Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Review (Dmitry Komarov)
Star Wars Jedi turned out to be one of those rare games that feels both overproduced and underwhelming. I can’t recommend it—not with a straight face, anyway. Admittedly, I’ve never been a devoted acolyte of the Star Wars mythos. My exposure is limited to the cultural osmosis of flickering television reruns: something about a Republic, a Darth Vader, and a family named Skywalker. That’s the extent of it.
The one genuine cultural gift Star Wars ever gave me was a detour into mythology: Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces, followed by Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey. That was the real adventure—an anthropological deep-dive into narrative structure, far more engrossing than anything this game had to offer.
The game itself is fragmented across planets, each a showcase of Unreal Engine’s visual might. Strands of the protagonist’s hair sway delicately in digital wind; gears shudder and slam with satisfying weight. Horizons stretch wide, offering a sense of scale. And yet, once the novelty fades, you're left with the bleak realization: this is a plodding platformer with questionable design choices. Tedious sequences repeat with minor variations, and the Metroidvania-inspired save system means every small triumph is undercut by the resurrection of previously defeated foes.
My patience ended somewhere on the outskirts of Eilram, when a hologram murmured something about a "fascinating tomb." It wasn’t. I quit shortly after, with the lingering sense that I had been wandering through a tomb myself—one built not for a Jedi, but for fun.
The first 40 minutes hinted at promise. After that, the narrative dissolved into a monotonous loop of wall-running, rope-swinging, and narrow corridors that induced more claustrophobia than cosmic wonder.
A beautifully rendered box, yes—but peel back the foil, and it’s not chocolate inside. Just licorice taffy. Sticky, bitter, and impossible to chew through.