Alex Birlo on April 13, 2019
Stop right there and drop whatever you are doing now! We are talking about Star Wars my friends and we have just received a juicy bit information about the next game from under the Electronic Arts umbrella – “Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order” by “Respawn Entertainment”.
Let us analyze this situation from several angles: what we already know, who makes the game, are they ‘equipped’ to pull this off and under which circumstances the project is being created.
So, what do we already know? We know it is a story focused game, set right after order 66 in episode three “Revenge of the Sith” at the height of imperial power when the last Jedi are being hunted as traitors and the galaxy – in general – is being reformed into the empire we know from the original trilogy.
We play as a padawan – a Jedi student – named Cal Kestis, that survived the order and is learning to survive in this new world alongside his ‘Buddy Droid’ BD-1 – as the developers internally refer to the name of the droid companion.
The player early on blows his cover and the imperial inquisition is on his tail hunting him across the galaxy – yes, we will finally see the imperial inquisition in a video game now!
The gameplay is focused around impactful melee combat, with a mix for force powers usage that the developers referred to as ‘thoughtful combat’. Not much is known right now, but we know for sure that this is not another “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed” – which was a great game in its own respect and I played the heck out of it – it is taking a different approach. It is presumably slower and tactical. Finding the right approach to more grounded combat scenarios and so ‘thoughtfully’.
There are NO microtransactions or multiplayer, which means this game is a total ‘gesture of goodwill’ from EA, to restore brand image perhaps – something they might have tried to do with “Anthem-Beyond the Dylan” as I call it now.
Now, about the minds behind the project. The game is being developed by “Respawn Entertainment”, known for the “Titanfall” games and the recent “Apex Legends”. But there is a problem, these are multiplayer, first-person shooters.
But I would not say that the studio is underequipped for the task, because the project is spearheaded buy game director Stig Asmussen, who is known to have been working for “Sony Santa Monica” on the “God of War” games and responsible for creating the hit PlayStation 3 exclusive that “God of War 3” was.
From all the stories and behind the scenes documentaries about “Sony Santa Monica” we know that Stig unexpectedly had to step into the shoes of an executive role in the studio after his predecessor left during an inconvenient time for the studio. Stig Asmussen was regarded as a firm leader by his team and he managed to pull the studio from a tight spot with a successful game.
What does this tell us? The man is competent. And supported by the talented guys at ‘Respawn’ and constant collaboration with writers from Lucas Film, the group is well equipped to attempt to make us a nice, long-awaited, single-player Star Wars game. Hell, they even got Ben Burtt – sound designer for the original Star Wars trilogy – on board for sound-design!
Last, but not least we have the circumstances of development. We know the team was working on the game for a while now and they are optimistic about fitting into their set release date on November fifteenth – I already know what I want to get for my birthday…
The situation is as such, that Electronic Arts’ reputation was being hit and badly damaged by released games since – what seems like an eternity – the release of “Mass Effect: Andromeda”. From what we already know regarding the situation of “Anthem” and the game’s development, in this game “EA” gave freedom to “BioWare” and apparently hoped this game will redeem some of the damage that was dealt to the company’s image… but that did not happen. And “Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order” might be their best ‘Plan B’ now.
So far so good, but we are yet to see any game-play and further details. Though I have faith in the developers: the studio, the people behind the idea, the concepts, the designs. The time is right, the conditions are right, the people working on the game are capable and are “legendary”. There are always things that can go wrong, but let us believe in the ‘light side’ of things and see what the future holds.
