2019’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order introduced us to Cal Kestis, a padawan (Jedi in training) played by Shameless‘s Cameron Monaghan who narrowly survived the Emperor’s infamous Order 66, which saw clone troopers mercilessly murder all Jedi. Set several years after the events of Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, we found Cal living under the radar and working as a scrapper before embarking on a journey to rediscover his Jedi roots. 

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor begins with Cal in full Jedi Knight mode (minus the robes — he prefers ponchos — though he does have a nice, full ginger beard to show his maturity), working with the notoriously violent rebel leader Saw Gerrera to peck at the empire while continuing to master powers.

It’s an authentically Star Wars experience through and through. It begins on Imperial-controlled Coruscant, the centre of galactic civilization, before moving on to other planets outside direct Imperial control. We’re reintroduced to beloved characters from the first game — like the wisecracking four-armed hustler-cum-pilot Greez — and meet several new ones, including an antique droid named Zee who’s been asleep for hundreds of years. Expect both generous doses of humour and some surprisingly emotional moments as Cal and his ragtag crew search for a safe haven free of Imperials while taking on a major new bad guy who shall remain nameless here to preserve your sense of shock and wonder.

Just as importantly, Survivor dives deep into and continues to build Star Wars lore just as effectively as one of the franchise’s films. In particular, it drops loads of tantalizing tidbits about the High Republic, the ancient era during which the Republic and the Jedi Order flourished and explored the galaxy, with Cal investigating aging shrines (clearly inspired by the puzzle-y shrines in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild) from that legendary period of Star Wars history. It’s an era many lovers of Star Wars lore — myself included — have long wished to see more of in film and games (for whatever reason the franchise’s creative minds seem obsessed with focusing on the 75 or so years between Episodes I and IX).

But while I adore what the Star Wars Jedi series is doing in terms of expanding Star Wars lore, I haven’t been the biggest fan of how it plays. Survivor‘s opening hours spent wall-running, ceiling climbing, and hopping between platforms — all carryover mechanics from the original, largely cribbed from other Respawn games, like Titanfall — left me lukewarm. But after spending a few more hours on the wild west-style outer rim planet of Koboh and getting a sense for flow and core play loops Survivor offers, I found myself slowly won over.

Lightsaber combat is still loads of fun. Players are able to customize Cal’s melee techniques by switching between stances and types of saber (I’m partial to the Darth Maul-inspired dual blade, though wielding a single blade in classic Luke style is pretty satisfying, too). And, much like a role-playing game, Cal continues to learn powerful new abilities throughout the game, from the ability to throw and direct his saber to a Jedi mind trick that causes enemies to attack each other.

Exploration took a little more time to warm up to, but I got there. We can freely explore each planet (to a degree — there are lots of Metroid-ish artificial barriers you’ll need to ignore until you earn whatever ability is needed to get past them), which is fine, except that I didn’t find navigation to be particularly intuitive. I frequently found myself disoriented and unsure where to go, and Cal’s summonable 3D holomap didn’t do much to ease my confusion. More in-game cues or heads-up display elements showing us where to go would have been helpful. I’d have loved one of those little compasses at the top of the screen that shows waypoints and areas of interest. Exploration became a lot more enjoyable once Cal started taming alien animals and using them as mounts and as a means to glide long distances.

The one thing I found I needed to consciously overlook throughout were the seemingly convoluted solutions to the game’s environmental puzzles. When confronted with a raised bridge gummed up with tar, why not just use a lightsaber to cut it away? Does Cal really need to find a machine that pops out a BB-8-like roller mine, lure it to roll behind him, then use the Force to hurl it at the bridge (and hope that the explosion doesn’t destroy the whole thing)? As Obi-wan might say, it seems an inelegant solution for a civilized Jedi.

What is elegant, and in no uncertain terms, is the presentation. Survivor captures the beauty of this far, far away galaxy with stunningly rendered worlds that absolutely scream Star Wars with their exotic flora and fauna, old-meets-new architecture, and beat up tech. Greez’s cantina on Koboh is an absolute visual delight, a place I wish I could visit in the real world. 

The characters, meanwhile, are expertly modelled and animated — especially some of the aliens and robots, such as a bartending droid that’s just fascinating to watch as he slides along the bar, four arms and two heads (one of which is an aquarium of sorts) constantly doing things. It’s one of the prettier current generation games I’ve encountered, and far easier on the eyes than anything coming out of Lucasfilm’s TV animation studios, which seem woefully stuck in aughts-era CGI.

It took a little longer than I’d have liked to really draw me in, but once Star Wars Jedi: Survivor had its hooks in I went happily along for the ride. If Kathleen Kennedy greenlit a Cal Kestis TV series or film, I’d be over the moon. Maybe just with a little less wall-running.