With Star Wars: Jedi Survivor inching closer to release on the 28th of April, we're discussing some of the most exciting developments for lightsaber lovers revealed so far.
I say it every time I write articles here, but it's the truth: I am an unashamed nerd for all things Star Wars. It's not a marketing claim - I really do love everything about this crazy fandom and franchise. But one of my biggest loves is playing video games, which Star Wars has a shaky relationship with (some great, some...not so great. I'm looking at you, Han Solo dancing game).
So, with a love of games and Star Wars, imagine my joy when I first played Jedi: Fallen Order back at release. Here was a game fusing ARPG combat with Star Wars, allowing us to customise our lightsaber, explore famous locales like Dathomir and expose us to a new character who I rather liked in Cal Kestis.
One of the only knocks I had against the game was how cartoony the lightsaber felt when it actually hit people. While it worked well against droids and other non-humanoids, the game balked at the idea of allowing us to actually slice through human enemies.
The good news is that Cal Kestis seems to have grown in his lightsaber abilities for the new game, enough to start showing off some real savagery. The introduction of a variety of combat stances give more kineticism and flair to how you'll wield your saber and it does look like dismemberment will be included.
It's not officially confirmed, but if you watch the video below you'll see limbs lying on the ground around Cal's battle arena - indicating he's been hard at work chopping off some stormtrooper limbs.
Cal's new lightsaber repertoire seems based on the saber type you're going to use, with more flexibility to switch from one to another. These are:
1. Single bladed stance: the most balanced style, this is the traditional single bladed lightsaber approach that is favoured by almost all on-screen Jedi.
2. Dual bladed: this is when Cal goes HAM and picks up two lightsabers at once, wielding them as a force to be reckoned with. You can enjoy the same experience by doubling up on our own sabers - visit all lightsabers to pick yours. Reckless attacks are common, with the ability to cancel animations and access loads of combos at the risk of taking more damage.
3. Double-bladed: the Darth Maul fans in us love the idea of the double-bladed lightsaber, especially when its main purpose in the game is about zone control. In the game, this sacrifices speed - but we don't think you need to sacrifice speed to use a double-bladed lightsaber. We don't think you should even have to sacrifice on design choices either, which is why you can couple ours up to create a saberstaff from two of your favourite saber designs.
4. Crossguard: this one sees Cal wielding a crossguard saber similar to Kylo Ren, emphasising heavy attacks that deal the most damage of any stance. If you love old school medieval knights AND Star Wars, this may be the stance for you.
5. Blaster: this stance sees Cal utilising his lightsaber alongside a blaster, wielding them in each hand to maximise damage output and versatility. It might have once been unspeakable for a Jedi to use a blaster, but for our runaway outcast it doesn't seem to be a problem.
With all of these stances, the game is going to offer more versatility around player choice and combat approaches. Coupled with Cal's ability to customise his saber on the fly and you've got an EXCITING looking sequel that we can't wait to try.
In the real world, that's partially why we offer a variety of different lightsaber types including blades of varying length. You can design a fully customised lightsaber to suit you with our lightsaber builder, so check that out to assemble your own like Cal does in the game!
(Image copyright EA & Respawn Entertainment, used via the freely available Press Kit at IGDB)