Summary

• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor introduces expansive open worlds like Koboh and Jedha, different from Fallen Order's maps.
• Engaging with rumors, exploration, and late-game abilities in Survivor is crucial for a full sequel experience.
• Balancing linear and semi-open world map designs in a third game could enhance the franchise's Metroidvania essence.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order found itself neatly snug in its 3D Metroidvania corner whereas Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is much more complicated to parse out in terms of its gameplay genre identity. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is an action-adventure game perhaps first and foremost, but it retains 3D Metroidvania designs while also widening some of its explorable environments to create sweeping vistas on two planets in particular: Koboh and Jedha. Both planets are large and content-dense enough to sustain their own remote open worlds, and how that could be extrapolated in a third game is exciting to consider.

Anyone who preferred the tighter, more linear maps in Fallen Order will likely still be fulfilled by Survivor’s Coruscant, Shattered Moon, and Nova Garon, and yet players aren’t getting the whole sequel experience if they aren’t engaging with at least a bit of the rumors and exploration in Koboh and Jedha’s furthest corners, which mostly requires late-game abilities/equipment. A third entry in the Star Wars Jedi franchise being confirmed means Respawn must choose whether it wants to continue pursuing planets that have a semi-open world Metroidvania design and doing so would arguably be a boon.

Survivor’s Koboh and Jedha are Divisive Based on Star Wars Jedi’s History

Koboh’s enormity encourages exploration immediately and while some areas are accessible right away there are just as many if not more blocked passages players will run into, which can then be discouraging if players want to scour the map before they’ve acquired every ability for Cal and BD-1. Jedha is no different, spanning a great distance of mere desert that players trek on spamels or simply bypass by fast-traveling between meditation points.

That said, even with story campaign progression being necessary to get as much out of exploration as players may want, it’s great to see how Respawn was able to enlarge these maps to encompass a lot more content and not sacrifice its Metroidvania integrity at all. Players still need abilities or tools to access certain areas and therefore it never seems like they’ve suddenly been dropped into a freely open-world game, though the sheer real estate of Koboh and Jedha can be alarming if players prefer what Fallen Order achieved with less.

Fallen Order’s maps aren’t necessarily small themselves—Zeffo is massive by most measures, for instance, and like Kashyyyk and Dathomir it is split into segments with players needing to travel elsewhere and return with a means to continue onto a new part of the planet. In Survivor, Coruscant is surprisingly elaborate and it’s wonderful to be able to come back and explore it after players spend time there in the tutorial sequence, especially if players want the game-changing BD-1 ability that allows them to slice sentry droids.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s Shattered Moon and Nova Garon are Refreshingly Compact

Contrasting Koboh and Jedha, the Shattered Moon and Nova Garon are relatively smaller labyrinths packed with enemies. This is a relief since Koboh and Jedha are so enormous, making them quick detours with brand-new scenery that doesn’t simply emulate cavernous deserts.

However, Respawn went light on these planets compared to Koboh and Jedha and the difference in quality is undeniable when so much of what fuels progression in Survivor’s side content are NPCs and their rumors. Indeed, rumors are introduced in Survivor, along with the variably lengthy and dynamic side quests that they sometimes lead to, and are great overall since they invite players to explore regions that they might not have been prompted or inspired to otherwise.

A third game will probably want to have its cake and eat it too when it comes to how it approaches planets, and a balance of both nonlinear, semi-open-world maps and linear maps could be its best bet again to have each planet be authentic from one another. As long as planets maintain the franchise’s inherent Metroidvania essence it won’t matter how expansive their maps are, allowing for the best of both worlds in terms of level design.