Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

, the game's protagonist, fights two AT-STs with his lightsaber. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is an action-adventure video game played from a third-person perspective. The player can use their lightsaber to strike at enemies, or block incoming attacks. Blocking an attack depletes a character's block meter, opening them up to attack when the meter hits zero. If the player blocks just before an attack, this will parry the attack or deflect a projectile, causing their opponent's block meter to fall more quickly, opening them up for attack. Some enemies will glow red when they attempt to launch an unblockable attack. The player can either sidestep, dodge, or interrupt the attack by using Force abilities. The player has one lightsaber at the beginning of the game, and they can earn the ability to dual-wield lightsabers or use a double-bladed lightsaber later in the game. The player has access to several Force powers, which are used in both combat and puzzle scenarios. The player begins the game with a "force slow" ability that slows down enemies, and slowly earns more force powers such as wall-run, double-jump, force-push, and force-pull, allowing them to reach previously inaccessible areas. As players progress in the game, they gain skill points which can be used to upgrade their combat skills, which are divided into three major categories: Survival, Lightsaber, and Force. Some of the bosses are part of the main story, while others are optional. The starship Stinger Mantis serves as the small hub area where the player can talk to non-playable characters, and is used to travel between planets. On each planet, the locations are interconnected, and players can find shortcuts to traverse areas more quickly. Many areas can only be accessed once the player unlocks new abilities or items. When requested, BD-1 projects a holographic map of the planet, including the location of the player's objectives. Doors that can be opened are highlighted in green, and gates that cannot be opened yet are highlighted in red. BD-1 can be upgraded to help with navigation and combat, though some upgrades can be easily missed. Each level contains "meditation circles" where the player can save the game, spend skill points to update their character, refill Stim Canisters, and rest to recover health, healing items, and force energy. However, resting causes all enemies to respawn. Dying in battle costs players experience points, though lost XP can be regained by damaging the opponent that has previously killed the player. With the addition of a Star Wars Day update released in 2020, players can access the Meditation Arena through the meditation circles. The arena offers combat challenges where the player fights waves of enemies based on locations from the main game. Completing a challenge awards the player with up to three stars, based on the player's health. These stars can be used to unlock cosmetic changes for BD-1. The Meditation Arena includes a battle grid, where players can select their abilities and opponents for a custom challenge. == Synopsis ==

Setting and characters {{multiple image |caption_align=center |header_align=center |align=right |total_width=320 Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order takes place five years after the events of Revenge of the Sith, in which the democratic Galactic Republic was replaced by the totalitarian Galactic Empire, which effectively controls the galaxy and oversaw the near-extermination of the Republic's peacekeepers, the Jedi Order. The game follows Jedi Padawan Cal Kestis (Cameron Monaghan), one of the few survivors of the Empire's Great Jedi Purge, who embarks on a mission to try and rebuild the Jedi Order while being hunted by the Second Sister (Elizabeth Grullón) and her partner, the Ninth Sister (Misty Lee), both trained by the Sith Lord Darth Vader (Scott Lawrence) as part of the Imperial Inquisitors program. They were first introduced in Marvel Comics' comic book series Star Wars: Darth Vader - Dark Lord of the Sith. During his journey, Cal is joined by several allies, including former Jedi Knight-turned-mercenary Cere Junda (Debra Wilson); her friend Greez Dritus (Daniel Roebuck), owner and pilot of the Stinger Mantis; BD-1 (Ben Burtt), a small droid previously owned by Jedi Master Eno Cordova (Tony Amendola); and Merrin (Tina Ivlev), one of the last surviving members of the Nightsister clan of Dathomir. Other characters include Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), the leader of the Partisan rebel movement against the Empire that was featured in previous Star Wars media; Dark Jedi Taron Malicos (Liam McIntyre), who usurped leadership of Dathomir; Wookiee chieftain Tarfful, who leads the Wookiee resistance against the Empire and first appeared in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith; and Cal's former Jedi Master, Jaro Tapal (Travis Willingham), who is featured in flashbacks alongside several clone troopers (Dee Bradley Baker). Plot Five years after the Republic's conversion into the Empire and the Great Jedi Purge, former Padawan Cal Kestis is hiding from the Empire on the planet Bracca, where he works as a scrapper salvaging ships from the Clone Wars. An Imperial probe catches Cal using the Force to save his friend Prauf, and two Inquisitors—the Second Sister and the Ninth Sister—are sent to capture the Jedi. After the Second Sister kills Prauf for speaking up against the Empire, Cal makes his escape. He is rescued by former Jedi Knight Cere Junda and pilot Greez Dritus, who transport him on their ship, the Mantis. Cere takes Cal to the planet Bogano in the hopes that he can access an ancient vault. On the way to the vault, Cal befriends a small droid named BD-1, who shows him a message from Cere's former Jedi Master, Eno Cordova. It reveals that the vault was built by an ancient civilization called the Zeffo and that a Jedi Holocron containing a list of Force-sensitive children has been hidden inside by Cordova. Cere believes the list could help rebuild the Jedi Order, but the only way to access the vault is by following Cordova's path. Cal heads to the Zeffo homeworld and explores an ancient temple, finding a clue pointing to Cordova's friend, the Wookiee chieftain Tarfful. Heading to Kashyyyk, Cal encounters notorious insurgent Saw Gerrera, whose Partisans are aiding the local Wookiee resistance. Cal helps Saw liberate an Imperial slave labour camp in exchange for arranging a meeting with Tarfful. Unable to locate Tarfful, Cal revisits Zeffo in search of additional clues but is unexpectedly ambushed by the Second Sister, who unveils herself as Trilla Suduri, Cere's former Padawan. Trilla explains her capture by the Empire after Cere's betrayal under torture and warns Cal of the inevitable betrayal by Cere as well. Cal discovers the necessity of a Zeffo artifact known as an Astrium to access the vault, but is captured by a bounty hunter working for the Haxion Brood crime syndicate over Greez's debts to them, forcing him into a gladiatorial arena owned by the Haxion boss, Sorc Tormo. Following a rescue mission by Cere and Greez, Cal returns to Kashyyyk, where Tarfful instructs him to investigate the pinnacle of the Origin Tree. At that location, Cal uncovers another recording by Cordova, revealing the presence of an Astrium within a Zeffo tomb on Dathomir, but his exploration is interrupted by an encounter with the Ninth Sister, whom he manages to defeat. On Dathomir, Cal's progress is impeded by an army of revenants led by Nightsister Merrin, who blames the Jedi for the massacre of her people during the Clone Wars. Cal has a flashback of his former master Jaro Tapal sacrificing himself to protect Cal during Order 66, unconsciously destroying his lightsaber's kyber crystal in the process. He meets former Jedi Taron Malicos, who crash-landed on Dathomir during the Purge and succumbed to the dark side of the Force, usurping leadership of the planet. Malicos seeks to learn the Nightsisters' magic and tries to tempt Cal to the dark side, but the latter refuses and flees after Merrin attacks them both. Aboard the Stinger Mantis, Cere admits she cut her connection to the Force after briefly falling to the dark side upon learning Trilla became an Inquisitor. After traveling to Ilum to rebuild his lightsaber, Cal returns to Dathomir, where he retrieves the Astrium and overcomes his guilt over Jaro's death. He then defeats Malicos with the unexpected aid of Merrin, who agrees to join the Stinger Mantis crew. Back on Bogano, Cal unlocks the vault, experiencing a vision where he rebuilds the Jedi Order, but they are defeated and tortured by the Empire, whom he eventually joins. After escaping the vision, Trilla attacks him and steals the Holocron. Cere reassumes her role as a Jedi and knights Cal before they infiltrate the Fortress Inquisitorius on Mustafar's oceanic moon Nur to recover the Holocron. After battling their way through almost an entire company of stormtroopers, they reach Trilla, whom Cal defeats, taking back the Holocron. Cere reconciles with Trilla, but before the latter can be fully redeemed, Darth Vader suddenly appears and murders Trilla for her failure. Unable to defeat Vader, Cal and Cere escape from his grasp and are saved from drowning by Merrin. The crew celebrates their success on the Stinger Mantis, until they realize that the children listed on the Holocron will only be in more danger if they become Jedi. Cal destroys the Holocron with his lightsaber and asks his crew where they should go next. ==Development==

Background Following his exit from Sony's Santa Monica Studio, Stig Asmussen, who had previously directed God of War III, joined Respawn Entertainment in 2014. He served as the studio's game director, leading the studio's second development team while the first development team was working on the Titanfall games. Prior to the game's development, Respawn discussed the possibility of making a Star Wars game with publisher Electronic Arts (EA), who controlled an exclusive license from Lucasfilm to develop new Star Wars games. This plan did not go through. When this plan did not go through, Respawn began development on an original game concept, and EA felt the project could work well as a Star Wars game. As owner of the Star Wars intellectual property, Lucasfilm was protective of the Jedi as a "sacred" part of the franchise and encouraged Respawn to make a shooter game about a smuggler or bounty hunter. However, Asmussen pushed back with his vision, convincing Lucasfilm to focus on a game with Jedi and lightsaber combat. Lucasfilm would continue to check in with Asmussen and Respawn, ensuring the game's fidelity to the Star Wars setting. Visually, the game was heavily inspired by Rogue One and Solo. Narrative while creating the sound effects for Cal's companion droid BD-1. Aaron Contreras led the game's writing team, which included Chris Avellone, and several writers experienced with the Star Wars setting from their work on Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Rebels. The team wanted to evoke feelings of the Star Wars original trilogy, while creating an "authentic" Jedi story and a classic hero's journey. At the beginning of the game, Cal Kestis is not yet a Jedi, as his training ended abruptly as the Jedi were purged during Order 66. Fallen Order, therefore, was envisioned as a "David and Goliath story", focusing on "the classic battle of good versus evil". The writing team described "trauma" as one of the main themes, telling a story about how people react in moments of desperation. This was reflected through Cal's growing confidence in his abilities, and his gradual trust of his companions as they resist the Empire. Another broad theme was "survival", but most importantly was "letting go", which the main characters learn to trust The Force and let destiny work itself out by doing the right thing instead of putting everything under their control like the Empire does through oppression, which culminates with them destroying the Holocron. Cal's original name was going to be "Boone", as the creative team looked to the Western genre for inspiration. He was also envisioned to be an "untrusting" and "laconic" character. The team chose characters and planets so long as they were meaningful and unique to their story, resulting in the team scrapping visits to a number of Star Wars planets such as Hoth and Mustafar and removing an appearance by the Grand Inquisitor in the story. As a companion robot, Respawn designed it to be very "personable", and described it as Cal's best friend. The team initially design a bolster for BD-1 so he could fly around, but later settled for a bipedal design because the team wanted him to be an exploration droid. It has a pair of big eyes, which allow him to scan different objects and project a map hologram. The team initially brainstormed about giving the droid lines of dialogue, though ultimately decided to work with Ben Burtt to create its beeping sounds. Gameplay Respawn wanted players to explore the world without needing excessive guidance. The Force powers, in particular, were described as "lock-and-key mechanisms" which can be used to solve puzzles and unlock secret areas. The game's Metroidvania design further reflected Cal's narrative growth as a character as he became more confident in himself and his connection with the Force. The game does not feature a fast travel system, as the team believed that players would explore each location more thoroughly and look for shortcuts when they are not allowed to skip through the critical path. The combat of the game was described to be "thoughtful" and "methodical". The team decided early in development that Jedi warriors focus on "precision and efficiency". It was not combo-based, as the team did not want players to mash buttons. Instead, the game was about striking at enemies and using Force abilities at the right moments and catching enemies off guard. The player must study an opponent's move set and react to them accordingly with different tactics and timing of attack. To stay true to the Star Wars universe, Cal can kill stormtroopers with one hit using his lightsaber. To make the combat more challenging, some enemies were designed with natural armor, and others were given a Block meter. In particular, the team did not want the game to be unforgiving or punishing. The team introduced difficulty modes that mainly change enemy aggression, as well as the player's parry timing and health loss. Even in the most difficult game mode, the design team wanted Cal's weapons to deliver lethal damage. As moments of dismemberment were rare in the Star Wars films, Lucasfilm and Respawn agreed that the game would not feature human dismemberment. Music Gordy Haab and Stephen Barton served as the game's composers. Haab described the score of the game as "dark", with some songs bordering on "gothic horror". The team felt that Cal's theme was challenging to create, since they did not want to foreshadow too much of his character development and his heroic journey. Haab intentionally avoided listening to established Star Wars music in order to create something new for Fallen Order. A soundtrack album for the game was released on August 21, 2020. It is over 3 hours long and it was produced by the composers Barton and Haab, Nick Laviers, Alan Meyerson, and Electronic Arts President of Music Steve Schnur. Mongolian folk metal band The Hu wrote and recorded a song, "Sugaan Essena", which featured prominently in the game. The song lyrics were written in Mongolian, then translated into a fictional Star Wars language. ==Release==

The project was revealed by publisher Electronic Arts to be a third-person action-adventure game set in the Star Wars universe in May 2016. Publisher Electronic Arts announced the game at E3 2018, At E3 2019, Electronic Arts showcased a 15-minute demo of the game. The game's development was completed on October 18, 2019, with Respawn confirming it had been declared gold, indicating it was being prepared for duplication and release. It was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on November 15, 2019, a month before the theatrical release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The release of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order marked EA's return to Steam, eight years after releasing games exclusively on its own Origin platform. The game was released in two editions: a Standard Edition, and a Deluxe Edition. The Deluxe Edition featured exclusive skins for BD-1 and the Stinger Mantis, a digital artbook, and a "Director's Cut" behind the scenes video. One of these cosmetics that were available through pre-ordering the game, the orange lightsaber crystal, was later made available through an update to all players. At launch, the game received criticisms for its abundance of software bugs. Respawn once considered delaying the title to further polish the game, but ultimately decided to release the game during the holiday season. A Stadia version was released on November 24, 2020. A photo mode for the game was added in December 2019. On January 12, 2021, a free update was released that improved performance when running the game with backwards compatibility on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Native versions for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S were released on June 11, 2021. The new versions improved the game's technical performance and stability, added support for higher resolutions, and vastly improved loading times. The update was free to those who owned either the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One versions of the game. A free update with new cosmetics, game modes, and combat challenges was released on May 4, 2020, coinciding with Star Wars Day. Tie-in media In September 2019, Marvel Comics published a tie-in comic prequel series, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – Dark Temple. Written by Matthew Rosenberg and illustrated by Paolo Villanelli, it follows Cere and her master Eno Cordova as they explore the planet Ontotho. In December 2019, Respawn added an outfit based on BD-1 to its online battle royale video game Apex Legends. Hasbro produced three figures in the Star Wars: The Black Series range for Cal Kestis (and BD-1), the Second Sister and the Purge Stormtrooper, with this selection of designs being adapted by Funko into Funko Pop! figures. Starting from March 2022, Cal's lightsaber hilt can be purchased at Dok-Ondar's Den of Antiquities in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in Disneyland Resort, and Disney's Hollywood Studios after winning a fan poll in 2020. At Star Wars Celebration 2022, Lego revealed a BD-1 Lego model based on the game. In the subsequent 2025 Star Wars Celebration in Chiba, Japan, a manga adaptation of the game was announced. ==Reception==

Critical response Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. Many reviewers noted the game's subpar technical performance. The exploration aspect of the game was widely praised. Andrew Reiner from Game Informer described it as the game's "most dynamic and entertaining quality," though he felt some locations were designed in a "gamey" way that harmed immersion. He disliked sometimes having to revisit planets due to unimaginative narrative reasons. In the United Kingdom, it was the second best-selling retail game during its first week on sale, behind Pokémon Sword and Shield, with 66% of sales being for the PlayStation 4 version and the remaining 34% for the Xbox One version. It had the fourth most successful UK launch for a video game physical release in 2019. In the United States, it was the second best-selling game in November and December 2019, only behind the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare reboot. With only two months of sales, it was still the sixth best-selling game of the year in the US, and Respawn's most profitable premium title of all-time. Electronic Arts confirmed that Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order had the fastest-selling digital launch for any Star Wars game within its first two weeks on sale. The game sold over 8 million units by the end of January 2020, exceeding EA's expectations. Over 10 million units were sold by the end of March 2020. By June 2021, the game had attracted over 20 million players. Awards == Sequel ==

In January 2022, Respawn confirmed it was developing a sequel to Fallen Order, with Stig Asmussen returning as director. Titled Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, it was unveiled in May and was released in April 2023 for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. Respawn collaborated with Lucasfilm Games for this sequel, which is set five years after Fallen Order. A tie-in novel titled Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars was released on March 7, 2023. The book was written by Sam Maggs, and bridges the events between Fallen Order and Survivor. ==References==