Hello everyone, and welcome to another entry of Fresh Look. Now that I am finally out of school, I can actually take a fresh look at games again instead of just thinking about them while buried under assignments. This time, I picked up Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order after finding it on a deep sale for about $8 on the PlayStation Store. I had wanted to try it when it first released, but just never got around to it.
Over the years, I kept hearing mixed descriptions of what kind of title it actually was. Some people called it a Soulslike. Others made it sound more like a standard action-adventure game. For eight bucks, though, I figured it was a gamble worth taking. If I did not like it, no great loss. As it turns out, it was money well spent.
Editor’s Note: Check out our full GiN review of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
The biggest thing that stood out to me right away is that Fallen Order does not really feel like a full Soulslike, at least not in the way people often use that term. The combat clearly pulls ideas from that genre, especially with the timing, counters, and the way enemies can punish mistakes. But the overall feel is nowhere near as punishing unless you deliberately crank the difficulty up. To me, it feels much closer to Uncharted with lightsabers than it does to Dark Souls. Had I not recently spent time with Code Vein II, I might have leaned harder toward the Souls comparison, but after playing that, Fallen Order feels much more approachable. The first clue was the simple fact that it actually gives you a difficulty selection. The second was realizing that when I got smacked by a boss, I lost a manageable chunk of health instead of instantly being turned into marinara sauce.
What I was not fully expecting was just how much Fallen Order leans into a Metroidvania structure. In a lot of ways, that is what it reminds me of most. You are constantly revisiting old areas and spotting paths, secrets, and side rooms that you cannot access until you unlock new Force abilities or traversal upgrades. Wall running, Force pulling, and Force pushing all open up more of the map while also feeding into the game’s environmental puzzles. Those puzzles are not especially obtuse, but they are involved enough to break up the action in a good way. I liked that balance. It keeps Fallen Order from becoming just a chain of fights and cutscenes. The only real issue I ran into on this side of things was that some of the movement can feel a little clunky especially when sliding down slopes or trying to swing cleanly from vines. Those moments were not enough to ruin anything, but they were noticeable.
Combat, thankfully, feels much better. Fallen Order does a really good job of making the lightsaber fights feel weighty without becoming too sluggish. Reflecting a stream of blaster bolts back into a squad of stormtroopers is exactly as satisfying as it should be, and there is a nice rhythm to the way regular fights flow once you get comfortable. The counter-based combat mostly works too, though I did have a few moments where the title and I clearly disagreed on what should have counted as a successful parry. Some of the Purge Troopers can also be annoying especially when they start chaining attacks together, but Fallen Order is pretty forgiving about getting you back into the action after a mistake. That helps keep frustration from building up too badly.
Fallen Order’s presentation also helps a lot. Its voice acting is strong, the environments do a good job of selling the Star Wars setting, and it has more personality than I expected. That is part of why it has landed better for me so far than Star Wars Outlaws did. Both games start off interestingly enough, but Fallen Order seems much more focused in how it introduces its world and characters. It does not feel like it is constantly sending you off to “go to place and find thing” territory in quite the same way. The smaller cast also helps. Characters here feel more like actual people with a role in the story instead of just glorified MacGuffins there to push you toward the next mission. I will admit one thing too: Fallen Order’s Trilla is only reinforcing my long-held suspicion that I might have a weakness for evil women in fiction. That is probably a different issue for a different column.
So far, my overall impression is very positive. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is not some hidden masterpiece that changes the face of gaming, but it is a very solid Star Wars adventure with enjoyable combat, rewarding exploration, and enough character to keep me engaged. More importantly, Fallen Order feels like it knows what it wants to be and mostly succeeds at doing that well. That is more than can be said for plenty of other licensed titles. If you can catch it on sale the way I did, it is an easy recommendation. And even if you pay a little more than eight dollars, there is still plenty here to justify the ride.
I still have a long way to go before Fallen Order’s credits roll, but first impressions are strong. If this keeps up, I may end up spending a lot more time in this corner of the galaxy. And if my next Fresh Look column does not end up about a strategy game, then there is a very good chance you are all getting more Star Wars columns whether you asked for them or not. Until then, enjoy the upcoming holidays and make sure you take a little time to enjoy the weather.
