Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – Where do we go from here?
WARNING: The following blog contains total story spoilers for the entirety of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. Proceed with caution.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is fantastic. It tells the story of a young Jedi padawan, Cal Kestis, as he evades the Galactic Empire and attempts to reestablish his connection to the Force. The campaign of Fallen Order stands on its own as a fantastic Star Wars story in its own right, but if you’re like me (and have finished the story already), you have to be wondering… What’s next?
FINAL WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!
By now, if you’ve gotten this far, you know this: there is plenty of room for Fallen Order story DLC, or even a sequel. And y’know what? I’ll take whatever I can get.
Cere, Cal, Merrin, Greez, and BD-1 all rode off into the sunset. The Jedi Holocron containing the names and locations of Force-sensitive children has been destroyed, meaning that it can never fall into the wrong hands. Not only can the Galactic Empire not fully purge the galaxy of potential new Jedi, but Cal and his band of Force-sensitive vagabonds can’t find them, either. So where do we go from here?
The Order Strikes Back?
As of the time of this blog, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is the fastest-selling digital Star Wars game that Electronic Arts has produced, and already their best-selling Star Wars PC title. This is directly contended against Star Wars Battlefront 2 (whose launch was a mess, but later redeemed itself in a major way) and Star Wars: The Old Republic, which is a fucking MMO. The fact that Fallen Order has surpassed a blockbuster first-person shooter and a massively multiplayer game should tell you everything you need to know about what Star Wars fans want (and respond to), and how important Respawn Entertainment is to this whole formula.
Charlie Houser, Brand Strategy Director over at Respawn recently told GamesRadar+ the following regarding future Respawn Star Wars titles:
“We’ve had an absolute blast [making Fallen Order]. For a new team thats come together at Respawn, its been a lot of learning to pull this off. Pending player reaction and feedback, and how everyone’s feeling about it, we would love to continue making awesome experiences and stories and keep telling that story in Star Wars.”
“Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order breaks sales records, suggesting Respawn’s wish to “keep telling that story” is officially on the cards” — GamesRadar
Now, I’m no psychic here (I leave that to Zoltan Bob) but it would seem that Charlie’s implying that as long as the game sells well (and it sure did), we should be in store for lots more single-player Star Wars goodness from the Respawn team.
At the time I’m writing this, I’m probably roughly 40-ish hours into Fallen Order, and I’m squeezing the last bits of juice out of the game by collecting all of the game’s cosmetic items and completing the in-game databank, which has accounted for a good chunk of time. Once the main story in Fallen Order is over with, the player is sent back to the Mantis (without the option of returning to the game’s final destination) and is told to “Keep Exploring!”
Force & Destiny
When all is said and done, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order stands on its own as a phenomenal, genre and franchise-defining single player experience that exceeds all expectations set forth by both EA and Respawn. It would seem like future sequels in a “Jedi: [Title]” series would be in order, and I’d personally love to see Respawn branch off and dabble with themes and characters from Star Wars games past like “Jedi Knight” and “Jedi Academy”. After all, it’d fit the naming scheme and be a delight for fans.
The Force only knows what’s next, but all signs are pointing towards this not being the last we see of Cal Kestis and the crew of The Mantis. I’m ready for whatever they throw at me, whether its DLC for Fallen Order, or just confirmation of a sequel.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is available now for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. You owe it to yourself to give it a spin.
