Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is the highly anticipated sequel to 2019’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a critical and commercial success developed by Apex Legends maker Respawn Entertainment. It’s easy to see why Fallen Order was a hit; slashing enemies with a custom lightsaber and deploying Force powers against the Emperor’s sinister agents is always good fun.
It also helps that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order gave fans a new and likable hero, Cal Kestis (as well as his sidekick, the droid BD-1), and an intriguing story that expanded the Star Wars canon between the events of the prequel trilogy and the original trilogy.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s launch kicks off a five-week stretch of major video game releases for consoles and PC. Here’s everything you need to know about the next action-adventure in a galaxy far, far away.
When does Star Wars Jedi: Survivor come out?
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is now tabbed for an April 28 launch date. That’s a six-week delay from the March 17 date that Respawn and publisher Electronic Arts originally announced at the beginning of December.
“In order for the team to hit the Respawn quality bar, provide the team the time they need, and achieve the level of polish our fans deserve, we have added six crucial weeks to our release schedule,” game director Stig Asmussen said when the game was delayed.
What platforms will Star Wars Jedi: Survivor launch on?
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is coming to PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The game is available online from the consoles’ marketplaces, Steam, the Epic Games Store, and EA’s Origin store.
Unlike Fallen Order, Survivor will not be released on PlayStation 4 or Xbox One.
Is there any early access for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor?
Through its EA Play subscription for PlayStation, Xbox, and PC, Electronic Arts offers 10-hour pre-release trials of some, but not all, of its new launches (typically, these come from its EA Sports line). When Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order launched in 2019, the game did not get an EA Play trial period. Electronic Arts has so far not said whether Star Wars Jedi: Survivor would get one. Bottom line: Don’t count on it.
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Are there any special edition releases of Jedi: Survivor?
EA is selling two editions of the game: the standard edition ($69.99), and a deluxe edition ($89.99). Pre-ordering either gives buyers a set of in-game “Jedi Survivor” cosmetic content for Kestis; the deluxe version gives them the “New Hero” and “Galactic Hero” content packs.
The “Jedi Survivor” cosmetics are a set of “Hermit” skins (costume, blaster, and lightsaber) that are inspired by Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Tatooine garb.
“Galactic Hero” and “New Hero” are themed to Han Solo’s and Luke Skywalker’s appearances in the throne room awards sequence at the end of Star Wars. In addition to the costuming, players get Solo’s gun and Luke’s saber, and companion droid BD-1 gets Endor camouflage and R2-D2 skins.
Do you need to play Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order first?
Not necessarily, and there is apparently no in-game benefit to having a save file from the first game.
But it wouldn’t hurt. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, like its predecessor, is an old-school single-player narrative. So, Star Wars fans will probably want to be up to speed on the story of hero Cal Kestis, especially as the Star Wars video games are considered part of the franchise’s overall canon and sometimes mentioned in other works.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is part of the EA Play library of games, which is also accessible to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.
What is the story of the Star Wars Jedi games? (No spoilers, please!)
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is the story of Cal Kestis, a former Jedi Padawan, five years after the events of the 2005 film Revenge of the Sith. Kestis is trying to conceal his past and Force abilities from the Imperial Inquisition that still hunts any Jedi survivors of Palpatine’s Order 66. Kestis’ adventure takes him to several different worlds, introduces new characters, and features others who have appeared elsewhere in Star Wars lore.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is set five years after the events of Fallen Order, which would place its story roughly concurrent to the timeline of the six-episode Obi-Wan Kenobi series that launched on Disney Plus in May 2022. That, too, tells the story of Jedi who have gone into hiding from Imperial Inquisitors. Where Kestis is originally pursued by the Inquisition’s Second Sister, the main antagonist of Obi-Wan Kenobi is the Third Sister. So catching up on that show might be a good idea, too.
What kind of gameplay can we expect in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor?
This week, IGN published a nine-minute video preview of gameplay from early in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Generally speaking, players should expect the same gameplay loops that helped make Fallen Order a critical success. In addition to melee combat showcasing all of a Jedi’s skills with a lightsaber and the Force, players should expect exploration and collection challenges, and environmental puzzle-solving to advance the story, with plenty of customization options.
Cal will have new Force abilities in Jedi: Survivor, including a more powerful Force push, the ability to stop blaster fire midair (à la Kylo Ren in The Force Awakens), and the option to grab an enemy and force them to fight on your behalf.
Additionally, Kestis will now carry a blaster (as the pre-order bonuses confirm), adding another layer to combat. And in the current issue of Play magazine, Asmussen says that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will feature both rideable mounts and fast-travel to help players traverse the game’s worlds.