Chicago's Star Wars Celebration event already gave us a new trailer and a title for the next episode in the saga: The Rise of Skywalker. And now, we have our first look at the next video game to come out of the franchise as well. Respawn Entertainment (the studio behind the immensely popular Apex Legends) just gave us a preview of the highly anticipated Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and it looks awesome.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is set to take place during the "dark time" following the events of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Players take control of a Padawan named Cal Kestis, played by Cameron Monaghan (who you may recognize from his roles as Jerome Valeska in Gotham and Ian Gallagher in Shameless). Kestis is one of the few survivors of the Emperor's Order 66, a secret initiative to eliminate all of the remaining Jedi.
"Many Star Wars fans, ourselves included, are really interested in the dark times, so we wanted to explore that mysterious, dangerous period," said game director Stig Asmussen. "The team at Lucasfilm have been amazing collaborators, helping us explore and further develop this part of the timeline where the Empire is at the height of its power and any remaining Jedi are in hiding. Within this narrative, we’ve crafted a game with intense, yet thoughtful and fun melee combat using the lightsaber and Force powers, allowing anyone to fulfill their Jedi fantasy."
Fallen Order is set on a new planet for the series named Bracca, and promises several other new locations in the Star Wars universe. As for gameplay, Respawn explained we would see a heavy and intense lightsaber system to help capture that same intensity that fans love in the films. Through Cal’s Jedi training, he'll pick up an extensive skillset of complex Force skills. According to Respawn, a lot of emphasis has been put on combat, which sounds extremely promising.
Star Wars Jedi: The Fallen Order is set to release during the Christmas season this year for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
Cameron Sherrill is a former designer and writer for Esquire, where he covered technology and video games.
