Game Review: Jedi: Survivor is the best Star Wars game in a decade
The Force is Strong with this one
Hello, dear readers. My name is Victor and I am a blind gaming, technology, and entertainment journalist. I am also an ambassador for universal design and an accessibility consultant.
Today’s article is all about Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, a narratively-driven, single-player third-person galaxy-spanning action-adventure game from Respawn Entertainment, developed in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games and published by EA. Last Friday we received our review copy of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and after downloading 150Gb of the game and another 100 as an update, we pressed Play on this highly anticipated sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor offers a continuation of the story of Cal Kestis, the renowned protagonist introduced in Fallen Order. The action picks up five years after the events of the previous game and sees our Jedi trying to save the Galaxy from the dark forces threatening to plunge it even more into darkness…
Cal has come a long way since he was a young and unexperienced Padawan and has grown into a powerful Jedi Knight but with the Dark Times closing in and- with new and old enemies surrounding him from every corner, Cal needs to decide how far he’s willing to go to save those he cares about.
The story is well written, cinematic, the voice acting is great and the music is epic. Add to these fantastic and immersive gameplay mechanics that make you feel like you are really using a Lightsaber and the Force, new and familiar planets to explore, new upgrades, abilities and skills to unlock, new secrets to unravel, plus, last but not least, the satisfaction of engaging in an epic battle between good and evil.
The game looks great and runs ok on the PS5. The addition of some really nice accessibility features makes it even more approachable by gamers that couldn’t experience Fallen Order before this one. Sadly, it seems that EA still misses the target when it comes to blind accessibility and can’t seem to be able to deliver a game that people who lost their sight can enjoy. I can’t help but think how awesome and accessible Star Wars Jedi: Survivor could have been for me and millions of blind gamers if EA had hired Brandon Cole to work on this project…
Don’t get me wrong, Jedi: Survivor is the most accessible Star Wars game to date, but for most people, not for us blind folks. Menu narration is missing completely at launch, but we have a promise that it will be added later, there is navigation assist, but it’s not on from beginning and does not assist properly, there are no sound cues or other form of feedback that can help a blind player make his way through the level and so on and so forth.
There are though a lot of helping options for people with reduced vision such as customizable filters, larger UI elements and subtitles, captioning for people with hearing loss, auto targeting, reduce damage from falls, slow motion during fights and even an option to remove spiders from the game for those with such phobias.
Although I can’t experience the game on my own, I picked up the DualSense Edge and had some fun using the Force and the Lightsaber. Both the adaptive triggers and haptic feedback feel fantastic and immersive. This is a single player game, somewhat linear in design and with more work from the dev team can be made accessible for blind gamers as well if that’s the target, but I’m not holding my breath.
Alina and my colleague Alex have both played the game and loved it, so if you are not blind, you may also enjoy this excellent adventure into a Galaxy, far, far away
With Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Respawn Entertainment and Lucasfilm Games have been able to deliver one of the most immersive Star Wars gaming experiences yet. During your journey through the galaxy, you’ll be able to feel like a true Jedi, fighting for what’s right, punishing the oppressors and bringing balance to the Force. If you love Star Wars in general and enjoyed Fallen Order in particular, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is an adventure that you should not miss!
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is now available for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Review copy provided by EA
Victor Dima
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