Jedi: Fallen Order is a product of nearly 30 years of Star Wars game content. Early to late 80’s kids such as myself were in the right place at the right time to see the rise and fall of LucasArts. Known for their Monkey Island fame, LucasArts was also the home of every Star Wars game before the EA licence takeover in May 2013.
From LucasArts to Jedi: Fallen Order
LucasArts provided a much needed visual expansion on the original Star Wars trilogy. 1996 saw the multi-media release of Shadows of the Empire. Set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, the project released a novel, comic book series, soundtrack, and N64 release and a slew of merchandise. Star Wars games and novels took risks whilst capturing the imaginations of fringe kids worldwide.
Whilst readers will have fond memories of Dash Rendar, Kyle Katarn and Luke’s Jedi Academy, Lucas never fully committed to canonising this content. This lead to multiple changes when the prequel trilogy was released and various retcons. Only with the turbulent takeover of the Star Wars licence by EA came the canonisation of game content.
Jedi: Fallen Order – Enter Electronic Arts
The initial release of Battlefront II was in November 2017 was peak EA, trying to bleed players wallets dry via loot box incentives. Looking past this, players would find a rich, yet short, campaign detailing ‘Operation Cinder’. Set between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, players would see Emperor Palpatines great contingency being rolled into action. This was a great use of the medium and provided a great continuation from the Aftermath trilogy novels.
Respawn Entertainment, known for its Titanfall series, weren’t going to release a Star Wars game at all. With a third-person action title in development when they were acquired by EA in December 2017, this was soon transformed into a Star Wars title. Being offered the chance to tell the story of a Jedi Knight, narrative lead Aaron Contreras force jumped at the opportunity to make it happen.
Contreras, The Conduit
Although this decision was made before Contreras’ arrival, he became the conduit between Respawn and Lucasfilm in terms of narrative. He quickly established that audiences buy into a Star Wars narrative with a rag-tag group of heroes and heroines, something the first Force Unleashed touched on but ultimately fluffed in its second entry.
Whilst speaking to the Washington Posts Gene Park in November 2019, Contreras dives into the main drivers for the narrative experience of Jedi: Fallen Order:
“Much of the internal change within Cal we show externally through his interactions with his crew members,” Contreras said. “Cere’s story is so important, it was difficult to balance her involvement with everything else going on with Cal, they’re almost like generational mirrors. They’re quite similar and end up being the real vehicle the other needs to solve their own internal trauma.”
on Cal Kestis delivering force abilities as a gameplay device, Contreras states:
“How does he learn and engage with the Force? It’s unknowable and magic, and we’re trying to distil that into a video game mechanic,” Contreras said. “One of the most challenging things of marrying storytelling and gaming, there’s a very specific way that progress feels good inside a game, and we needed to realize that in a Star Wars story.”
Actors Representing Game Characters
Cal is played by Cameron Monaghan. This leaves the door wide open for on-screen appearances in TV or Film alongside fellow fallen Jedi Cere Junda actor Debra Wilson. With the dominating strategy of mixed media content delivery from Disney, this will most likely play a key role moving forward.
Starting Jedi: Fallen Order post order 66 explores a part of Star Wars lore that has been walked previously. However, focusing on an escaped Padawan and expanding on his first hand experiences via flashbacks is a great vehicle for Fallen Orders narrative. The weight of Cals situations, seeing his Jedi Master murdered, suppressing his abilities/identity, having no-one to turn to as a youngling for safety are all heart breaking plot devices. Jedi: Fallen Order does a great job of illustrating the overwhelming force of the new Galactic Empire.
Legend Becomes Canon
Fallen Order also gives longtime fans several nods in terms of legends content. Dathomir is most famous for being the home planet of Darth Maul, but was also featured in the Clone Wars and various novels/comics. Bringing the planet into canon was a challenge as Contreras explains:
“Originally it was introduced in Legends content, and there’ve been different versions of Dathomir,” said Contreras, who added that the team had to balance appeasing hardcore fans who would recognise the planet from the books, and fans who only watch the films.”
And for those eagle eyed fans, a nice Easter egg regarding Ilum:
“If you really know your lore, the map where they showed Starkiller base was a giveaway, and people noticed that,” he said. “I love that they never made the connection there. That’s another generation, and people don’t know about the planet’s history.”
Jedi: Fallen Order is the first attempt in recent history to make a single player/narrative focused game with no paywalls/loot boxes. It shows that AAA publishers can help developers both first and third party create quality content, rather than milking a good idea try. Not forgetting some LucasArts classics, Jedi: Fallen Order represents canon content in a Star Wars game alongside a thrilling narrative and balanced gameplay mechanics.
