'Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order' Trailer: Try To Survive As A Jedi Padawan On The Run After Order 66
So far the video game offerings in the Star Wars universe since Disney bought Lucasfilm have left a lot to be desired. While Star Wars Battlefront was fun for a little while, there's no real depth to the game and it's distinctly missing what makes an adventure in a galaxy far, far away so exciting. Hopefully Electronic Arts can change that with a new Jedi fantasy adventure game.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is about a Jedi padawan trying to survive after Order 66 resulted in almost all the Jedi in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. As the creators of the game touted during the Star Wars Celebration, this is entirely a Jedi story. There's no multiplayer and no micro-transactions. But there is a Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order trailer that shows off our first glimpse at the video game, including the new lead Jedi character, an intimidating new Inquisitor, a cute new droid, an intriguing new lightsaber, and more.
Watch the trailer below, and keep reading for some other details revealed during the game's Star Wars Celebration panel.
Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order Trailer
Here's the official synopsis for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order:
Players will meet Cal Kestis on Bracca, a brand-new Star Wars planet and one of several new locations introduced in the game. Cal is hiding from the Empire in plain sight but is forced to go on the run when he exposes his Force powers. Along the way, Cal will make new friends, like his mysterious companion Cere, as well as run into some familiar faces, all while being accompanied by his faithful droid BD-1. Cal's flight from the Empire is made even more dangerous as he is being pursued by the Second Sister, one of the Empire's elite Inquisitors, who seeks to hunt Cal down and extinguish this surviving Jedi. Assisting the Second Sister are the terrifying Purge Troopers, special Imperial forces trained to seek out Jedi and aid the Inquisitors in their dastardly work.
The game takes place during the period that has been referred as The Dark Times, taking us to ancient forests, windswept rock faces, and haunted jungles. Game director Stig Asmussen said this part of the Star Wars universe is of particular interest to fans, and it also allows a little bit more freedom when it comes to filling in the gaps between movies thanks to the large passage of time between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Asmussen said:
"The team at Lucasfilm have been amazing collaborators, helping us explore and further develop this part of the timeline where the Empire is at the height of its power and any remaining Jedi are in hiding. Within this narrative, we've crafted a game with intense, yet thoughtful and fun melee combat using the lightsaber and Force powers, allowing anyone to fulfill their Jedi fantasy."
The game was described by creators at the panel as an action melee game, but the description on GameStop also touts a wide range of challenges focused on combat, exploration, and puzzle-solving. But an emphasis was put on the combat part of the game, an element that requires players to really size up enemies, identify and exploit their weaknesses, and figure out which of your powers will defeat them.
While we're not necessarily confident in Electronic Arts when it comes to crafting games that really give Star Wars fans what they're looking for, the panel revealed that the team behind this game was built from scratch, which doesn't usually happen in the video game industry. It includes people who have worked on games like Uncharted, God of War, Batman, BioShock, Metal Gear Solid, Titanfall, and Call of Duty. That's quite the roster, and with a variety of creative minds behind the game, hopefully that's for the best.
Jedi on the Run
As we said, the game focuses on Jedi padawan Cal Kestis. Following Order 66, he's trying to lay low. If you think Cal looks like Gotham star Cameron Monaghan, that's because it is. The actor is playing the Jedi padawan by way of motion-capture and a vocal performance.
Like the trailer says, he must follow three rules: Don't stand out, accept the past, and trust no one. When he unwisely uses the Force to save friend from falling to his death while working on a dangerous salvage job tearing apart massive crashed ships, he finds himself the target of the Inquisitorius, specifically the Second Sister and the dangerous Purge Troopers, characters who were recently introduced in the background of the pages of Marvel's Darth Vader comics.
The Second Sister and Purge Troopers
The Second Sister was mostly kept under wraps during the panel, but the creators were willing to say that she's extremely intelligent and very clever with her use of the Force. For example, at the end of the trailer above, she's using the Force to steer the ship on which Cal is trying to escape. Good luck with that, Cal.
Meanwhile, the Purge Troopers were discussed as if they were completely new. These actually feel like revamps of the troopers of the same name from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game. But since that's part of the Star Wars Legends stories and this new game is part of the official canon, these updated and more intimidating Purge Troopers are the official ones. They're troopers who are the first responders when rumors of surviving Jedi come to the surface. They check out the rumors and see if an Inquisitor needs to be brought in to take care of the job. But they also have the skills and weaponry to battle themselves too.
A New Droid Pal
Cal gets help in evading these new villains from a little droid buddy named BD-1 (referred to as Buddy Droid behind the scenes). But BD-1 isn't just a sidekick, because he's every bit as useful and involved as Cal. The creators called them equals and friends, one leaning on the other during this dark period in the Star Wars universe.
BD-1 has a cool little spotlight in one of his eyes that will prove useful during the game. It's one of many tools that players will be able to upgrade and use over the course of the game. The little droid, which was designed to look like a tiny AT-ST with a camcorder for a head, also has a tie to Star Wars history: the droid's "voice" is provided longtime Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt, giving the droid a quality that is whimsical and endearing, but a little feisty too.
A Mysterious Lightsaber
Finally, you'll notice that Cal is still carrying around a lightsaber. When asked about the lightsaber itself, the creators said, "How do you know that's Cal's lightsaber?" Not only does this lightsaber belong to someone else, but game director Stig Asmussen wasn't ready to reveal the mystery behind it yet. He said, "It's intimately tied to the story, full of spoilers. Over the course of the game it will grow and evolve." And he's not talking about the mystery, but rather the lightsaber itself. So that should be interesting.
Hoping for the Best
As of now, we're intrigued by this trailer for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. At the very least, it'll be nice to have another narrative game with a Jedi at the center of it. But considering the track record Electronic Arts has, we're going to remain cautiously optimistic, especially since we haven't seen any real gameplay yet. The trailer is full of assets rendered within the game's engine, but there's not any gameplay footage there. But we have a long time until the game arrives on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC this fall on November 15, 2019.