When developer Respawn first announced and started talking about Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, the studio promised an experience that would encourage exploration and revisiting planets to find new secrets. With that claim came questions about whether the game would offer a fast travel system, and Respawn was quick to say that the game would not support quickly moving between save points.
Now, after having played Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order it’s clear that Respawn’s decision not to have fast travel was a mistake. The game’s sense of exploration and hidden secrets are lost because of the lack of that important option. What should have been a game that most players 100% instead will leave plenty uninterested in exploring further.
Exploration is Key in Jedi: Fallen Order
One of the key elements of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is the idea that players will return to familiar territory with new abilities that unlock new paths. It’s a requirement for completing the story but it’s also necessary to find all of the secrets, BD-1 scan points, and chests that are scattered around the game’s 5 planets. Unfortunately, going beyond the critical path can oftentimes force players to wander aimlessly and leave time wasted simply trying to get back on track.
If the game had a fast travel system, players could look at the map, see paths that have not yet been unlocked but are available, and jump nearby. Yes, the motivation behind doing so is only some new customization options for Cal’s outfit and lightsaber, but that is seemingly enough to incentivize a little extra exploration.
However, once players start poking around looking for secrets they will soon find what a chore it can be. Loading screens disguised as elevators are not worth sitting through if there isn’t any certainty about where exactly to look. If there was a fast travel system, though, players could pop over to an area, see it has been appropriately searched, and then fast travel somewhere else. Truthfully, there is nothing more defeating than seeing a green pathway on the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order map and thinking of how long it will take to get there and back.
The implementation of a fast travel system would be fairly easy for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order from a design standpoint. The game has meditation points scattered throughout each planet, and players could very easily travel between them at will. Maybe the limitation is that Cal must first land on a planet and can only travel within that zone, but that would be enough.
Dark Souls' Fast Travel is Perfect
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order borrows so much from Dark Souls but it’s this key element of the latter series that helps make the world feel expansive. Players want to scour every corner and ledge to see if there are any secrets, and if they should hit a dead end they can simply fast travel back to a key area. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order isn’t as interconnected as the Souls games are, but the environments are large enough that a fast travel system would help.
To Respawn’s credit, the game is designed with shortcuts (a la Dark Souls) that allow Cal to get from one area to the next. But plenty of the planets are not interconnected such that they wrap around on each other. In many cases, following a certain path means that Cal can never return, either because of a wallrunning section or some other form of platforming. And having to go all the way around is just as tedious, even if there are a couple shortcuts between paths.
At present, there are a couple more pressing issues for Respawn to address with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order before there is talk of adding fast travel. This week, an update went live for all platforms that improves loading times in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, along with a few other minor fixes. It would also be nice to see Respawn stabilize the frame rate on console, where things can be inconsistent at best.
After those areas get some attention, though, it would be nice if the game added a fast travel system. Right now, there is no desire to go for 100% completion in the game, but if fast travel were added that would make the pull a lot greater.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
