EA and Respawn officially unveiled narrative details and release date information for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which will launch on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on November 15.
The news came as part of this year’s Star Wars Celebration Chicago presentation during a panel with Respawn’s Vince Zampella and the game’s director, Stig Asmussen (God of War 3).
As was confirmed earlier Jedi: Fallen Order takes place during the Dark Times after Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Emperor Palpatine’s Order 66 has exterminated most of the Jedi, though some remain undercover in the galaxy.
Players take control of Cal Kestis, a Padawan learning to navigate the balance between staying in the shadows (read: alive) and upholding his responsibilities as a guardian of justice and the peace.
Cal works and lives on a planet new to the Star Wars universe, Bracca, in an scrapyard focused on taking apart decommissioned starships, mostly from the Clone Wars era.
Eventually, Cal attracts the notice of the Imperial Inquisition, Force-sensitive adepts who betrayed the Jedi and swore allegiance to Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine.
The Inquisitors are pulled from the Star Wars Rebels series, and Rebels writer Matt Michnovetz was also involved in certain elements of the story, including Cal’s creation.
The team said the game will present multiple new creations to the Star Wars universe, including more new planets aside from Bracca, new characters, and new enemies, including the Purge Troopers shown off during the stage show.
Respawn and the game’s team worked closely with LucasFilm and others involved with the Star Wars films to create an authentic experience, for example, consulting with Ben Burtt to make the soundscape for BD1, the droid companion, as authentic as possible.
The Jedi: Fallen Order reveal trailer focused only on the narrative, though the panel discussed some elements of the gameplay as well.
Combat is Jedi: Fallen Order‘s primary focus, and the experience was built around it. Since the Star Wars fan base is so vast, Asmussen said combat was developed to be multifaceted.
It’s simple enough for anyone to pick up, but involves depth and presents challenge as well, requiring players to identify and exploit enemy weaknesses to succeed.
Like The Force Unleashed, the combat is meant to be realistic and immersive, but unlike the earlier game, the motion capture for Jedi: Fallen Order was worked on extensively to make the animations and combat motions in general as realistic as possible.
More details will be released ahead of the game’s November 15 launch, but some details, including the significance of Cal’s lightsaber, will be held back until the game is out in the wild.
