During their EA Play 2018 showcase, Respawn announced that they have a new Star Wars game in development. That is not a secret as it has been known for a while they were working on a game in the Star Wars Universe; but what was new was that the game would be called “Jedi: Fallen Order”.
As such; let us look at the recent announcement in terms of what we know from the reveal and speculate on what type of gameplay will be offered as well as setting and other factors that the game may offer.
We know that the game will take place between “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope” and will focus on the dark times for the Jedi order. Players will likely be cast in the role of a Jedi who must survive during the Jedi Purge started by Order 66.
The game is scheduled to be released in the Fall of 2019 and that makes sense as the prior Star Wars games under EA have had a Fall release to tie into the release of the films and with Episode IX due in December 2019; it only makes sense that EA would make sure there was a game available for fans.
While there were no other details offered, it does raise some eyebrows and give gamers plenty to speculate and debate over.
Will the game be multiplayer or solo-play focused?
Seeing how EA shut down Visceral’s Star Wars game for lacking a multiplayer experience which could be monetized with DLC, and considering how Respawn founders were behind Call of Duty as well as the two Titanfall games; one would think that online play would be a given.
One option would be a Diablo style game where groups quest and battle online and by themselves to achieve objectives and survive.
Another option would be a Left 4Dead style approach where groups of players must work with one another to accomplish tasks and survive.
It will also be interesting to see how progression is handled in the game as the ability level of the character will be a key point. Since the main character will be a Padawan who escaped the purge; this gives players a very interesting dynamic. We do not know how old the character will be and how far into their training they were when Order 66 was issued. As such; their powers will likely be in an undeveloped and potentially undisciplined state. Imagine the progression options similar to the Jedi Knights series of games where players can chose between Light and Dark Side abilities. A Jedi Mind Trick may not be as much of a given in the hands of a Padawan as it would be behind a Master Jedi, as such players will possibly have to improvise as they go. Players may have to play in a area of dubious ethics to survive where Dark Side powers offer a quicker and easier path to success but may start players down a path which they cannot easily recover from.
The storyline will be a very important part of the game as whatever it is will become cannon and known how fanatical players can be; they will be very quick to point out that the characters in the game cannot survive as they will not be in the original series of films.
That being said; Rebels set a good template for showing new characters that did not appear in the original films yet survived the fall of the Empire.
Light Saber combat and Force powers would have to be a given but naturally Blasters and vehicles will fall into place so it will be interesting to see how this is implemented in the game.
Locales: This is also going to be a key part of the game as players love seeing old and new locales in the Star Wars universe; so giving players plenty of new places to explore along with old favorites would be a great idea.
There are a lot more questions than answers at this point, but one can expect that now that the public is aware of the game, they will be looking for more and more answers and as was teased at EA Play; EA Play 2019 will have plenty of things to show gamers about the game.
This is what EA has released on the game.
