Electronic Arts showed the first gameplay footage of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order during its annual EA Play fan event in Los Angeles, which takes place at the same time as the 2019 Electronic Entertainment Expo (the gaming industry’s biggest trade show).
Coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on November 15, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a single-player action game that takes place between the Star Wars prequels and the original trilogy. You play as Cal Kestis (Gotham actor Cameron Monaghan), one of the few Jedi Padawans who survived the infamous Order 66, in which the Empire slaughtered most of the Jedi at the end of The Clone Wars.
Kestis is on the run from the Empire and must fight against Stormtroopers, Inquisitors, and the new Purge Troopers. Fallen Order is the first Star Wars game from Titanfall studio (and EA-owned) Respawn. Ex-God of War 3 developer Stig Asmussen is serving as the director on the game.
In a 15-minute demo shown at EA Play, Cal is working with radical resistance fighter Saw Gerrera (last seen in the Rogue One film and in Star Wars: Rebels) on the planet of Kashyyyk. The two are trying to free the Wookiees from an Imperial occupation. As Cal slashes his lightsaber through Stormtroopers, he earns skill points (which you’ll use to upgrade his Jedi abilities). He fights troops that carry electrostaffs (the poles with purple-glowing ends that we first saw from General Grievous’s IG-100 MagnaGuards in Revenge of the Sith).
Cal can use his droid buddy, BD-1, to overcome various obstacles — at a couple of points in the demo, the robot even heals him. He also has to fight deadly spider-like creatures that are native to Kashyyyk. During a brief Q&A after the demo, Respawn founder and CEO Vince Zampella said the game is purely a “Jedi story” and that it won’t have Light Side or Dark Side choices like in past Star Wars games.
“[Fallen Order] is something Stig and I have been envisioning for years,” said Zampella on the livestream.
EA has had a rocky history with its two Star Wars Battlefront games, and in the lead-up to Fallen Order’s release, Respawn has tried to distance itself from those lootbox and microtransaction controversies.
