There’s a simple thrill in blasting a battle droid off a cliff, or hoisting a squad of hapless Stormtroopers into the air before slamming them back down to earth. Respawn goes back to tried and true powers for Jedi: Survivor and it works beautifully. But that OTT approach, alongside its PS2-era God of War-like combat, meant it felt too much of a departure from the power levels of the Jedi we long to emulate. 2008’s The Force Unleashed famously tried to one-up it in that department, with protagonist Starkiller being able to pull Star Destroyers out of the sky and crumple TIE Fighters like tinfoil. Of course, Jedi Knight was as famed for its array of Force powers as it was its lightsabers. Combined, these stances provide the sense of a Jedi being an incredibly skilled and multi-talented fighter the very same sense upon which Jedi Knight thrived. There’s more, too the quarterstaff-like double-bladed lightsaber is perfect for decimating the gangs of battle droids that so often try to surround you in a mechanical pile-on, while the blaster stance pays homage to FromSoftware’s Bloodborne by putting a gun in your off-hand for shots between rapier-like lunges. As for strong style, that comes via a Kylo Ren-like crossguard saber that’s swung in heavy, violent arcs akin to a two-handed claymore. Snap your saber’s hilt in half, though, and you can dual wield blades to unleash a flurry of strikes at lightning speed. The classic single-bladed saber is equivalent to Jedi Knight’s medium stance a balanced approach that unlocks your inner Obi-Wan Kenobi. Jedi: Survivor has an answer to all of these fighting styles through its new stance system, each of which uses a unique lightsaber. Medium, meanwhile, channels the classic fight styles that are iconic to Star Wars’ warrior monks. The former utilises speed to mount an overwhelming offence, while the latter uses slower and riskier – but more devastating – blows to cleave through an enemy’s defence. In the Jedi Knight games this is represented through three fighting styles fast, medium, and strong. As we’ve seen in the films, a Jedi’s approach to swinging a lightsaber radically changes the tactics and rhythm of a fight. While Survivor’s parry-based combat is a very different beast to Jedi Knight’s approach (which, in comparison, does now feel quite wild and uncalculated), there’s some significant shared DNA in their approaches to how a lightsaber is wielded. To become good at Jedi: Survivor’s swordplay is to choreograph your own Star Wars duel, something I’ve not seen since the days of Jedi Knight. Moves stitch together to create an impressively elaborate spectacle of your own making. Weapons intercept and push each other away in a form that looks and feels like genuine swordplay. There’s a stronger emphasis here on parrying blows rather than holding up a static defence, in part thanks to Survivor’s much larger array of blade-wielding enemies. And so the fact that Jedi: Survivor’s combat is more akin to Sekiro – FromSoftware’s own Sengoku-era Japan swordplay game – means that it's off to a substantially better start. Battles often felt like traded defensive blows rather than the samurai-inspired dances we see in the movies. It felt slow and clumsy, with protagonist Cal Kestis wielding his saber like a blunt baseball bat rather than a deadly plasma blade. While I’m aware that Jedi: Fallen Order was largely admired, I personally found its Dark Soulsian combat quite rough around the edges. That initial rush comes via the massive improvement that Respawn has made to its fencing fundamentals. But if you’re looking to once again feel the energetic rush that Raven imbued its lightsaber combat with, then Jedi: Survivor has a Corellian freighter’s worth. If you loved Jedi Knight, there’s no guarantee that Jedi: Survivor is going to ignite your inner kyber crystal. Respawn Entertainment’s Jedi games are very different to Raven Software’s Jedi Knight series rather than shooter/hack-and-slash hybrids, they are rooted in the melee combat rhythms of FromSoftware. To be clear, I mean that in the spiritual sense. And so, after two decades, we finally have a worthy heir to Jedi Knight’s clashes. Their pitch-perfect hum, crackle, and hiss are matched by swift and smooth fight manoeuvres that truly convey this elegant weapon’s prowess. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has the best lightsabers in any Star Wars video game I’ve ever played.
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