Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Ordermade its stride by being an interesting amalgamation of different gaming genres. The subgenre it is most revered for, though, is that of a Soulslike—where combat is punishing yet gratifying, interacting with a save point respawns enemies and replenishes health, and resources or experience points are temporarily dropped on each death. But one of the most defining features ofFallen Orderis itsMetroidvania level design on linear planets, which leads players back on repeat trips to explore areas that were previously inaccessible as opposed to having an open world.
Many open-world games have found success through their own collection of content spread around an environment, though open-world games also run the risk of having empty landscapes with a lot of bloat laid out between narrative beats.Fallen Orderis able to avoid that issue with tight, linear planets, and whileStar Wars Jedi: Survivor’s Koboh is being billed as a semi-open-world planet with a lot of wide exploration, it would have needed flight mechanics in order to truly represent a seamless connection throughoutStar Wars’ rich galaxy.
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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Made the Right Move Not Becoming Open-World
Opening a planet’s boundaries to allow for more open exploration is a boon forStar Wars Jedi: Survivor. There were fans who disliked how claustrophobicFallen Order’s interiors could feel, and even in planets like Kashyyyk the environment design rarely allowed for anything other than tight, winding paths until players reach the Origin Tree.
This is why underwater traversal made such an impact, giving players an opportunity to explore more of an area through its verticality. Force abilities also make each planet fun to come back to in that regard because there would always be something players could then wrench free or pull down that they would have been unable to beforehand.
There was simply not enough content on anyFallen Orderplanet to reasonably instill an open-world design, though it is packed with content as a result of its tight environments.IfSurvivorwanted to be a fully open-world game, it would have needed to make each planet interconnected and seamless to transition to, whether players have already landed on a planet or are traveling to one.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Would Need Real-Time Flight Mechanics
Open-world games have set an incredibly high bar now in terms of how interconnected and fluid an open world should be, and those standards would need to be applied unerringly totheStar Wars Jedifranchiseas well if it was to suddenly take that on. One way that theStar Wars Jedifranchise could do that is by implementing an entire flight system with mechanics that let players fly the Stinger Mantis to-and-from available planets, which would be presently unnecessary given the gameplay design already established for the franchise.
However, there is charm inFallen Order’s tighter Metroidvania levels as it feels more unique in comparison to the slew of open-world games out now.Koboh will have NPCs at Rambler’s Ranchthat may want players to travel out to other planets to complete side quests, for example, and Greez’s rooftop Cantina garden will likely take flora seeds from throughout the galaxy as well, but it does not need to expand out into an open-world for that to be possible.
Planets feel more unique as linear environments, rather than sprawling areas that could potentially be void of content. Respawn clearly knows its limitations and strengths and can hone in on wider maps that still feel fulfilling and semi-linear withconvenient quality-of-life improvements like fast travel.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivorreleases on April 28 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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