper, as you're a hit away from that really makes you feel the Jedi. As does using the momentum of a shock trooper against him as you parry just before an attack. This is particularly true when you try to play at the hardest difficulty Jedi Grand Master, which I don't have too much experience with. At this difficulty you need to have peak reaction timing, and it was sobering to realize just what the skill gap is between the hardest difficulty and the Jedi master at which I played the game. My reaction timing just didn't cut it anymore, and nailing that perfect parry certainly turned very challenging indeed. But if storm troopers were tough to perfectly deflect at this difficulty, the deadly perched troopers were something else entirely. Finally living up to a lore that presents them as some of the most lethal forces the Empire can throw at you. The perched troopers are trained in dispatching Jedi survivors, and they come in four different types, all of which are no pushovers even at heart, facing them never got boring. In fact I could have used several more contests of strength against the Imperial elite. The beasts meanwhile are rather a more annoying lot, though killing them is more satisfying by far as you can chop them up and slice and dice them. Something that the Disney purchased LucasArts isn't willing to green light, be done to storm troopers or other human noise. Rimming a sword through their bellies seems to be acceptable behaviour. There's plenty of different foes which tower over Carl, great spiders nesting in the woods of Kashyyyk, and of course some ridiculously horrifying creatures in the darkness and shadow of datamere's corruption. The boss battles are the undisputed highlights of the gameplay. The lightsaber duels in particular are done better than in any other Star Wars game to date, but coming face to face with enormous beast shield bosses, many of whom are optional, is just as much of a pill. In a different, more dark soulsy way. The last two boss fights in particular however, I could not get enough of, and I got my ass kicked more than once twice let me tell you, it wasn't like some of the earlier boss fights which I got through in a breeze. Crossing lightsabers against other force users, it just blew me away every time. The first optional beast boss fight though, is definitely the hardest and the one I got murdered during the most. On account of the player's ability to engage with the boss, with only two force abilities and without even unlocking the first pair of steam packs, I must have attempted to beat this no less than a dozen times, feeling more and more like I was performing penance, some Sisyphian task with no payoff ever inside. Yet each time I grew more and more certain that if only I tried once more, I would defeat this catonian monstrosity, this god of death, the Ogdu Bogdu. How I hated it. How I hated it. There's one last subcategory of enemies, mini bosses, who are added about half way through bounty hunters that come in a few different varieties and pop up always in different locations as you traverse the worlds trying to collect. This adds an almost shadow of murder inspired nemesis element to this game, as you never know when the next pair of bounty hunters might jump anew. It's a good way to change things up a little bit in the late game, in the challenging one too. These bounty hunters are not playing with Carl, let me tell you. Add to the Dark Souls-esque combat the bonefire mechanics. Any time you sit down to meditate at the meditation circle, your health and forcepower are restored, but so are all the enemies you've killed. The two go hand in hand, so I'm adding this is more of an afterthought to the combat design. Now let's take a look at the other systems that Respawn Entertainment copied pasted into this hot mess. As soon as you begin to traverse the world, it'll become obvious that you do so in a way eerily similar to Nathan Drake of Uncharted fame. There's plenty of climbing on cliff sides dangling from ropes, jumping around like a madman, the whole package. I enjoyed it well enough, though if I had to traverse another 10 hours of cliff size or whatever, I might have gotten irked. The level design is metroidvanian, meaning that what you can access on the different planets opens up gradually as your arsenal of force abilities, weapons and BD1s upgrades grow in number and power. I thought this worked well enough, it's the sort of mechanism that demands you return to a 10 knives edge in theory, but I found myself really enjoying the backtracking and really clever ways in which the map opened up shortcuts in between lengthy pathways. Some routes, many of which you are capable of unlocking with only exploration before you hit the metroidvanian progress wall, make them up interesting and fun to explore. And once you get the abilities necessary to rest further, you get a wholly new appreciation for the hard work the level design team has put into making these rewarding, interesting and fun. The puzzles are Tomb Raidery, simple but occasionally annoying due to inability to tell if, say, a wire is cuttable or part of the background. I felt that they were unnecessary at the best of times and infuriating at the worst, which might have to do something with my tendency to overtake the obvious. I can freely admit that as well. How about secrets, loot and rewards? Some have complained about the fact that the vast majority of unlocks are cosmetics. I say bugger all to that. I enjoy the how out of opening up different ponchos, lightsaber parts, ship and droid colors. In fact, I would go as far as to commend the developers over a free spawn for not gamifying this aspect, as some have requested. Giving players bonus points over different lightsaber hilt would deter the element of choice and make this another one of those Ubisoft-like games which just false feed the miscellany of different systems, none of which are fully taught out, all of them offering more busy work than I want. You know, more than it already is. Unlocking cosmetics to play is great is what we should have had with every single one of those couch-grabbing games of recent years which try and unfortunately succeed in making a quick buck of selling pinged out Vader's skins or whatever. And something else I have to commend the loot and rewards here. A lot of them have some really cool easter eggs that long time Star Wars fans will appreciate. That said, if I see another poncho tint, I might puke a rainbow out. Of course, the main reward from slaying enemies and uncovering secrets is experience, which you use to unlock abilities from meditation circles. There's plenty to unlock, adding to your combos, increasing your vitality and false reserves and even uncovering wholly new false powers like lightsaber throw. It's not Devil May Cry 5 level of complexity, but I enjoyed it well enough and thought it fit with the more subdued overall tone of Fallen Order. Fallen Order is a good looking game. Sure, occasionally you will notice some bland textures pop out into you at the strangest of times and I cannot for the life of me understand what the hell they were going for with CS eyes, but I did really enjoy the look of the world. It's high fidelity and it very often offers breathtaking vistas that open up before Cal. Speaking of Cal, I've heard some people have an issue with how his chin looks and to that I say you're weird. So weird. It's a chin people. Chill out. Obviously, I love how Second Sister looks. I've taken my praising of her. Far enough. There's another few characters whose art designs and models I couldn't get enough of. The Wanderer and Nice Sister Marin. Again, staying away from talking about the late game events but I think both these characters had plenty going for them graphically in terms of models. All of that. The main issue I faced has to do with the bugs. I noticed more than just a few over my 22 hours of playtime so most of them were amusing. I've got two memorable ones. I was fighting a beast with a charging ability in the icy caves of Bogano. When the beast charged I dodged out of the way and as soon as it struck against the wall it flew upwards. I watched dumbstruck waiting for something to happen for no less than five seconds before the creature came back down. No words for where. That was bizarre. But the really weird bug happened when I was showing my friend the game and I kind of went where I wasn't supposed to trying to go back to a zone that really wasn't constructed. It was a one-way street basically right and I clipped. I clipped through the world in a bad way. Of course that left a pretty, pretty arched, kind of wonky impression on my friend. All in all however, more amusing than disastrous for me these bugs but some players have complained of far more severe ones. The kind that actively cuts into the experience. That does respawn at this service. I wish they'd done better in this aspect since obviously there's plenty to enjoy here and no one wants a buggy game. Something else that has kept bugging me especially now going through the footage for the video is that frame drops were often present. They didn't really distract me while I was playing but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention them now. The music is what you would expect. Wonderful usage of some of John Williams' best teams infused with brand new motifs as well. It's the new music I really enjoyed however. Particularly the second sister's team which sounds very star wars while also managing to be very unlike Williams' compositions. The voice work is excellent all around. From every member of the cast I really have no complaints here. Only praise for the performances. Before I wrap this up what I do find fascinating about the visuals has to do with the time period. Placed between Revenge of the Sith in a new hope, Fallen Order allows us to really see a wide array of environments. The art designers have drawn from the prequel era aesthetics of the Clone Wars in so many interesting ways in the form of temples and a torn apart Venator-class Star Destroyer to name a few. At the same time the very modernist imperial architecture familiar from the original trilogy is also present with its accent and function and cold utilitarian lighting. The Empire always forces its marginous architectural form imposing it over the natural climb of every planet under its influence. To close this review I truly believe that Jedi Fallen Order is a game worth your time. What I would have liked to see more of and what is unfortunately lacking from the gameplay side of things is more originality. I'd have liked it if Respawn didn't just borrow so many of the game's systems from other excellent video games but actively made some of them their own. If there's one system that managed this it's the combat and that's why I was the most positive towards it of all the gameplay systems I covered. There is a way to make traversing feel more epic when you're a Jedi I'm sure of it and Respawn have shown plenty of ability in the past in this aspect so I'm sure they have the talent necessary to come up with something more interesting than rehashing the same old uncharted and Tomb Raider games over and over and over again. The 22 hours I spent with Carl marks some of my favourites time spent playing in 2019 because of the story the characters the look and the sound of the game and the epic lightsaber duels. I can recommend this game to any Star Wars fan on the grounds that this truly captures the best of the magic of the universe as for non-Star Wars lovers I believe you will also find something deeply enjoyable and perhaps even fall in love or fall back in love with the galaxy far far away. That said if you wanted to wait for a sale on account of the bugs and due to the heavy borrowing in terms of gameplay systems I completely understand you. My score for this game would be an 8 out of 10 meaning that I think it is a great game sabotaged by a certain lack of ambition and some technical issues. Thank you for watching if you enjoyed this video please like it share subscribe leave a comment down below what do you think about Jedi fallen order see you next time bye