At the beginning of the year, EA and Lucasfilm officially announced new Star Wars games coming from Respawn Entertainment, including the confirmation and announcement of a sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Earlier this month, it was reported that the name of the sequel is Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Today, during Star Wars Celebration, the game was officially revealed with a teaser trailer for the game featuring the main character from the first game Cal Kestis and droid BD-1.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor picks up five years after the events of Jedi: Fallen Order. Cal must stay one step ahead of the Empire’s constant pursuit as he begins to feel the weight of being one of the last remaining Jedi in the galaxy. Accompanied by his trusty companion BD-1, Cal will meet and ally himself with an array of unique and interesting characters on his journey. EA and Respawn said that Survivor will expand on the series’ dynamic combat in new and innovative ways. In order to survive, Cal must learn new skills and grow his connection with the Force.
“Even before completing Jedi: Fallen Order, our team had a vision of how to carry the adventure for Cal, BD, and the crew into the sequel,” said Stig Asmussen, game director, Respawn. “For Jedi: Survivor, we are working in lockstep with Lucasfilm Games to build on the legacy of Jedi: Fallen Order. We’re leveraging advanced technology to create more dynamic Jedi combat and cinematic storytelling to expand on Cal’s story as he matures and survives during the dark times. We can’t wait to share more about the game with the world later this year.”
Game Director Stig Asmussen talked about how the power of current-gen consoles expanded what Respawn was able to do in Jedi: Survivor. “So I think the biggest thing is ray tracing, or lighting. That’s allowing us to do real-time lighting, all the time, at a fidelity that’s well beyond anything that we’ve ever produced before,” Asmussen said. “Since it’s real-time, we get to see the changes as we tweak the lights — immediately, essentially. That means that we have more time to polish, that means that we can iterate more, and we can get better results that feel more filmic. Beyond that, we have these blazing fast drives on these consoles that are allowing us to load tons of content really quickly. I’ve always worked on streaming games — games that don’t have load screens. The fact that these consoles have such fast storage has made it even easier. Those are probably the two biggest benefits. PlayStation 5 has some really interesting haptics on their controller that we’re digging into, and it’s just an easier process in general.”
He also talked about the teaser trailer that was released at Star Wars Celebration and how the dark tone is a tease for what it’s store. “Yeah, you nailed it. Right there, that’s the purpose in the tone of it, is to leave the player with a lot of questions but they’re very intrigued. The game is all about survival. That’s why it’s called Jedi: Survivor. They are in dark times, and Cal and the crew are doing whatever it takes to stay alive. That might mean that they are making connections with people that, in other times, might be considered unsavory. Some of that is portrayed in the trailer, and again, I don’t want to give anything away, but there’s definitely a sense of… I don’t want to spoil anything, sorry! [Laughs.]”
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is set to release in 2023 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.