Respawn Entertainment has a solid reputation for making incredible games. From Apex Legends to the Titanfall series, they’ve always had their way with keeping gamers on the edge of their seats. The enthrallment is even more with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, a third-person single-player action game.

These days it seems the multiplayer element is the savior of most games but Fallen Order proves that you can have spectacular fun battling NPCs on your own. The Great Jedi Purge wipes out most of the Jedi Order and that only takes a couple of minutes. What becomes of the few Jedi that survived the massacre? Fallen Order tells us the story of Cal Kestis, a Jedi who manages to escape and is being hunted by the Empire. Tired of running, he begins his mission to restore the Jedi order.

Gameplay of exploration and discovery

Kestis’ quest to restore the Jedi order isn’t a straightforward or easy one. Playing as Kestis I have to move from one planet to another exploring a variety of environments and places. There’s a lot of tomb raiding, exploration of frightening jungles, and all kinds of things – anything to beat the Empire.

While I go on journeys with other characters in a ship, they basically do nothing except conversing with me. So I have to do everything alone, from finding important clues to batting the enemies. A large part of the gameplay involves solving puzzles to help me navigate my quest. There’re tons of secrets to discover on every planet, and it’s always not possible to unravel them all in one visit. Many times I have to go back to a planet to put the missing pieces together.

The game hits a different level of fulfillment when you unlock upgrades and gain more power and skills. This is so because you have more ability to explore the vast universe of Fallen Order. What you get is a mix of intricately designed puzzles, intriguing exploration, and scintillating combats. For every planet you get to you have to lay your hands on the secret that upgrades the next planet. On the adventure you have to explore different areas that were initially locked. How you access these areas always differs, sometimes you have to activate special skills to do so.

Exciting Combat – no combo, no problem

Fallen Order is an action game with several combat mechanics an average gamer should be familiar with. Although you can’t execute combos, that takes nothing from the thrill of engaging an enemy. You can dodge an enemy attack, lock them down, and attack them. An interesting aspect of combat is the ability to parry attacks from your opponents. It even gets more interesting as the game progresses.

The game has different difficulty levels – four in total. The level you choose will determine how challenging the game will be. You have the Story Mode, which is the easiest level of the game. The Jedi Knight comes second on the list and offers some level of challenge for folks that want it easy. The third difficulty level is the Jedi Master which I enjoy playing all the time. It’s more challenging than Jedi Knight but not overly difficult as the last difficulty level, Jedi Grandmaster. I’m going to need some more playthroughs to find my way around that one. 

Boss fights are always intriguing and fascinating. Of course, they offer the biggest challenges in the game, that’s why I love them. Talking about challenges, there’s an option to change the difficulty level at any point in the game. While I understand the reason for that, I don’t particularly fancy that option. Instead, I prefer to stay at a particular level until I master it. Besides, the more you play a particular level the better you learn the whims of the enemy and it’s only a matter of time before you crush them under your feet. 

Another interesting aspect of combat is the ability to attract a group of opponents towards you and then take them all out in one shot. You’ll need your Force powers to do this although that’s to the detriment of your Force meter. But when it’s necessary, why not? When your health runs out you can replenish it in different meditation spots scattered all over the game. However, that privilege will respawn the enemies in the locale. For seasoned gamers this isn’t a strange concept. It can even become enjoyable depending on how you approach it. You already escaped the antics of these guys and went ahead to kill them. Doing so the second time should definitely be easier. So, bring it on!

Jedi Star Wars: Fallen Order: hit or miss?

A testament that a single-player non-shooter game can be an enjoyable experience. There’s no doubt – not even an inkling of it – that Fallen Order is a good game. The entire journey of Cal Kestis in Fallen Order is an exciting one. We already know from Star Wars that he’s likely to fail in his quest to restore order. However, Fallen Order engages us with so much content and surprises.

The game stands out as a single-player  third-person game. Cal Kestus begins the game as a flawed character with an emotional scar left by the Purge. He moves from one planet to another, overcomes one challenge to another, and in turn, grows stronger. He not only redeems his image but redeems the entire image of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The game is ronments to impressively massive ones with loads of exciting elements. Don’t just imagine the arrival of a large spaceship for decommissioning, play Fallen Order to see one. The visuals are stunning and the entire production is a hit.