Set five years after Fallen Order, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will see Cal Kestis and his friend struggling to stay off the Empire's radar, as its iron grip on the galaxy grows even stronger. Faced with new enemies like a Pau'an senator and a dangerous Gen'Dai named Rayvis, Cal and players have a dangerous journey ahead of them.
Ahead of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's release later this month, Game ZXC sat down with director Stig Asmussen to talk about changes from Fallen Order, making brand new Star Wars content like the planet Koboh, no-hit runs, and much more. The following transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q: Coming off the first game, could you talk a little bit about what things you found successful and what you wanted to build on? What were the things you were surprised people resonated with and wanted to dig into with Jedi: Survivor?
A: The biggest thing was we got real data and public validation of things that we'd been creating for the last several years. It's like, all the people actually liked this. Keep in mind, we were doing a lot of playtesting and everything leading up to that, so we had a pretty good idea as we were creating the game and honing on things that, we hoped, the general public would like. Getting that validation was huge for us.
You know, players were talking about a lot of things—fast travel came up, more combat stances came up a lot, more choices for the player to interact with the world, more story outside the main quest, that kind of thing. We were scratching the surface of a lot of those areas in the first game, and we wanted to expand on them. People were asking for it, and it's like, 'hey, we're aligned here." It actually wasn't that hard. It was like, we're not going to take what we have and tear it apart. We're going to build it up.
Q: Yeah. I noticed, in the preview, there were instances where Cal can choose different interactions. There's a stormtrooper bit where he can say something or use a Jedi mind trick. Are those interactions more to impact the story or have players craft their own version of Cal?
A: I think it's both. I mean, with the choices you make and the things you do, the story is still going to end up the same way in the end. We have to have a defined story, it's canon, so we can't end on four different options of something like that.
There's definitely a lot of agency for the player to learn the story the way they want to at their own speed. There are some players, you know, who are more driven by the action and exploration, and the story isn't the biggest thing for them. They don't have to opt into a lot of side content and dialogue interactions we have, but for people who are really into the story aspect, it's all there for them. The script for this game is so much larger than the last one.
Q: With canon, what is it like to design a new planet within the Star Wars universe like Koboh? How does that process work?
A: It's a blessing and a curse. I mean, it's not really a curse, but the great part about it is that we can design something that works really, really well with our mechanics, things that we want to achieve in the game like maybe mechanics we're bringing back or new ones that we're going to introduce, because it's a blank canvas.
The downside, I guess, if you want to call it that; it's a challenge more than anything else. It forces us to like realize the lore, what the biome is. We have to start with a fresh concept and really create a living, breathing location. Whereas if we were to go to Kashyyyk or Dathomir, like in the last game, we still expanded upon those, but there was a great arsenal of things that we could dive into and just start building off. But there are rules that are unbreakable when you go down the canon route.
Q: How did the response to the first game influence the difficulty range of Jedi: Survivor and how you challenge the players, maybe even for those players who have come to understand soulslikes more over the past couple of years?
A: We're huge Souls fans, and we're very obviously inspired by it. But we recognize that the Star Wars audience is huge. There are a lot of different types of gamers, and it's like probably the entire spectrum for us. You've got novice to casual all the way up to expert gamers.
In the first game, we built a difficulty system that was very easy to change midstream, adjust whatever you want, as long as you were not in combat. We added another stage of that in this game to bridge the gap between medium difficulty and very, very easy. It's just respecting and recognizing the fact that we can't make something for a very narrow expert crowd; we have to make something that is palatable to pretty much anybody.
Q: I know people have no-hit run the first one, but is it possible to no-hit this one?
A: Honestly, I'm not equipped to answer that question, but I will say this, the no-hit run was something we were intent on doing in the first game. When we're developing games, one of the first major milestones we have is, you know, a vertical slice. The first vertical slice that we did on JFO was...I don't think I've ever actually talked about this before.
If you're familiar with the planet Zeffo, it was a run where you land on Zeffo, you get Force Push, and we rerouted you back to the landing pad where you then fight off the AT-ST. Now you've unlocked new things that you can do, like maybe go to Dathomir. But very early on, when we were building that demo, we were a small team at that point like maybe 25 or 30 people. A good probably 10% of the team was trying to do no-hit runs just on that. It's not something that we set out to design at that point consciously, but we thought it was pretty cool. It's something that we made sure was possible in the first game.
Q: With the preview, we go to Koboh, and it seems like it's going to be a central hub. How does the structure of this game compare to the structure of Fallen Order?
A: It's very similar, it's just wider. Other planets might feel more familiar in design than what you're experiencing right now, and some of them might just be more of that. We want to make sure that you have the hub and you have the spokes. The spokes are oftentimes more handcrafted moments, and there are certainly those to be found in other places.
Q: In sequels, you sometimes lose all the powers you obtained in the first game. At least in what I've played, we have those same powers, so how do you design puzzles and challenges using the same tools that Cal has but also put different spins on them and make them fresh?
A: For us as designers, when we finished the last game, we felt like we had a really good grasp on the tools that you end the game with and how to create puzzles for those. So how do you layer new stuff on top of that? It's just a lot more complex and there are a lot more variables you have to account for, but if you doll out those new abilities out in a natural and understandable way, it doesn't feel overwhelming to have all these different abilities.
That's actually part of what I personally enjoy the most about the game is the way we can fluidly chain together these experiences, whether it's through combat, navigation puzzles, or combining those together. You can have really compelling scenarios this way, and oftentimes, when we started chaining things together, we find things that we didn't know existed on paper. It's always fun learning the systems you build.
Q: The skill tree looks a lot more in-depth with a lot more variety than Fallen Order. Is it going to be similar to Fallen Order where if you play extensively you will have everything?
A: It depends on how much you invest in the game, but you can definitely, I think, get to a point where you have everything. It's not the same way we did the economy in Fallen Order. By the time you finished the main path, you likely got everything, so that's not going to be the case this time around. You'll have opportunities to continue exploring to max out your character beyond finishing the main quest.
Q: Do you have any sort of postgame concept in mind, like more challenging enemies or anything like that?
A: I don't want to answer that specifically because I don't want to spoil the macro design of the game. But the game is bigger, and there are more opportunities to engage with things beyond the main quest. Much more than the first game.
Q: I think a lot of Star Wars fans have played the games and have been keeping up with the series, a lot of folks have been curious about timelines and going, is Cal going to show up? Is that something you guys have thought about, or could he show up somewhere outside the video game?
A: If other people are thinking about it, you can bet we're probably thinking about it. But in regards to any discussions or conversations, we're just focused on making the game. That's what we're tasked with.
Got it. I just know that, like specifically with Obi-Wan, a lot of people had conversations about different characters. Like oh, could that be Cal? Could that be Cal?
A: I read the same stuff on the internet that you're reading, and you know, it's flattering. I think it's just natural for people to speculate where things could go. I think it's awesome that people hold this game in that type of regard where they would even consider that, but like yeah, we're focused on the game. That's for somebody else to figure out.
Q: What do you hope people get out of Survivor compared to Fallen Order?
A: Personally, regardless of whether it's Survivor or Fallen Order, I think we've done our job at the end of the day if people play the game and it puts a smile on their faces. You know, when they've had a good experience and felt like it was time well spent. Comparing the two games, I just hope people recognize the amount of passion and love we have for Star Wars and that we're trying to build upon this amazing universe. They hopefully see that there's a lot of care that went into this and that. The big takeaway would be, maybe for some people, they feel like there is a certain degree of Star Wars magic we captured and channeled into a larger experience that goes to new places and makes the whole thing worthwhile.
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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor launches on April 28, 2023, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
