Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is almost three months away from release, meaning fans will hopefully begin to hear more about it soon. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s gameplay trailer at The Game Awards demonstrated a return to the popular Soulslike combat that fans will remember from Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, but there was one distinct addition: mounts. The trailer seems to depict Cal crash-landing the Stinger Mantis on one planet in particular where he may have to find his way around on the back of a friendly creature.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’s metroidvania level design received mixed reviews. Some found it a fun way to progress through unique planets with Force abilities they would acquire throughout, while others found it difficult to find one’s way with BD-1’s 3D holomap. Many winding paths in Kashyyyk or Dathomir are incredibly claustrophobic, and it can be troublesome trying to navigate these areas for completion, especially when backtracking. However, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s mounts suggest this approach to level design has been reevaluated.
Mounts in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Suggest Larger Environments
Cal Kestis can be seen gliding into an open landscape in Survivor, dangling from a winged creature. It is unclear whether this is a new method of fast travel, or if these winged creatures are perched in predetermined places and used to transition to other parts of the map. However, this particular shot does show that Cal is gliding into an area much larger in scope than players experienced in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and this addition alone would be fantastic for players to traverse tighter areas more efficiently.
It is also unknown whether the entire landscape will be explorable, though that may be implied by this trailer. Open environments could help to make traversal more convenient or intuitive, but it would be nice to see metroidvania elements still be included. Rather, the true emergence in navigation that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor presents is a rideable mount that players control in this biome.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s Mounts Can Play into the Popularity of Elden Ring
Only quick glimpses of a mountable creature are provided in the Star Wars Jedi: Survivor trailer, wherein Cal first has to befriend his mount. Cal rides the creature toward a lone battle droid standing in a stretch of shallow water and slashes at it with his lightsaber, confirming that there will be mounted combat as well.
If fans adored Elden Ring’s addition of a mount with the Spectral Steed Torrent, this mounted combat may appeal to them. Elden Ring took a big chance going with an open-world level design utilizing a mount following FromSoft's more restricted level design, and it seems as though Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has taken a similar route. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is not confirmed to be an open-world game, and likely still has a metroidvania core, but mounts are a clear indication that at least one planet will have an openly explorable location.
It would be great to see other mounts or light vehicles such as speeders available for players, and having unique mounts for particular planets would be a great way for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor to improve diversity in its gameplay. It also looks like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor may have NPC companions that aid Cal in battle, but there is still a lot to be revealed about its gameplay.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor releases on March 17, 2023, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
