As far as sequels go, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor offered just about everything fans could want in a follow-up. With refined skill trees, a slew of new Force abilities, new lightsaber stances, new enemy types, and much, much more, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor improved upon its predecessor in almost every way, and it's earned critical acclaim for doing so. But despite its great reception, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor isn't perfect.
Though it's not too noticeable, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor does fall just a little behind its predecessor in a handful of ways. For many fans, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's story was excellent on paper, but its execution left a little to be desired, especially when compared to Jedi: Fallen Order's simple but compelling, perfectly paced adventure. But one of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's most unique shortcomings is its lack of vibrant planets, and that's an area that Ubisoft's open-world Star Wars game might be able to excel in.
Ubisoft's Star Wars Game Could Fill the Void Left by Jedi: Survivor's Planets
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has six planets in total. On paper, this should be more than enough, but it's the size, content, and variety of these planets that lets Star Wars Jedi: Survivor down. Coruscant, Jedi: Survivor's starting planet, nails its grimy industrial aesthetic, but as a tutorial area it's pretty small and very linear. Shattered Moon is a similar story, giving players very little room to explore. Nova Garon has some outstanding visual design, but it features one of the smallest maps in the game. And Tanalorr has practically no purpose outside the game's story missions.
Where Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's planets shine are Jedha and Koboh, with the latter being the game's saving grace. Koboh is not only the player's hub-world, where all of their allies hang out between missions, but it also acts as the game's primary setting, with the vast majority of story missions and side activities occurring across its different environments. Koboh offers an expansive playground to explore, along with a ton of visual variety in its points of interest. Jedha carries over a lot of Koboh's great map design, but it lacks in the visual department a little, with every location bleeding into one image of sand-covered dunes and ancient orange structures.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's planets are by no means bad, but when compared to what came before them, it's easy to see why some fans were disappointed. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order featured a total of seven planets, with only five of those being explorable after the credits roll. But while it may feature one less planet than its successor, each of Fallen Order's settings feels extremely unique, both in terms of visuals and gameplay, with each planet offering different hazards, platforming challenges, and enemy types. Jedi: Fallen Order also managed to keep its selection of planets memorable by using a handful of iconic Star Wars locales like Kashyyyk, Dathomir, and Ilum. While Jedi: Survivor's decision to use mostly original planets is commendable, having just one more on top of Coruscant could have gone a long way in making its environments feel more Star Wars-y.
But Ubisoft's Star Wars game could be able to fill this gap left by Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Though official details are extremely scarce, fans do know that Ubisoft Massive's Star Wars game will be open-world, and according to new rumors, it'll likely include some form of space travel, allowing players to hop between different planets. Hopefully, Ubisoft's Star Wars game can deliver the variation and iconicity that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's planets lacked. Further, with its open-world gameplay, fans may get to enjoy exploring some larger, more fleshed-out Star Wars locales.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.