Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order and the rise of Jedi Knight Cal Kestis: the story of Cal continues on Survivor.
“Rise, Jedi Knight”- Cere Junda
In a Galaxy Far, Far Away…
We’ll play the role of Cal Kestis, ex- Jedi Padawan. Escaped the Purge wanted by Darth Sidious and continued over time by the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader.
That means, in terms of time, that the events narrated in Jedi Fallen Order are nestled between Star Wars Ep. III and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Let’s understand better who Cal Kestis is…
Ex-Padawan, survived the Purge following Order 66; thanks to the ultimate sacrifice of his Master, Jaro Tapal.
His story begins on the planet Bracca, where he hides and works as a wrecker dismantling the huge ships dating back to the Clone Wars.
“Forced” to use the Force to save the life of a friend and fellow Scrapper, Prauf, he does not go unnoticed by the Empire. In Bracca the Second and Ninth Sisters investigate what happened. Their visit throws young Cal into a panic. When queried by the Inquisitors, Prauf draws their attention to himself to allow Cal to escape.
Fleeing, Cal fights many stormtroopers and gets his first taste of the power of an Imperial Inquisitor, but just when it’s about to go bad; he gets rescued by Cere Junda and Greez Dritus aboard the Mantis.
An adventure begins…
After the rescue, Cere Junda takes Cal to the planet Bogano, hoping he will gain access to an ancient crypt.
Thus begins for Cal the exploration of the planet in search of clues, when he comes across the little BD-1, an explorer droid. The bond between the two is immediate and will grow throughout the story until it leads to a friendship.
BD-1, shows to Cal a footage recorded by the Jedi Master Eno Cordova, who attributes the origin of the crypt to the ancient civilization of the Zeffos. Cordova reveals that he hid inside of it the Holocron containing the complete list of Force-sensitive children from all over the Galaxy.
So it begins the “Cordova’s Journey”, which Cal will face together with his new travel companions.
Who’s Cere Junda?
She is a Jedi Seeker discovering Force-sensitive younglings to train in the Ways of the Force.
Cordova’s apprentice until she takes as her Padawan Trilla Suduri.
At the Clones’ Attack, she abandons her apprentice, who, captured and tortured by the Empire, gives into the Dark Side of the Force.
Cere, survives the Order 66, remains deeply marked by the loss of her Padawan, to the point of disconnecting herself from the Force, she makes lose her tracks.
Only when she meets Cal she reconnects to the Force, fueled by the hope of re-establishing the Jedi Order.
Who’s Eno Cordova?
Jedi Master, served the Jedi Order in the final years of the Galactic Republic.
A scholar and Archaeologist, he often travels the Galaxy to learn more about the Ancient Civilizations.
Fascinated by the Zeffos, which is why he goes to the ancient crypt on Bogano. Here, having a vision of the fall of the Jedi Order, he decides to hide the Holocron containing the list of all Force-sensitive children in the Galaxy.
He entrusts his knowledge to the memory of the droid BD-1; with the hope that someone will carry on his mission.
“Cordova’s Journey” is long and winding…
Cal will travel across the Galaxy multiple times. He will explore planets and ancient Temples unlocking new messages to help solve the puzzle to access the ancient Crypt on Bogano.
Map, Collectibles and Jedi Abilities…
The map will provide us with information on available access points, blocked ones and points not yet explored.
Developed on several layers, it may not be simple at first but with the help of the arrow keys it is possible to select floor by floor to be able to orient yourself better.
Some parts will not be explorable because we don’t yet have the specific equipment or skills to reach them. No problem, you can come back and finish the exploration later.
Collectibles are scattered across the map and can be found in chests. Get BD-1 to help you with this activity.
You will also get: Skins for BD-1, outfits for Cal, Skins for the Mantis and elements for the Lightsaber.
Exploration and numerous duels will make our protagonist accumulate Points’ Experience which we can spend by accessing the Skill Tree through any Meditation point.
Cal will be able to rediscover his Jedi abilities and develop new ones.
This evolution will make duels more and more exciting and complex.
The most Iconic moments of the Journey…
“This planet resonates with the dark side of the Force”- We’re talking about Dathomir, dark and steeped in the dark side and in the magic of the Nightsisters.
The hostility of the Nightsister, Merrin, sees Cal face off against the undead.
Subjected to the nefarious influence of the Planet, Cal in a vision relives his Master’s escape and death; at the end of which the Kyber crystal of his lightsaber breaks.
In the long and turbulent exploration of Dathomir, we meet Taron Malicos, a former Jedi Master who escaped the Purge and crashed on the Planet. Passed to the dark side, Taron tries to bring Cal to his side without success.
Defeated, with the help of the Witch; the latter will agree to join the companions of the Mantis.
The second most Iconic moment we live is on Nur. Cere and Cal make their way into the Inquisitorial Fortress. After defeating the Second Sister and obtaining the Holocron, the worst seems to be over.
But here’s the twist! Makes his appearance, Darth Vader, the Iconic Dark Lord of the Sith.
Not at the level for a duel, Cal and Cere escape with the Holocron.
Safe on the Mantis and away from the Empire, Cal and the others realize that rounding up the children would make it easier for the Empire to find them.
The solution is therefore to destroy the Holocron and let the Force decide for the fate of the children.
With the Holocron destroyed and the Empire on their backs, it’s time for Cal and the crew to prepare for a new journey.
The new story is called Survivor…
The story of Cal and his friends continues on Star Wars: Jedi Survivor.
From Respawn’ developers we have confirmation that 5 years elapse between Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order and Survivor.
From the Official Trailer, we immediately notice that Cal’s traits are more mature but that’s not all, so let’s see what news Respawn has in store for us:
- How to know what happened between the two Titles
- Improved exploration
- Combat System
- New enemies
- Mounts
How to know what happened between the two Titles…
If you really can’t wait for Survivor’s Day One and you want at all costs to reveal the secrets of these 5 very long years, what you are looking for is “Star Wars Jedi Battle Scars“.
Jedi: Battle Scars is a canon novel written by Sam Maggs and published by Random House Worlds on March 7, 2023.
Narrates the events that took place after the end of Fallen Order and which prepares us for the world of Survivor.
Improved Exploration
As we see in the new gameplay trailer released in preview, it gives us an idea of how the exploration experience has improved.
After the crash on Planet Koboh, Cal uses the BD-1’s Visor to examine the environment and more distant areas by recalling up the “BD-ocular”.
This novelty allows us to set points of our interest, the Beacons, on the map and which will then be more easy to identify.
Exploration is improved thanks also to the introduction of the ascension cable, which will allow Cal to jump and climb; thus allowing us to more easily access all the explorable areas of the map.
Combat System
If in Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, fights with lightsabers did not reach epic levels like in the movies, this time Respawn is ready to amaze us!
In fact, 5 Stances await us, which will give us the freedom to best express our tastes and our abilities.
Of these 5, three are already known to us from the previous Chapter and we will already have them available at the beginning of the game: Single Blade, Double Blade and Dual Blade.
The remaining 2 Stances will allow us to use the crossguard lightsaber, suitable for heavy attacks and seen in use by Kylo Ren in the films and lastly the use of lightsaber and blaster.
The latter isn’t shown in the Gameplay and is not explored much, thus leaving us with the curiosity of how to take full advantage of it during the clashes.
Each Stance will be able to evolve thanks to the Skill Tree associated with it. As we progress we will have more types of attacks/defenses/combos and “coups de grâce“ inherent in the Stance we have upgraded.
In game we will not be able to use more than 2 Stances at a time.
New enemies
The main villain could be the humanoid in the Bacta tank that we see at the beginning of the Official Presentation Trailer; but continuing in the following minutes we realize that most likely he will not be the only one and indeed could be just a pawn…
A few frames later we see the Grand Inquisitor get possession of the Lightsaber lost by Cal.
Powerful in the dark side of the Force, he will surely prove to be an Enemy to watch over the course of the story. With an army as powerful as that of the Empire and pawns ready to be deployed, it will not make our Protagonist’s life simple.
The young man in the Bacta tank could be influenced by the Inquisitor and ally with him. The inquisitor would easily exploit the resentment and hatred of the young man, who at the beginning of the Trailer states- “I was betrayed by the one I trusted most. I will not be imprisoned again”, and not only that, he could also leverage his training in the force, which would make him a valid foe to deploy against Cal. Why talk about Force?
Because we see him wearing the golden robe that the Jedi wore in the High Republic Era.
As if an Imperial Inquisitor wasn’t enough as a possible Enemy Number One, Cal will be up against several heavily equipped Bounty Hunters.
Mounts
The novelty of the Mounts makes exploration agile, we will move faster over great distances. If this ability to tame living beings is a gift of the Force and how it was learned from Cal we will find out once immersed in the world of Survivor.
From the Trailer we know that we will have two types of mounts available: ground and flying.
The great news is that Cal will be able to attack while on the ground mount.
All this and much more will be revealed to us at D1, when we will finally be able to play the new Title.
Star Wars: Jedi Survivor will be released on April 28, 2023.
It will only be available for Next-Gen: PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.
Stay tuned with us for our next journey to the Far, Far Galaxy...and may the Force be with you!
