Unless they're making the same sort of leap in quality as Assassin's Creed II did, sequels often struggle to drum up the same sort of excitement their predecessors did. A known quantity going into a second game, it's a common criticism Respawn Entertainment managed to avoid in a follow-up that's bigger and better in every way. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is video games from a galaxy far, far away at their peak.
Likeable protagonist Cal Kestis returns for a more confident adventure that makes exploring vast planets and slicing the Dark Side antagonists you meet along the way the big focus. Lightsaber stances allow you to customise combat to suit your needs — even introducing a Blaster — while wandering off the beaten path proves rewarding with skill points, new puzzles to solve, and more. With a growing home base to return to during downtime, it doesn't quite fit the definition of an open world game, but its many extensive play spaces replicate those genre greats. Even unlocking new secrets once the main campaign is over, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor makes traversing its worlds just as rewarding as it is addictive.
What elevates it is a story just as satisfying. A cast of returning characters and new faces (both human and alien) offer help to Cal on his quest to squash the Galatic Empire and find a way to hide away from them on a planet thought to be lost to time. Doing so bolsters your ranks back at home base, and it creates a satisfying loop where you're creating a welcoming home at the same time as searching for the one safe place your friends can emigrate to. With new personalities like Turgle and Skoova providing genuinely funny comic relief, you'll laugh just as much as you'll cry during the 20 to 30-hour campaign.
Now its frame rate issues from launch have been seemingly thwarted, there's never been a better time to play the game than this Christmas break. It may appear lower down in our top 10 list, but Star Wars Jedi: Survivor boasts of everything you'd want out of a quality single player experience: great story, fantastic gameplay, and leading PS5 visuals. Respawn Entertainment raises the bar for Star Wars games once again, trumping its movie counterparts with ease.
Push Square's Game of the Year list is primarily decided by an internal staff vote. Our community Game of the Year poll is also taken into account. Feel free to agree or disagree with our list in the comments section below.
You can check out all of our Game of the Year coverage by clicking the link.
Do you agree with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor being our #9 Game of the Year? (673 votes)
- It should be higher on the list
- Yeah, it's about right
- It should be lower on the list
- It shouldn't even be on the list
- I don't know / I haven't played it
Comments 22
Performance issues aside it was a great game.
Eh this placement seems kind of low. Jedi Survivor is the ideal sequel if you ask me. Cal actually starts off with all of his abilities that he unlocked from the previous game, and only aquires new ones from there. It also didn't reuse the same map from the previous one (like Spider-man or Zelda) it introduced new weapons or in this case new lightsaber stances, it expanded on the combat, puzzles and platforming in new and interesting ways.
TLDR: it improved upon the aspects needing improving without reinventing itself, which is exactly what a good sequel should do. The only real blight on this game was the performance at launch which is unfortunate because I feel like it caused many to simply write it off
Good game but I must have missed extra side content with turgle character or something cause I just remember him after rescuing him and wasn't that funny.
Will definitely be fun to play again on ng+ now that performance mode works. Played originally on 30fps
The placement seems a little high to me. I definitely feel like Cocoon was a better game overall. Don’t get me wrong. I think this game and its prequel are both solid titles, strong 3D metroidvania-ish games with an Uncharted-y Souls feel. I like them. I just don’t feel like it’s a top 10 game this year, but I also feel the same way about Spider Man 2. I sort of think I’m biased for being a little tepid on the Star Wars IP at this point too. Loved the IP as a kid, but as an adult, I sort of lost that excitement for the brand and that may play a factor in my opinion perhaps.
A really thrilling game. As a Star Wars fan myself, this one was a bliss!! Great story, characters, setpieces, revelations about the lore... Visuals, sound, gameplay, all top notch. A must play of 2023.
I really enjoyed the story but didn't feel compelled to go on and platinum the game, unlike the first one. A lot of collectibles and general busy work put me off. Genuinely excited for the inevitable final episode of the trilogy though.
Not a SW fan sadly, but the game seems really good
I enjoyed it but it’s biggest weakness was it’s story.
The first game left me wanting more but whilst the sequel was fun, it was also completely forgettable.
There were definitely improvements over the first game but the story was a huge downgrade imo.
“ Likeable protagonist Cal Kestis”
I was glad to read this. I seem to remember a bit of hate (or at least apathy at best) towards Cal after the first game, but I always really liked him.
Great game, even at launch despite many detractors. Story and gameplay were fantastic. Technically perfect, no... but by no means "unplayable". And to those who complain that for full price a game must be technically perfect, guess they didn't live in the days of Goldeneye etc. Walking through the smoke was sub 5 FPS, but nobody would get the idea of calling that game unplayable.
We all know what the number one game will be, Spider-Man 2.
This was my favorite game this year by far.
@Tchunga Couldn’t agree more. My second favorite this year.
Just started playing this a few weeks ago, and wow, SO much fun! Loved the first game, and glad I waited until (most of) the bugs were squashed. If you love Star Wars, it doesn’t get much better than this game. My vote goes to higher on the list! 👍🏼👍🏼
Great placement for it.
It's a great looking game with a nice amount of gameplay variety (& the metroidvania elements are as good as ever once you're in the thick of it) & some great setpieces. Plus, I'll second that it's nice that Cal has all his previous game upgrades from the start, & you just get more from there.
However, I do think the core narrative was a bit weaker than in the first, I didn't much care for the two large open world areas (I have nothing against open worlds, but think they're kinda antithetical to the metroidvania gameplay loop, and think the game was at it's best when you were on one of the smaller worlds, like the moon, or in the tighter spaces on the edges of the large maps, like the Separatist ship, where the gameplay loop shined more), and you should have been able to have more than two saber styles available on the quick select menu.
Im about 15 hours in and absolutely loving it and so for that reason it slips in at number 2 behind cocoon
Nah "likable" really? Bring back Galen Marek and let me be a sith or teeter on the edge , this cal kestis guy is corny and the game released in a sorry state on pc.
I would have it a bit higher on the list but I am a big Star Wars fan, as long as it hits top ten I can't argue.
Great game, great characters and runs really well now on PS5, thankfully I didn't play it at launch when it was supposed to be a bit ropey!
Is it accurate that technically this game is still rough? I'm hearing from even digital foundry that this game is still an unpolished mess on console.
@KundaliniRising333 I played it months ago and had some frame rate drops but I wouldn’t even call it an unpolished mess months ago. It seems to be in a pretty good state now.
Picked it up in the sale. Will get stuck in when I finally get my portal running smooth over tv mesh 😬 gona start from scratch again now put together everything I’ve learnt !
Just bought it yesterday with funds from my PlayStation Stars. I loved the first game but staved this one off because the map in the first game infuriated me. Still, I’ll give this a go when I’m finished with Forbidden West.
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