Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order takes place shortly after the extermination of the Jedi Order, and the player takes on the role of the padawan Cal Kestis, who has been hiding out on a ship graveyard and is forced to stand up and fight back once more. The gameplay combines several proven directions: lightsaber combat relies on blocking and parrying blows at the right moment, similar to soulslike games, movement through the world resembles a metroidvania, since new abilities open up previously inaccessible places, and along the way there's a lot of climbing, sliding, and jumping. The companion droid BD-1 serves as a med kit, a map, and a key to terminals, and quickly earns the player's affection.

The planets are designed as sprawling, interconnected maps with many shortcuts the player returns to with new abilities. On PlayStation 4 the game struggled at launch with texture pop-in and occasional stutters in smoothness, but later updates fixed most of the issues. Visually it holds to the classic look of the Star Wars universe, with emphasis on both inhabited and abandoned planets and lighting reminiscent of the original films. The music builds on familiar motifs without merely repeating them, and gains dramatic momentum in fights against the Inquisitors.

Reception was strongly positive, mainly because, after a long while, it was a big single-player Star Wars game without microtransactions and without requiring an online connection. Criticism mentioned technical issues and occasionally confusing orientation on the maps. The title's influence was clear in confirming audience interest in solid, story-driven single-player action games. Today it still plays very well, the combat is challenging in just the right way, and for fans of the series it's one of the best gaming trips into the era between the film trilogies. It's also worth appreciating that the game doesn't rely on familiar faces and instead builds its own cast of characters the player grows attached to along the way, and that the title's success led to a full-fledged sequel.