Today marks the one-year anniversary of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the sequel to 2019’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order by EA and developer Respawn Entertainment. The last installment within the Jedi trilogy is already some methods in improvement and received’t be anticipated till as far down as 2027 (by way of Comic Book). Considering that Star Wars month can also be about to start this Wednesday (and Star Wars Day on Saturday, May 4), this can be a good time to have a look again on the reveal and launch for Jedi Survivor. As we accomplish that, I’ll be giving a few of my private ideas over the sport’s street to launch and past.
The Reveal
The World Premiere Trailer for Jedi Survivor was held on the night of December 8, 2022 at The Game Awards. The reveal trailer opened up with a view of a mysterious one armed determine floating inside a bacta tank earlier than the brand new character was proven waking up and being freed by the sport’s major character Jedi Cal Kestis (performed by Cameron Monaghan) and his droid companion BD-1. Following this intro shot, viewers have been greeted with new characters comparable to Magna Guards and different battle droids, the crime syndicate referred to as the Haxion Brood and Imperial Stormtroopers, together with returning characters together with Cal’s previous Jedi Master Cere Junda. In truth, I keep in mind watching The Game Awards when this trailer premiered, and getting caught off-guard when the trailer began, as I believed the brand new character within the bacta tank was a bodily prop on the present’s stage.
Without entering into an excessive amount of element over the sport’s story, Jedi Survivor does happen a number of years after 2019’s Jedi Fallen Order. Considering the brand new enemies that Cal Kestis faces in Jedi Survivor, it’s for sure that his battle towards the Galactic Empire continues within the sequel. Much has modified through the years because the occasions of Jedi Fallen Order, and never simply judging by Cere Junda’s new Jedi outfit in a single transient shot of her reunion with Cal. The World Premiere Trailer does display fast pictures of the brand new areas the sport explores in addition to some new gameplay/fight mechanics (once more, not entering into an excessive amount of element). Towards the tip of the trailer, the sport really had a unique launch date versus the April 28 launch day (extra on that coming in a bit).
Jedi Survivor’s reveal trailer ended with a March 17 launch date (yep, St. Patrick’s Day), however that’s not all. Right because the trailer ended, Cameron Monaghan himself gave an thrilling stay look on the Game Award stage, accompanied by the sport’s major theme melody and exhibiting off Cal Kestis’s lightsaber. Cameron would then give a brief speech to excite the viewers in anticipation of Jedi Survivor’s launch a couple of months away. What a stay entrance certainly, Mr. Monaghan!
A Slight Delay
As talked about above, Jedi Survivor didn’t make it’s March 2023 launch date. So what precisely occurred? On EA’s official web site for the sport, the announcement was made on January 31 that Jedi Survivor was being given a six week delay to April 28:
In order for the crew to hit the Respawn high quality bar, present the crew the time they want, and obtain the extent of polish our followers deserve, we’ve got added six essential weeks to our launch schedule – Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will now launch globally on April twenty eighth.
Thanks to EA and Respawn for giving us the time to ship one of the best expertise for our gamers, and to all of you on your understanding.
May the Force be with you.
Not to fret, proper? It was solely a month and a half delay. This was alright with me, because the delay purchased me a number of additional weeks to avoid wasting up my $70 for the sport. Surely the six week delay would give the devs additional time to iron out some any additional glitches that they might have been dealing with on the time. Though wanting again, I recall that The Mandalorian Season 3 premiered on Disney+ at first of March and the identical with The Bad Batch Season 2 quickly wrapping up round Jedi Survivor’s authentic meant launch day. So, particularly for The Mandalorian Season 3’s premiere, might this have been a secret trigger for Jedi Survivor’s delay… or was this simply pure hypothesis (or a coincidence)?
I Sense A Disturbance In The Force
Around a couple of days or so earlier than the April 28 launch day, I pre-ordered my copy of Jedi Survivor on PlayStation 5. I used to be excited to await my pre-order being delivered, and it did get to me not too lengthy in a while April 30. But earlier than then, Jedi Survivor was lastly launched on April 28. Long story brief, the sequel was given quite a lot of total reward for the gameplay being a big enchancment from Jedi Fallen Order. Though relying on who you ask (The Verge is one instance), the sport’s story might have been a weaker level to a sure diploma.
But regardless of the general constructive opinions Jedi Survivor has garnered, launch day held one main disappointment — efficiency points. Jedi Survivor was one more instance of contemporary video video games with damaged launches, particularly for the PC port, on this case. The sport launched with a plethora of efficiency points, comparable to sport crashes and unstable body charges that not even the Performance Mode possibility might fully repair.
Personally, these glitches weren’t as extreme on my PS5 copy of Jedi Survivor. While I did expertise the unstable body charges and sport crashes, no less than the latter have been fewer and extra spaced out. Some body tearing was noticeable when panning the digital camera and a few ranges, such because the Shattered Moon, had worse framerate than others.
I nonetheless total loved my playthrough after getting my copy delivered. Yet, this was the beginning of the street of wanted patches. While I might solely think about how a lot worse Jedi Survivor’s launch might have been if the six week delay by no means occurred, it’s unlucky that the delay didn’t repair much more of those efficiency points. To keep away from such a damaged launch, Respawn and EA ought to have given the sport an excellent longer delay, maybe releasing the sport nearer to November 2023, just like how Fallen Order was launched again in November 2019.
At least Star Wars followers had an additional one thing to assist maintain them over whereas they hope for the patches to in the end stabilize the sport’s efficiency. For the Star Wars Day 2023 celebration, Mark Hamill (finest referred to as Luke Skywalker himself) teamed up with Cameron Monaghan on this May 4 promotion for Jedi Survivor:
Stable Frame Rates At Last
Jedi Survivor did obtain a number of updates within the following months, step by step fixing the glitches and enhancing the in-game body charges all through all platforms together with PC. Some patches have been main, whereas others have been minor updates. But lastly on September 5, Patch 7 lastly made Jedi Survivor run with strong 60 FPS, significantly on Performance Mode. I used to be so hyped to lastly capable of play the sport with clean and steady body charges.
Final Thoughts
Not an excessive amount of has occurred with Jedi Survivor since Patch 7. Only a few newer patches have been made to date since September 5, with the newest patch launched earlier this 12 months on January 11. However, it was stunning information to listen to that EA has eventual plans for final -gen ports for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One (in accordance with IGN), however no official announcement for a launch date has been made, as of but. Perhaps their launch dates will probably be introduced subsequent month throughout all of the Star Wars celebrations?
Up till this level, I’ve solely pre-ordered a couple of video games, however Jedi Survivor’s buggy launch did make me suppose twice on pre-ordering any extra sooner or later. This additionally consists of reconsidering pre-orders of comparably smaller video games from respected franchises or builders. The latter has ultimately been confirmed because of (for the upteenth time) the damaged launch of Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection. To be fairly trustworthy, I haven’t even purchased my copy for the Classic Collection, as I nonetheless am ready for additional fixes earlier than I can consider lastly making my buy.
In truth, it’s been fairly some time since I performed Jedi Survivor. The begin of Star Wars month will quickly give me an ideal alternative to leap again right into a Galaxy Far Far Away as soon as extra with Cal Kestis and crew. Good factor all the foremost fixes give me a way more pleasant time taking part in Jedi Survivor, in comparison with how my expertise might have been had I purchased the Battlefront Classic Collection since its launch week.
What do you consider Jedi Survivor a 12 months after launch? How was your expertise with the sport like? Let us know beneath!
