Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is nice enjoyable now that I’ve overwhelmed the PC points

Might the 4th be with you all, and it is a good time to be a Star Wars fan (right here I communicate with some authority). Not solely do we’ve got a number of good TV exhibits to occupy ourselves and extra on the way in which, however we additionally received a brand new Star Wars recreation. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is the follow-up to Fallen Order, an action-adventure title with Soulslike taste and loads of Star Wars fanservice. Jedi: Survivor is all of that and a bit extra.

This isn’t a full evaluation as a result of I haven’t completed the sport but — actually, I’ve been enjoying it to get pleasure from at a leisurely tempo reasonably than to get by way of the story. Effectively, that and I needed to do battle with this recreation’s horrendous PC port earlier than I may play. So this shall be extra of my impressions of Jedi: Survivor to this point. And since I’m not beholden to creating one thing timeless, I can complain a bit in regards to the tech points the sport suffered from for the primary few days.

The journey to playtime

I received’t bore everybody with a minute and overly dramatic retelling of how my PCs (sure, a number of) and I struggled simply to get Jedi: Survivor working. I’ll preserve this comparatively transient. Lengthy story brief: It began with the obtain. I performed on PC and it mainly downloaded in bursts. The Steam progress bar regarded like a cutout of a mountain vary. I downloaded it on each my residence and work PCs to check it, and this was the identical throughout each PCs, regardless of the actual fact they’ve separate web connections.

I’ll take the blame for the preliminary graphical slowdown — I uncared for to undertake my ordinary follow of twiddling with the graphics settings for 20 minutes earlier than enjoying. So sitting by way of the opening cutscene took fairly a while — and by the way in which, why is the cutscene of what’s mainly Cal Kestis taking a cab trip scored prefer it’s an epic battle?

Anyway, I might have forgiven the sport all of this have been it not for the truth that the sport crashed on my work PC after I tried to regulate any of the graphics settings. Once I first began enjoying the sport, it could crash after I tried to tweak any of them, they usually have been locked at Epic to start with. By the point the primary patch rolled out, it was simply crashing if I attempted to show off ray tracing. That finally tapered off with a driver replace, although the sport nonetheless doesn’t run properly on my work PC.

Most of those issues vanished a couple of days after launch. Additionally, I managed to get the sport to run completely on my residence gaming PC, which I constructed — although I did must scale the video games again to medium settings, however I’ll take that in alternate for surpassing 30fps. I nonetheless have the unusual downloading concern with the gargantuan patches, however it appears that evidently I lastly received the battle towards Jedi: Survivor’s PC port.

So is Jedi: Survivor good?

Considered one of my main complaints about Fallen Order is that, regardless of it being set in one of the fraught, determined instances within the Star Wars timeline, the story is about one thing fairly irrelevant. For lack of a greater means of placing it, nearly all of it was extra of a Tomb Raider recreation than it was a few determined former Padawan attempting to cover from an Empire that desires to erase him.

In Jedi: Survivor, the story makes extra of an effort to concentrate on the immediacy of Cal’s dilemma. On condition that he can no extra cease utilizing the Power than he can hack off his personal limb, it’s very troublesome for him to cover from the Empire. When he will get a line on what would possibly the last word hideaway — a misplaced planet protected by a treacherous stretch of area — he leaps on the thought that he may assist himself and different Power customers dying beneath the Empire’s watch.

Jedi: Survivor has additionally solidified one in every of my opinions: Cal Kestis is one in every of my favourite new Star Wars characters. He’s no Grogu, however he’s up there. The sequel provides him a bit extra room to point out his persona, as he’s now not in a breathless race towards a dogged adversary to acquire a mystical artifact. Effectively, he is, however he’s extra sedate about it than he was within the final recreation. One of many issues I like most about him is that he treats the droids within the Star Wars universe like sentient beings, having banter with some and exhibiting concern in the event that they’re mistreated. Cal’s only a good egg, and I wish to see him succeed.

One other factor I admire is the artwork design. Survivor has a extra space western aesthetic to it generally — Cal hooks his thumbs in his belt typically throughout cutscenes, for instance. That is mirrored within the design of the primary hub on Koboh, which has a “this city ain’t sufficiently big” kinda vibe. It’s not the primary time Star Wars has gone Western, however I at all times admire it once they do.

I nonetheless have some leftover issues with the gameplay. For starters, I believe they need to junk the Soulslike parts. I get it — Soulslikes are highly regarded. However the enemies respawning everytime you high up your well being at a checkpoint doesn’t actually make sense to me in-game. Additionally, whereas they’ve added extra layers to the lightsaber fight, any time I hit an enemy whereas enjoying one of many sooner kinds it doesn’t really feel like I join. These are issues, however they don’t diminish my enjoyment of the sport that a lot.

I’m additionally not bought on a few of the recreation’s antagonists. Say what you’ll in regards to the Second Sister within the earlier recreation, however no less than she had an easy motive. I’m not precisely positive but what the villains of this recreation are attempting to realize. Additionally, I received’t spoil, however one character activates Cal so quick that it left my head spinning. I really puzzled what it was I missed, as a result of I had no thought what his downside was with me and my Jedi buddy.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a good recreation to this point, and I sit up for seeing the way it shapes up as I end the second half. It feels good to be enjoying a Star Wars recreation proper now — properly, post-PC points, that’s.