Highlights
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor offers expansive exploration in Koboh, with new abilities and tools expanding the massive locale.
- Optional NPC activities like populating Rambler's Reach provide memorable moments and should not be neglected.
- The rancor boss fight and spawn of Oggdo boss fight are exhilarating encounters, but their uniqueness is diminished by encountering them again in recycled Tear scenarios.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor may not have as straightforward of a story as its predecessor, but the sequel surely succeeds Fallen Order in terms of its expansive exploration. Koboh in particular is an alarmingly massive locale that only seems to expand further with every new ability and tool Cal acquires on his journey. There’s enough content to satisfy players if they only concern themselves with Survivor’s main narrative, but doing so will neglect them of some of the game’s most memorable moments as a result, such as optional NPC activities leading back to Rambler’s Reach’s cantina.
Survivor’s Force Tears, for example, present a tremendous challenge in either combat or traversal, and while some of the traversal Tears require an ability obtained later in the game anyway, few combat ones should be tackled early. However, there is one disappointing side effect of certain Tears that take away from how incredible their moments are in-game, and such instances only occur when encountering two bosses that should have otherwise been unique when found in Koboh: the rancor fight and the spawn of Oggdo fight.
Jedi: Survivor’s Spontaneous Rancor Boss Fight
It was unfortunately spoiled in early previews of gameplay, but Survivor’s rancor boss fight was one of the most terrific encounters to find when idly exploring Koboh. Players familiar with the establishment of a meditation point near an open room might’ve suspected a boss fight would take place there, but seeing the giant monster creep out from behind a pillar is exhilarating if players hadn’t known the rancor fight would ensue once they dropped into the cavernous area. The fight itself is incredibly challenging since on medium-to-higher difficulties the rancor can quickly kill Cal in a hit or two, and therefore deciding to fight it early is not for the faint of heart.
Regardless, the encounter itself is unique until another appears later and rancors start roaming Koboh in the late-game, and the encounter is trivialized even further when players are tasked to kill two of them in one fight during Survivor’s Fractured Malice Tear, found on the Rooftops of the Coruscant Undercity. If only one rancor was ever found in the initial scenario, that could have kept its inclusion distinct and memorable, but it loses its luster when players need to bash their heads against a wall to defeat two at once in the Tear’s tiny arena.
Jedi: Survivor’s Surprise Spawn of Oggdo Boss Fight
The other issue, perhaps even more egregious, is that Survivor’s spawn of Oggdo boss fight couldn’t be left alone as a unique encounter, either. Players make their way through Fort Kah’lin, overrun with Bedlam Raiders including B1 and B2 battle droids, and eventually find a blast door that opens beneath them. Cal will fall into this pit if a droid was able to open it beneath him, and within is the spawn of an old, nefarious enemy: Fallen Order’s Oggdo Bogdo.
This fight is also not one to be trifled with as it seems to replicate Oggdo’s moves but is much faster, and again the enclosed arena players are stuck with it in fails to help at all. It is amusing to find Oggdo’s spawn in Koboh and this once more presents a surprising moment of optional content that many players might not discover if they aren’t indulging in exploration. Then, Survivor’s Fractured History Tear, found within Doma’s shop after players defeat the spawn, pits players against this spawn again alongside Oggdo Bogdo itself.
Unsurprisingly, this fight is even more chaotic and unbalanced than having to fight two rancors with split-second unblockables being spammed by either creature and at a disturbingly quick pace. But what’s worse is the disruption of immersion this Tear instigates as it creates this illusory scenario and turns the spawn fight into another trivial encounter instead of remaining a unique discovery in Survivor’s most elaborately designed planet.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, with PS4 and Xbox One versions in development.
