Padawan Cal Kestis spends his days on a gloomy planet, where he plunders ships to survive. He’d better keep his Force powers secret, this game is set between Episodes III and IV, at a time when the small remaining Jedi are being chased by the Empire. In the first five minutes, he saves his best friend using the Force and that same friend sacrifices himself to protect Cal. Even before you get the chance to get emotionally involved with these characters, the game drags you to the next location.

It will not be the last time that the story of Fallen Order feels somewhat frayed. Characters are introduced as if they are of great importance, to be discarded again shortly thereafter. Ultimately, Cal’s adventure is about finding an important source of information that can make or break the future of the Jedi. It is a simple setup that is meant to guide the player through the entire universe on a quest.

In the run-up to the game, a comparison was made with metroidvanias, but that is too much honor. In essence, Fallen Order is a very linear game, it’s always clear what your goal is and how to get there. You do, however, gradually earn new forces, such as pushing back barriers with the Force, so that you can open new paths at previously visited locations. This is more like the God of War design, they are small side paths that lead to an extra reward, but they are not essential parts of the game that will send you on major explorations.

These rewards are often not worth the trouble. A new color for your robot com panion or your spaceship that you rarely see from the outside are not exactly satisfactory. The most common thing is that you constantly find new handles and buttons for your lightsabre. The other collectables are interesting, they all belong to a series that ultimately tells a mini story about an event. For example, you will find traces of a fight, see where the victims then hid and how they later escaped.

So the story is not as compelling as Star Wars fans would have hoped, but the way the license is used will appeal to them. This is clearly a Star Wars game, but does not constantly rub it in your face. You will not be fooled by Kenobis, Palpatines or Fathers, but small references will always make it clear that you are walking in the same universe. The game prefers to get its inspiration from the various animation series and comics, with multiple characters and locations that the biggest fans will recognize. And at the few moments that the game does turn out with iconic fan service, that also comes extra hard.

The combat also contributes to the real Star Wars feeling, because the lightsabres and Force powers are used excellently here. Fallen Order is not a fast-paced action game, but a game in which well-designed melee attacks predominate. Cal must parry, avoid and strike at the right moment.

It may take a while before you master the combat. For a long time it may feel like you’re just pushing the buttons a little, without Cal always listening carefully to you. If you continue playing, you will soon notice that the battles are pretty tight. With some practice and newly unlocked skills, you string the combos and Force forces together. It feels great to push some enemies into the abyss with the Force, to just dodge an attack and then strike with a swishing lightsabre.

Only if multiple melee opponents approach you at the same time, your options are not always sufficient. For example, you have just parried perfectly and then launched a counter attack, but are hit by the second opponent because you can no longer stop your animation.

The meditation points where you can save the game are plenty. Here you can rest to replenish your health, but then all enemies will return to the world. This way you learn to use your health sparingly. Of course you don’t want to have to hurry all those hordes of enemies over again.

The combat is a must, but the movement and platforms are sometimes curling. This game thinks it’s a much better platformer than it can deliver. Cal constantly misses out, ropes, tree trunks, everything easily can go wrong. However, it is mainly the sections in which he slides down from a mud mountain or ice rink that get bored quickly. The game sometimes presents this as large spectacle pieces, but sliding is boring and difficult to control, so you constantly fall off the edge.

The graphics can be called changeable. Sometimes the game is stunning, with beautiful planets and spectacular effects. The next moment, however, you are confronted with ugly character models. Or vistas that look more like an abstract painting. In addition, the game has quite a heavy pop in, textures are loaded while you are playing.

In the end, the feeling lingers that the game has been somewhat rushed. For example, videos often don’t match. Animations do not always play well, for example when you open a box under water.