3.5/5 ★ – Gibbs's review of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

A metroidvania soulslike Star Wars game? On paper, this seems like too messy of a concept to work, and honestly in my first couple of hours, I believed it. But as the game went on, I found myself having more and more fun. My personal feelings aside, I think the quality of the game actually improves as you progress, and by the end I was super glad i played it. The combat here is genuinely pretty awesome. I mean, any game in which i’m using a lightsaber I will be biased towards, but the souls mechanics really do shine here. Swings feel meaty and purposeful, and the parry is very satisfying, on top of dodging working well too. It even has exactly what I wanted but didn’t receive from Elden Ring, with a few moves requiring the player to jump over. Pair this with some pretty fun force abilities and you’ve got yourself a winner, and a couple of the boss fights really stand out. Fallen Order also presents the player with some puzzles. which I thought were pretty good too for the limited scope the abilities give you. The worlds are pretty cool, with some OK lore laid throughout. You’re not going to get anything even close to the best Metroidvania or Soulslike worlds, but it’s still pretty fun to explore. My main gripe with exploration however is the rewards. Every single chest just offers a cosmetic that feels entirely unsatisfying. There’s a crazy amount of chests in this game, only to be opened to give you a slightly different tinge of orange for your poncho. I found it fun enough to explore for exploration’s sake, but I wouldn’t blame any one for passing on getting these chests. I really would have liked some more meaningful rewards here, and I think it’s my main gripe with the game. The story and characters are pretty predictable and bland Star Wars stuff, but they’re serviceable enough. If you can ignore the fact that you have to hit basic stormtroopers multiple times with a lightsaber to kill them? and the annoying Uncharted climbing sections that honestly don’t belong in any game, you’re going to have a good time with the core of Fallen Order. It’s definitely carried by its IP, but I think if you like Star Wars this is a great game, and even if you don’t, it’s still a good game!