Including one thing new to a universe as beloved and acquainted as Star Wars should appear an inconceivable process. Are you able to think about how laborious it’s to point out somebody a brand new Star Wars droid, metropolis, or planet, and persuade them that this factor has been right here all alongside, you simply haven’t seen it but? What a bonkers factor to attempt!
And but builders at Respawn Leisure, the oldsters behind Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, have thrown their hat into the ring with aplomb, not simply crafting new Star Wars characters and locales (on prime of these already current within the glorious Jedi: Fallen Order) however veering away much more absolutely from the established movie canon to discover the latest period of Star Wars: The Excessive Republic.
The stones on these folks.
[Ed. Note: This post contains minor spoilers for the first act of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.]
This is among the greatest surprises lurking in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor — the sport actually will get into the Excessive Republic period. It’s not shy about this. Its plentiful databank entries reference the period consistently. It’s the time interval throughout which most of the Jedi ruins and Breath of the Wild-esque shrines you encounter had been constructed, and it’s the place the sport’s villain, Dagan Gera, hails from, as Cal Kestis learns after waking him up from a centuries-long nap in a Bacta tank.
Picture: Respawn Leisure/Digital Arts
On the one hand, that is fairly cool! The Excessive Republic is a brand new a part of the Star Wars canon that up till now has largely simply existed in books and comics; seeing its iconography rendered in three dimensions is neat stuff. Respawn’s inclusion of those parts additionally indicators critical dedication to anybody not sure of how invested Disney-era Star Wars is on this a part of the timeline. Video video games take a very long time to make, and so they have a reasonably lengthy shelf life, so this narrative flip looks as if an indication that the Powers That Be are enthusiastic about telling tales on this setting for a short while.
But additionally: The Excessive Republic doesn’t significantly imply something but. The setting is just simply beginning to be explored in depth (you may learn our primer on it right here), and whereas it’s launched some new characters who’ve already change into fan favorites, just like the angsty Jedi Elzar Mann or the sentient alien rock Geode (Not a joke! He’s a rock!), the tales set within the Excessive Republic period haven’t fairly made a case for themselves but. There are adventures aplenty, however it positively nonetheless seems like a publishing initiative greater than a totally realized place filled with its personal distinctive tales.
Contemplate its closest analogue: The same-sounding Outdated Republic, an period hundreds of years earlier than the films that, importantly, had two wildly common Knights of the Outdated Republic video video games related to it. Now that setting is its personal distinct taste of Star Wars, with additional books and comics fleshing it out. The Excessive Republic, set solely a pair hundred years previous to prequel and unique trilogy eras, doesn’t fairly have its KOTOR second but. Of its varied tales — the rise and fall of Jedi house station Starlight Beacon, the rising menace of the Nihil house pirates, and some Drive-related mysteries — it largely seems like a pleasant approach to hang around with some new Jedi.
Picture: Lucasfilm
Jedi: Survivor fulfills an important perform in additional establishing the Excessive Republic as a setting price getting invested in by having beloved characters from Jedi: Fallen Order get wrapped up in its historical past. Quickly, this setting will likely be bolstered much more by The Acolyte, the forthcoming (and mysterious) new Disney Plus sequence set within the period. Fleshing out the Excessive Republic will likely be a protracted recreation, and extra importantly, it’s a special recreation than the one being performed by the tales spinning out of The Mandalorian and the animated Star Wars sequence.
Proper now, The Excessive Republic comes throughout like a bunch of tabletop RPG sourcebooks filled with attention-grabbing tidbits to tug at, with no correct story to attract folks in. Jedi: Survivor is a reasonably good lure for followers interested by this new setting, however they could be stunned at how a lot of it’s nonetheless simply potential.
