Though the franchise suffered a "Dark Age" in the 90s, the early 2000s heralded a new golden era for Star Wars. With the prequels releasing in fairly quick succession, and merchandise filling the shelves in toy stores once again, Star Wars was having a sort-of renaissance in the public conscious. It was at this time that some of the best Star Wars games were released, such as Knights of the Old Republic, Battlefront, and Star Wars: Jedi Academy.
Though it certainly had its rough edges, and wasn't considered to be as ground-breaking as its predecessor, Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, Jedi Academy offered an interactive glimpse at one of Star Wars' most interesting time periods, when Luke Skywalker began his Jedi Academy. With a recent Book of Boba Fett episode showing the canon humble beginnings of Luke's academy, it seems like the perfect time to bring back some of the ideas from Jedi Academy.
The Unfulfilled Potential of Star Wars: Jedi Academy
When it released in 2003, Star Wars: Jedi Academy had a surprising amount of expectations to live up to. Being part of the long-running Jedi Knight series of games, and being the direct sequel to the innovative Jedi Outcast, Jedi Academy had to deliver upon its predecessors intuitive, brilliant lightsaber combat, while also providing a story that built upon the legacy of fan-favorite character Kyle Katarn.
While the game retained its predecessor's lightsaber combat, it decided to take a step away from Kyle Katarn, instead choosing to put the player in the shoes of a new Jedi recruit, on their way to Luke's Jedi Academy. The general formula of the game sees the player hop between planets, going on various daring missions for Luke. Along the way, the player will meet some familiar Star Wars faces, all the while leveling up their decent range of Force powers, and choosing what type of lightsaber combat style they prefer.
On paper, Star Wars: Jedi Academy seems like a fan's dream come true, but in reality, the game lacked a great deal of polish, and wasn't met with the best critical reception. Though its combat was highly praised, adding a few new mechanics to the already-acclaimed combat of its predecessor, the game's disjointed and farcical story was heavily criticized, along with the game's poor voice work and disappointing graphics.
But there are many fans out there who still remember this game fondly. While it could just be the nostalgia talking, many fans still play Jedi Academy today, with its multiplayer arena mode being a particular highlight. Its story and mission structure may seem pretty disorganized, but the core idea of Jedi Academy is excellent, and should definitely be brought to a modern Star Wars game.
Making a New Jedi Academy Game
The core idea of Jedi Academy, that Luke is sending an Apprentice on missions across the galaxy for training, is the perfect backdrop for a new Star Wars game. As fans haven't seen much of it in canon Star Wars yet, this setting has an unlimited amount of potential. Between its recent introduction in Book of Boba Fett, and its eventual destruction as seen in Force Awakens/Last Jedi, there's about 24 years to play around with.
As fans have seen in The Mandalorian, this new era can give writers a lot of freedom in what characters they use, and where they choose to set their stories. A potential new Jedi Academy game could use Luke's Academy as a consistent backdrop, acting as a hub for the Jedi player-character to return to between missions.
Each mission could function similarly to Jedi Academy's, with Luke tasking the player to find a certain Jedi-related object, save a group of civilians against an Empire Remnant faction, or help out some familiar faces with their own issues. This setting would help to keep the game nostalgic, showing characters, factions and places that are immediately recognizable, while also providing quite a bit of freedom for the writing team as they have a 20-year span of time to work with.
With regard to gameplay, the obvious choice would be taking a leaf from Jedi Fallen Order, and its Souls-like approach to combat. Although it wasn't considered perfect, Fallen Order did a great job of taking the more deliberate, difficult Souls combat, and translating it to a Star Wars setting. Fallen Order's purposeful combat would suit a new Jedi Academy game perfectly, with the player unlocking more lightsaber skills over the course of the game.
Similarly, in the original Jedi Academy, players receive the opportunity part way through the game to choose between a one-handed, dual-wield, or double-ended lightsaber. Fallen Order's approach to having different lightsaber combat styles, with both a single blade and a double bladed lightsaber being available from the halfway mark, was a genius move, and should be implemented into a theoretical Jedi Academy successor.
If a new Jedi Academy wanted to go one step further than Fallen Order, then it could even include the ability to swap between a double-ended, single-bladed, and two individual lightsabers on the fly. It hasn't appeared in any canon Star Wars material yet, but this concept isn't too outlandish, with the comic version of Asajj Ventress owning two lightsabers that have an interlocking hilt, joining to create a double-ended lightsaber. Being able to swap between three different types of lightsaber styles would likely do wonders for gameplay variety.
Jedi Academy also featured a lightsaber stance system, whereby players could choose between heavy swings, medium attacks, or light jabs. A player being able to change up their lightsaber forms mid-battle was one of the most engaging aspects of Jedi Academy, and kept opponent's on their toes in multiplayer. This system, paired with the aforementioned three distinct types of lightsaber combat, would make a modern day Jedi Academy successor really stand out, not only from other Star Wars games, but from all other third-person action games on the market.
Stars War Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy is available now for PC, PS4, and Switch.
