Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is already established as incredibly dark and enigmatic based on its tonal cinematic teaser. The fate of the ragtag Stinger Mantis crew is unknown, Cal Kestis’ lightsaber is seemingly in the hands of an Imperial senator, and an unidentified individual rests suspended in a bacta tank. This all creates a purposeful atmosphere for what Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s narrative will propose in terms of its themes, but the teaser also features an important tease at a chief gameplay change.
In the final shot of the teaser, Cal has holstered what looked to be a blaster pistol. This has now been confirmed through an action figure of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s Cal, and makes significant implications on what the game’s gameplay will be like with an added long-ranged armament. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was already surprisingly dynamic with regard to different lightsaber mod playstyles, diverse Force abilities, and creative BD-1 mechanics. It seems that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will iterate upon this with dedicated gunplay, which will fundamentally change how combat is approached.
Gunplay Moves Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Further Away from a Soulslike
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is an amalgam of game genres, one of which being a Soulslike. This is due to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’s level design and combat structure, where players are often somersaulting around enemy attacks while struggling to pop healing items and occasionally parrying an incoming attack.
The latter action is more comparable to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice as players time consecutive parries. But the comparison stands and FromSoftware’s Soulslike formula is therefore a fantastic design choice for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
It is unknown how closely Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will follow the combat structure of its predecessor, but fans now know that Cal will be equipping a blaster pistol at some point in the sequel, which will undoubtedly iterate upon the original game’s combat. Having dedicated gunplay will also surely eschew it a bit from the Soulslike formula proper, especially if exchanging blaster fire becomes a substantial part of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s combat.
FromSoftware is certainly not unfamiliar with long-ranged armaments such as bows and kukri, and Bloodborne has its fair share of firearms essential to parrying and riposting most enemies. Indeed, Bloodborne’s more common workshop firearms are rarely ever advisable when dealing damage besides attempting to carve out slivers of an enemy’s health, particularly if players want to keep their distance or if only a bit of chip damage will completely deplete their enemy’s health bar.
Instead, well-timed attacks with a firearm will parry an enemy’s incoming attack, leaving them open to a subsequent riposte. It is unlikely that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s blaster or blasters will behave similarly, especially considering a generic blaster’s rate of fire and how much damage blaster bolts do in the Star Wars canon already. Therefore, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s potential Soulslike design will likely change drastically when a blaster is introduced.
Gunplay Can Make Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s Combat More Dynamic
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order did a wonderful job of making gamers feel appropriately powerful wgen brandishing a lightsaber. Igniting Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’s customizable lightsabers meant players could feel protected against blaster bolts and other hits, but a stamina bar would drain as they deflect each attack. Once depleted, Cal’s guard is broken, and he is staggered for a moment.
Still, lightsaber strikes that players are able to land on enemies are also appropriately weighted and cut them down quickly depending on the enemy. Players are never put into a combat scenario without their lightsaber at hand in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, but it is now almost assuredly guaranteed that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will force players to part ways with the elegant, civilized weapon at some point.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s cinematic teaser offered a glimpse of the blaster pistol holstered on Cal’s leg with his lightsaber also attached to his waist, which likely suggests that players will be balancing combat between melee and ranged approaches. There will hopefully be enough of a logical incentive to using both a lightsaber and a blaster, as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order introduced many abilities that made the lightsaber overpowered, such as the ability to hold a blaster bolt in stasis and pull a stormtrooper into its path.
But if players have a blaster themselves, it may deter a melee approach. For example, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’s stormtroopers were able to block Cal’s lightsaber attacks with electrically charged batons and such armaments, but with a blaster it seems like these ordinary enemies may be defenseless and easily defeatable.
If Cal’s lightsaber is lost or taken from him during the events of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, introducing a blaster pistol could make players rethink how to approach each encounter with only a long-ranged firearm equipped and no way to engage enemies in close-quarters-combat. However, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor balances its close- and long-ranged combat, equipping a blaster will surely be a dynamic way to enhance gameplay from that of its predecessor, which concentrated heavily on a thorough catalog of Force abilities.
Gunplay is Fortunately Respawn’s Bread and Butter
If any other Soulslike or melee-centric action-adventure game introduced gunplay, it may be a point of contention that fans steel themselves for in case it turns out poorly. Rather, fans may not need to worry about gunplay being implemented poorly in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor when they consider who the developer is behind it.
Respawn Entertainment is known for the beloved science-fiction shooter franchise Titanfall, as well as the immensely popular and free-to-play battle royale Apex Legends. It was more of a drastic gamble, then, for Respawn to try its hand at a third-person action-adventure game centering almost entirely around melee combat. Respawn was already well-versed in science-fiction, thus making its transition to the overwhelmingly iconic Star Wars IP more palatable, and it now has an opportunity to integrate its renowned shooter mechanics into Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
It can be presumed that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s gunplay will be in third-person, and it will be interesting to see how that approach is taken from a gameplay standpoint if players are able to freely swap between a lightsaber and a blaster. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will hopefully have more to share outside of speculation in the near future, and the recently announced Disney and Marvel Games Showcase would be a great stage for its gunplay to be revealed in official gameplay.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is expected to launch in 2023 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X.
