Recent reviews by Halbam

PREFACE: Please note that I don't downgrade my rating for the technical problems it has at launch; they did not occur for me (RTX 3080Ti, i9-12900K). I had one crash over the entire first playthrough (just under 50h of playtime) and only a few areas where the framerate dropped noticably. I played in 2k on maximum settings, including raytracing.

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Jedi: Survivor takes everything Jedi: Fallen Order did and dials it to 11. Personally, I don't usually play Soulslike games since I lack the patience for continuous cycles of trial, error, and improvement. But this mix of responsive combat, Metroidvania level design, impressive setpieces, engaging story, and pure Star Wars feeling hits it right out of the park for me. My biggest gripe with Fallen Order was how disconnected it felt from the rest of the Star Wars galaxy; the only interaction you had besides your crew were some of Saw's partisans on Kashyyyk. The rest of the time, Cal mowed through armies of foes and explored otherwise empty worlds. But in Survivor, you actually make connections beyond the Mantis crew. The addition of Pyloon's Saloon and all the small stories happening around it made me look forward to returning there every time. Listening to Moran, the jaded smuggler, as he slowly warms up to Cal and finally jumps over his shadow and contacts his ex-partner; hanging on the lips of Skoova Stev as he tells of his exploits and regrets in the seas of many worlds; or listeting to chill droid beats while I learn how you come to be something as relatable and mundane as a music producer in this galaxy. The saloon feels like home, and that isn't an accident: the Found Family theme is one of the major themes, in Suvivor even more than in Fallen Order.

The story twists and turns as Cal and friends chase after a long lost world which promises to be a safe haven from the Empire. Plot-wise, the relatively new era of the High Republic is central, and it's great to see the tie-ins from several sources. For the most time it feels like you are playing catch-up, but you rarely feel devoid of agency. I won't spoil the last act, but let me tell you I didn't see it coming from that angle. Strong emotions were felt, and fittingly so by Cal as well. He manages to be a great avatar for the player, while still not being devoid of character and personality.

There are many more things I could praise, but the graphics, the environment design, and the PCAP quality are visible well enough from the trailers.

My only gripes as a completionist are that a) you get nothing really for collecting everything, and b) that the collectibles only available in the postgame are not marked on the map by the map upgrade. I played the game to pretty much 100%, but stopped looking for the last missing database entries in favor of going to NG+. The latter gives some fun perks to make the second playthrough more varying and demanding.

Rating
Total: 45/50

My recommendation: Make sure that it runs on your setup and maybe wait for a few patches to drop, but if you like Star Wars or just good games, absolutely play it eventually!

Some nice ideas, but buggy as hell. Also, the characters are one-dimensional and really wasted in this "story". Feels like an overzealos modder was forced to pump out an AC game.

Do not buy this. You won't miss it.

Spielerisch, akustisch und grafisch in meinen Augen eine Verbesserung vom Vorgänger. Die Steuerung ist imho nur mit einem Controller zu ertragen - ich habs mit einem XBOX 360 Controller gezockt und kam sehr gut klar. Allerdings ist das Spiel viel zu kurz (und hat eine höchst unlogische Story), was auch der arg aufgesetzte Herausforderungs-Modus nicht mehr rausreißt.

Ich empfehle, das Spiel zu kaufen, wenn es bei einem Sale im Angebot ist (ich hab es für 12€ gekauft, glaub ich), aber die vollen 29,99€ (Stand: 12.2.2014) wären verschwendet.