Warning: There may be some spoilers ahead for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
So yesterday evening, I finally finished Star Wars Jedi:Fallen Order. Yes, it’s taken a while… I’m not a regular gamer and it’s been pretty busy recently, but at the same time I’m kind of glad that I was able to draw out the experience.
While it’s not the kind of game I would usually play (if it wasn’t for the Star Wars branding), I really enjoyed it and thought that the story was fantastic. It gave us some fantastic new characters who had some wonderful arcs – especially Cal Kestis and Cere Junda – and there were some beautifully poignant moments in the story. As soon as I finished, I was already thinking ahead to what comes next, by which I mean a follow-up game as opposed to any DLC. But what would I want from the game?
Sequel/Franchise
The great thing about how this game goes, is that multiple stories are available for a second game.
With the group all surviving, it would be very easy to find a new mission for Cal and co. to continue their story. Merrin came into the group very late on so didn’t get a chance to contribute much and I would love to see her given a chance to do more. With Cal and Greez getting on the wrong side of the Haxion Brood, a sequel could make the Empire a secondary antagonist and see the main story follow the Mantis crew trying to help deal with the criminal gangs and cartels, which could eventually bring them face-to-face with Maul.
Alternatively, the style of the title gives an opportunity for a completely different story featuring different characters in a different time, with the title in the format of Jedi: [insert subtitle]. This could begin a series that could see us enter new time periods, potentially allowing us to see periods when the Jedi Order was just forming (Jedi: Rising Order), during the war with the Sith (Jedi: Dark Order) or even one in the “High Republic” timeframe that is being rumoured for the next movie series. We could even get another story that actually begins with Order 66 and follows another padawan through the first days of the Empire – maybe with a less happy ending.
The possibilities are endless…
More planets
How do you improve on a game when bringing out a sequel? Go bigger. One easy way to do that is to bring in more planets. In Bogano, Kashyyyk, Dathomir, and Zeffo, we had 4 planet that required multiple visits for the story, while a couple of other planets (Nur, Ilum and Bracca) also required a visit.
I think that a follow-up would benefit from adding a couple more planets. Not only would this make the story a little longer, it would also add more variety into the locations, with a couple of familiar planets and also a few new ones. I would love to see gameplay in a more populated city – Coruscant would be an obvious option – while a trip to somewhere like Tatooine would never go amiss.
More customisation
As much as I enjoyed being able to customise Cal’s outfit and the paint schemes for BD-1 and the Mantis, I think that the lightsaber customisation – while fun – was unnecessary in this game as it took away from some of the story beats of Cal using the remains of his former master’s lightsaber and eventually combining it with Cere’s lightsaber and a new crystal. With a new game that doesn’t require those story beats however, I think that this feature would work much better.
It could even be expanded with more customisation options for outfits/paint schemes, while lightsaber customisation could even go as far as picking between the lightsaber types. This game sees us start with a single-bladed lightsaber that we are able to upgrade to a double-bladed weapon (which becomes interchangeable), while the trip to Ilum results in a couple of moves that split the weapon into 2 single-bladed weapons. A future game could let us customise what type of lightsaber we have from the 3 options above, while also adding in extra options like curved handles, more design options and more crystal colours.
Sneaking
Follow-ons will often build on what the original had by adding in new mechanics, and I think that the game would very much benefit from a sneak mechanic, to allow us to avoid detection. This would allow someone to try a different playstyle of a non-aggressive character who only fights as a last resort. Sticking to the shadows would help you stay hidden, while igniting your saber would make you stand out.
Keep the team together
One of the more disappointing things of the game was how we were never actually going about our missions with any of our companions, which felt a little odd from a story perspective. I think that a follow-on could keep the group together more often, so that we can get more interactions between the characters. Make them strong enough to look after themselves in combat but weak enough that you can’t let them do all the hard work, while continuing to use the lead character’s parkour abilities to open up the way for the group.
This function could work in both a direct sequel or even another title in a franchise, as different types of characters could bring different things to the group, like Jedi, Nightsisters or characters wielding blasters.
If we did a game following a group of Jedi, it could even allow us to pick specifically which of the characters is our playable character, increasing the replayability of the game.
Would you like a follow-on game? If so, what would you want to see?
Thank you for reading. May the Force be with you…
The Canon Padawan 