FFor nearly a decade, my husband and I have had a yearly tradition of setting aside a full day to watch all the Star Wars movies, one after the other. When we first met, this was a six-film project, or occasionally four, if you swap out the prequels for the fan-made Neon Noir edit. Now a Star Wars marathon means going through 11 movies — sorry Clone Wars fans — which is less a cozy day with snacks and much more like an actual marathon, complete with precisely timed bathroom breaks and energy gels. for livelihood.
And, of course, this year’s traditional viewing came after we also devoured the first season of Andor, got drunk on The Book of Boba Fett, were re-introduced to Obi-Wan Kenobi, and caught up on season three. season of The Mandalorian. Also, we played Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga and visited Galaxy’s Edge, the Star Wars themed world at Disneyland. Twice.
It’s safe to say that Star Wars fans have never had it so good, as long as they have a Disney+ subscription and plenty of time on their hands. But with an ever-expanding universe, how does a Star Wars spinoff develop its own identity while keeping a notoriously vocal fanbase happy?
“Trying to find something that can speak to all the Star Wars fans is very, very difficult,” admits Stig Asmussen, game director of the upcoming Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, sequel to the acclaimed 2019 action-adventure Star Wars Jedi. : Fallen Order. . “There are literally millions and millions and millions of rabid fans who have different opinions. Everyone’s point of view on what Star Wars is is slightly different.”
It’s a daunting prospect, but the hugely collaborative nature of making a video game gives Asmussen a huge advantage over TV shows and movies: “I have a couple hundred people I work directly with every day, and we’re all Star Wars fans,” he explains. “And if we can all agree on that, that’s pretty big proof.”
However, there is one view that is hard to argue with: that of Lucasfilm, the demanding guardians of the Star Wars empire. For the team at Respawn, the veteran developers also responsible for Titanfall and Apex Legends, having to present every element of a game was very different from how they worked before. “It’s a big process,” says Asmussen. “[with Jedi: Fallen Order] we wanted to do a third person action adventure and we wanted to have a Jedi with lightsabers. And then they say: wait”, he laughs. “At that point, for Lucasfilm, the Jedi are like the holy grail. I mean, it’s something they’re probably the most protective of, except maybe Baby Yoda. So we had to earn that. We had to go through a whole process of, why do you want me to be a Jedi? What do you want to do with the Jedi? They were really uncomfortable with Jedi, and they said, ‘Let’s reset this. Let’s call this character a force user.’”
In fact, Lucasfilm went so far as to suggest that the game feature a bounty hunter or smuggler. But after my hands-on session with Jedi: Survivor, it’s hard to imagine playing as a non-Jedi; Lightsaber combat and force manipulation are a heady combination that turns the entire universe into a playground for shaping and exploring. For Asmussen, it’s a testament to the way Star Wars made him feel as a fan.
“There is only this canvas that Star Wars brings; the palette and tools you have to create these worlds is something that has been ingrained in me since I was a little kid. And it defines a lot of the work I’ve done, most of the work I’ve done, not even related to Star Wars.”
So it’s no surprise that the game’s director walked out when Lucasfilm proposed such a drastic change. “I’m like, well, I think you’ve got the wrong person for the job,” Asmussen explains. “That is not my origin. My background comes from God of War… I’ve never worked on a shooter and you need a different team to do it. You might as well be asking me to make a racing game. And eventually, over time, we build that trust to the point where we end up calling [the franchise] Jedi.
The hotly contested Jedi eventually became Cal Kestis, first introduced in Jedi: Fallen Order. The original reveal of him received a fair amount of flak for being, well, a little bland, but four years on, it’s hard to deny that Cal has won over Star Wars gamers and fans alike. Case in point: In a recent Disney poll asking fans to vote on which lightsaber from the Star Wars universe they’d like to produce for retail, Cal beat out legendary characters like Anakin Skywalker and Qui Gon Jinn.
Of course, making the main character a Jedi isn’t just a game for Star Wars fans: it’s also a smart move in game design, given that the well-documented journey of a Jedi developing their abilities perfectly reflects the of a player progressing through a video game, something Asmussen describes as “one-on-one storytelling”.
“I was hoping that we could find a character that the player could accompany him on the journey with,” he expands. “So, he starts off a little raw. He’s not even basically a full padawan. It’s been years since he had any training. He has been hiding. And the player starts the game raw, and you’re learning along the way. And as we get to these major plot points, we’re giving the player new abilities, new tools. So the player is remapping his world perspective, as Cal grows up and learns about the universe around him as well.”
But if Cal’s original appeal lay in being, as Asmussen puts it, “a scrappy underdog” inspired in part by Rocky, this time around Cal is more recognizably a Star Wars hero. Not only has he come to grips with his newly acquired Jedi abilities, which you carry over from the previous game, but he’s also a bit world-weary, more street-smart, and much more resilient, if the selection of new facial hair I unlocked is any. thing to go through.
Cal’s transformation is just one sign that, having proven himself to both Lucasfilm and the fans, the team felt more confident this time around. They’ve allowed themselves to have a little fun with the Star Wars series, to inject more of the genre-defining design Respawn became famous for.
You can clearly feel the Respawn legacy in the fast, intuitive combat and dynamic traversal, both of which are much more refined than what we saw in Jedi: Fallen Order. The world also feels bigger and bolder, more fleshed out than the series of carefully approved confined spaces that populated Cal’s first outing. And I haven’t even mentioned the new stance that sees Cal wielding a saber and blaster, quite the sight. downright glorious that speaks to the trust between Respawn and Lucasfilm, and the process to get there.
“More than anything, it’s about building relationships,” says Asmussen. “It’s about making connections and understanding each other. You know, I mentioned that we had to earn their trust and buy into ‘this is what we want to do,’ and show that we’re going to be completely respectful of that. But they also had to earn our trust, because we consider ourselves expert game developers. So, there’s this period of feeling each other, up to where we are now, where it’s like we’re one team; It’s not us against them.”
Jedi: Survivor certainly has that undeniable, if indefinable, Star Wars feel to it. Whether it’s an enemy droid gleefully discussing the big day it’s having seconds before exploding, or the light perfectly illuminating an otherworldly vista, it’s clear the team has figured out the formula for what Asmussen calls ” Star Wars magic.”
“Maybe it’s the force, I don’t know, but there’s a spirit, there’s an emotional drama,” he says. “It can carry a lot of weight and have an impact, but at the same time, there are moments of hope and lightness that could just be a joke, or something like that, at a very desperate time. Those ebbs and flows, in those crescendos, it’s a very unique thing. And the other thing I think about is the speed of Star Wars. It’s always moving forward, and there’s always something you’re heading towards: there’s a ticking clock.”
There are, of course, other shortcuts to Star Wars success, such as a lovable droid companion, something Jedi: Fallen Order achieved with the introduction of BD-1. Asmussen smiles when he talks about BD-1 becoming a Lego figure, and after viewers saw another BD unit in The Book of Boba Fett, the Star Wars Jedi legacy was cemented in the larger universe.
But aside from the cute droids, witty quips, or relatable clue, Asmussen thinks it’s Star Wars itself that makes a great game. “A Jedi is a game character,” he says simply. “He is a character who fights against evil, who has a power beyond the human. He is wielding an iconic weapon. There is a constant force that you have to fight against. As a game designer, he is an amazing toy box to dig into.”
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor launches for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on April 28
Elle Osili-Wood attended a press trip in Los Angeles with other journalists. Travel and accommodation expenses were borne by EA.
