How Respawn went bigger and bolder with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

One of the Star Wars franchise's big breakout hits in recent years was Respawn Entertainment's Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Blending AAA action-adventure combat and exploration with the sprawling scope and tone of an old-school Star Wars story, Fallen Order brought a certain experience that wasn't too common for games set in "a galaxy far, far away." For its developers, Fallen Order was a significant departure from their pedigree on first-person shooters like Titanfall and Apex Legends, but it would end up being a massive success.

The upcoming sequel, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, leans further into that sense of adventure for player character Cal Kestis and his growth as a Jedi Knight. It also embraces a darker story that pushes the narrative into more dramatic territory, even pulling upon lore from the larger Star Wars universe that hasn't seen much light in video games. 

During a limited early look at Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Respawn Entertainment's Cinematic Director Dori Arazi and Narrative Technical Director Joanna Robb talked with Game Developer about the choices the team made in making a much bigger sequel—one designed to give players much more choice in how they guide Kestis through his next adventure.

Finding The Story In A Less Civilized Age

As seen with The Empire Strikes Back or The Last Jedi, Star Wars sequels traditionally venture to the more dramatic, dark territory for their plot and characters—and the story of Survivor certainly follows suit. Set five years after the end of Fallen Order, Cal Kestis has parted ways with his close-knit crew on The Mantis, and is now one of the Galactic Empire's most wanted. As he explores the galaxy during a most uncivilized age, he'll work with fellow rebels to weaken the Empire's growing influence and learn more about the history of the Jedi order.

That's about as spoiler-free as I can get with the early plot of the game, which was still being kept under wraps during our hands-on with the game. The early hands-on started off on the new frontier planet in the Outer Rim named Koboh, an original creation for the game. Aesthetically, it's very much like a remote town in the Old West—rugged, homely, and embedded in a dangerous environment filled with relics of the Clone Wars and even from the early era of the Jedi Order during The High Republic.

From the game's early hours, there's more of an element of frontierism within Survivor, which is in step with the expanded scope of the sequel. There's more focus on uncovering the past and finding lost aspects of ancient history. This aspect is also reflected in Cal Kestis, who is a more seasoned Jedi Knight and experienced adventurer. In addition to learning new Jedi powers, such as the classic Jedi Mind Trick, Cal can swap between different lightsaber stances during a fight, changing tactics and weaving between unique move sets and abilities with ease.

According to cinematic director Dori Arazi, the game's opening sets the stage for Cal Kestis' growth as a Jedi during dark times, an age where the rise of the Galactic Empire has put everyone at risk.

"It's a story of maturity. Fallen Order was about Cal trying to find out more about himself and how he struggled to survive. [Survivor's] story is about continuing that growth," said Arazi about the sequel's tone. "Cal is now a Jedi Knight, and he is a thorn in the side of the empire. The same can be said about the supporting cast, but for Cal, this is almost like a coming-of-age story for him but a bit beyond that too. These characters have settled into who they are, and it's a very different story to explore. These are dark times, so the stakes are higher. It's a much more mature story."

Much like Fallen Order, Survivor takes place during a period that's still relatively vacant for expanded fiction since Disney's revamping of the Star Wars timeline – which did away with the majority of stories from comic books, video games, and other mediums outside of the main films and select TV shows. What was interesting to see in the opening hours of Survivor, which plays out like a classic Western with Cal facing off against bounty hunters and raiders in a rundown mining town, is that it felt like an old-school Star Wars story.

Cal's journey and growth also gave me some similar vibes to a fan-favorite "Legends" character named Kyle Katarn, the hero and reluctant Jedi protagonist of the Dark Forces series. Much like Katarn, Cal Kestis learns more of his upbringing while embracing his true calling, and even in the early hours of Survivor, that was a satisfying thing to see how has to bend the rules of being a Jedi in order to survive. In a way, it also shows why Star Wars has historically had success within the video game medium, in that the classic games could leverage nostalgia for the films while giving its original storytelling room to grow.

Arazi said that playing in this setting between the first two cinematic trilogies gave the team some helpful guidelines to build around.

"We are within canon with this story, but I don't think it's a limitation [to work within canon]. It's more of a fascination, you know?," said Arazi. "The context and the timeline and those little pieces of information in detail that the true hardcore fans start with and be aware of, we make sure to be aware of that as well. So these aspects are less than an inhibitor and more of a just really cool source of inspiration because it makes the world feel lived in, like it's an almost real galaxy. We're still finding our place in it [while making this game]. Personally, the more of those details there are, the more we can live in this world, and Cal can be a part of it."

Embracing A More Open Universe

One of the more impressive aspects of the original game was its scope. It was one of the rare Star Wars games to allow players to explore and interact with the world, which saw Cal and his crew travel across different worlds, uncover ancient Jedi technology, and evade Sith Lords and the Empire. Fallen Order brought in many mechanics from the "Metroidvania" genre, with worlds that gradually became more dense and varied as you unlock new abilities, it was a compelling and exciting way to explore established and various worlds in the Star Wars universe.

Whereas the original Fallen Order was influenced by the confined environments and tight set-piece moments of Metroid Prime and Uncharted, Survivor feels much more in the vein of the recent God of War games; those titles marry the broad scope and visually dense environments with tightly designed worlds that unravel as you master more of the game's mechanics.

Even from this opening, it was clear that Koboh's structure was much denser than was shown in the original game. In addition to the overworld, there were pockets of underground areas and caves—including puzzle dungeons that felt close to Breath of the Wild's lost shrines. During my talk with narrative technical director Joanna Robb, she credited the expanded scale of the game to the technology that current-gen hardware offers.

"It's just inherently more exciting to work on [the new technology], which allows us just to have a more fluid experience," said Robb. "Because it's a sequel, we're building on top of stuff that we already had for Fallen Order, which made it very easy to refine existing systems and to improve them. So you learn a lot of lessons from development, and you're able to make many improvements the second time around."

One particular highlight in our early time with the game was a quest to find missing prospectors, which led to an extended bit of cave diving, and then an encounter with a Rancor in hiding. In moments like this, Survivor felt like it was opening up the game's world to better spread more unique opportunities. Other journalists invited to the preview hadn't even stumbled on this rescue mission, since they hadn't stopped to speak with a specific character on Koboh.

According to the developers, one of the big lessons from the original game was that there needed to be a greater need and incentive to explore the game's many worlds—which was a change they wanted to make from the original game's more guided structure.

"It's about player expression. That's not just the cosmetics you can find, but it's also how you choose to play the game, what stances you'd like to use, what content you want to explore," she said. "I feel like with Fallen Order, we had only one real way to play the game. For this one, there are so many options, and that's my favorite thing about this game. Everybody on the team has different ways they play the game, it's really awesome to see."

In many ways, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor follows in the same footsteps set by Fallen Order, yet it's venturing out further for its more nuanced and broader scale. It does feel like it's going towards the familiar "bigger is better' mantra, yet given that this is Star Wars, that might pan out in its favor. But going for a bigger game may show off some of the most compelling design and technical achievements Respawn's displayed yet.