Right so, over the weekend I decided to be a full basement gremlin and power through Fallen Order, finishing the story fully (don't worry I took a nature walk break with the gf, so I guess only half basement gremlin). I have not 100% the game (yet), but I feel after finishing the story, ready to make my final judgment on the game. I'm going to start with the score and then move on to reasoning - EXECUTOR CLASS SPOILERS AHEAD.
Final Score: 9/10. - If you own Battlefront II (2005) and KotoR, you should own Fallen Order; a must-have for Star Wars enthusiasts and one of the greatest SW game titles.
So there's a lot to unpack here so I'm gonna go by different aspects of the game, starting with, well, gameplay.
Gameplay: This game plays like a very odd mix of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Uncharted, and The Force Unleashed. The lightsaber combat is weighty, with a sense of momentum and power, without feeling held back or sluggish. Early on in the game, you upgrade Cal's single blade to a saberstaff, where you can hot-swap the second blade on or off in the heat of combat to address different threats. You unlock a small handful of force powers (slow, push, pull, double jump, saber throw, repulse) but use them in creative enough ways and often in puzzles so that the force abilities feel very diverse. When you die to an enemy (which WILL happen) your accumulated experience toward your next skill point attaches to that enemy. When you strike that enemy again after respawning, not only do you regain your xp, it fills your health and force meter, a handy helping hand if your struggling with a particular enemy. Bosses are visceral and satisfying to fight, lightsaber combat feels fantastic, especially against an opponent also wielding the familiar weapon. Most enemies outside of bosses are killed in only a couple hits, even Purge troopers only needing 3-4 blows to go down, but the skill is in the dodging, blocking, and parrying. An enemy with another melee weapon can pose a serious threat if you are not skilled at these things. Cal obviously acquires more skills and power as you go through the game, but he never quite feels overpowered; in the final area, there was a particular room containing a purge trooper armed with a blaster and a KX security droid; which I
struggled against despite my large pool of abilities and powers. The game has a metroidvania aspect to it, every planet containing secret pathways and whole areas waiting to be discovered once you obtain the right force ability.The maps are quite large and intricately twist on themselves leaving a puzzle or maze like experience that heavily rewards exploring and going back to previous planet to unlock new areas and secrets. The Planets in question are Bogano (think Utapau with more green), Dathomir, Zeffa (boreal mountains and tombs), Kashyyyk, and Ilum. The game expertly breaks up large cinematic setpeices with small to medium combat encounters and a healthy dose of downtime exploring. Also NO FAST TRAVEL. If you get lost, youre left with a map and your wits. Lastly, difficulty settings! I played through on the hardest, and had my friends input for the lower settings. They go something like this, to put it succinctly:
1) Story Mode
2) Normal Mode
3) Hard Mode
4) Dark Souls Was for Pansies Mode
And just as the cherry on top, there is
extensive lightsaber customization that allows you to make that weapon completely your own.
Story: Is REALLY blasted good. Those of you who like Disney Canon? You'll love it. Those of you who hate Disney Canon? You'll love it too. Tonally it is way darker than average. I'm talking dead friends, failed redemption, torture, and a full-fledged Order 66 scene which really emphasizes the confusion and heartbreak of a young Cal being hunted by people he saw as friends. The Villain is even a three dimensional character, The Second Sister, the Padawan-turned-Inquisitor of your crewmate spends most of the game hunting you down and resisting Cal's insistence that she can change. Only in the final moments after Cal has soundly beaten her and her old Master begs her to save herself does she reconsider. But this game is dark, and the change of heart comes too little, too late for poor Trilla.
So i could talk about all the little ins and outs that makes the story great, and Ive still a few points to cover but I need to talk about this scene. You thought Vader was intimidating? You thought the Rogue 1 scene was vicious? You dont know what that word means. A problem I have with some other Star Wars games is the tendency of the player character to be overpowered. And you kind of start to feel that by the end of the game, finally beating down Trilla, who has much more experience than Cal does. And then Vader shows up. You thought you were strong? The game lets you get about two swings in before Vader
absolutely man-handles Cal & Co. Dismissing entire assaults with a wave of his hand and launching people on a whim. Meanwhile is he enraged? No. He is
calmly telling Cal "It would be wise to surrender."
Thanks for the understatement of the millennia. Surprisingly, the main cast survives, due to not overpowering Vader, but using the environment to their advantage, flooding the hallway they're in and escaping into the ocean outside (obligatory underwater evil lair, for reference.) This scene is such a nice cherry on top for Vader fans, like myself.
Otherwise as I said the story is excellent, Cal, where he can feel a little bland, does have a very satisfying arc from a kid thats barely keeping himself together...
to a full-fledged warrior of the Jedi:
Even the side characters have depth to them, Cere's arc is tragic but fitting, Greez is not only a good "smuggler" arc but also fantastic comic relief. The main cast are not these incredible heroes, as Cal himself put it: a bunch of screw-ups. And that is one of the best areas for Star Wars to work in. The final addition to your crew, the last surviving Nightsister; where she doesnt have the screen-time (unfortunately) to say she has much of an arc, she is a surprisingly well-written and endearing addition to the Mantis' crew.
Believe it or not, the is the abridged version of what I wrote for this, but this is already incredibly long. I could talk for hours about this game, it is truly excellent. The heroes feel like they're against stacked odds, the Inquisitors feels legitimately terrifying, The planets feel alive, and the flashbacks give such good context of the Clone Wars. Also while I'm here, favorite scene besides the Vader:
So Cal has the ability to sense the history of any object he touches (the name escapes me right now) and this is used to great effect in the story. However, it is mentioned early on he has difficulty controlling this. Near the end, he is dueling Trilla, the Second Sister, when he attempts to disarm her. His ability immediately kicks in as he is forced to relive Trilla's tortuous transformation from a Jedi Apprentice to an Imperial Inquisitor. As Cal reels from the intense memory, Trilla smirks and comments "Careful, that's been through hell." Which IMO was just a superb way of addressing Cal's ability and adding depth to Trilla's already surprisingly deep story.
All-in-all this is one of the greatest Star Wars videogames ever made. In deserves to be held up in that same realm as the KotoR titles, original Battlefront II, and the Force Unleashed. Play this game!