The hotly anticipated Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is one of the biggest Star Wars releases of the year. The sequel to 2019’s excellent Fallen Order picks up the story of Cal Kestis five years later, showing him as a fully-fledged Jedi Knight plunged into solving an ancient galactic mystery.
Beyond that, we’re now a week out from The Mandalorian‘s season three finale, and with the dust settling on the show, fans are picking over smaller details in the show that many missed or looking ahead to the hotly anticipated debut of Ahsoka in August. Before all that comes Star Wars Day on May 4, which will see the entire second season of the animated anthology Star Wars Visions arrive, likely with some smaller announcements that didn’t make it to the recent Star Wars Celebration in London.
But this week all eyes are on Survivor. So, how did it do with critics?
Reviews suggest a rocky launch for the biggest ‘Star Wars’ game of the year
It’s looking like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor isn’t going to have the smoothest of launches. The review embargo lifted at 8am PT, with the common consensus that this is a fine sequel marred by some glaring technical troubles. The game currently has a Metacritic score of 86 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S|X, and 83 for PC, with reviewers enjoying the game noting various performance issues across all platforms. Check out our own three-star review of the game here.
Those with long memories will remember that Fallen Order suffered similar technical hiccups on launch in 2019, but those flaws were eventually patched out. We assume the same will happen with Survivor, though anyone who pre-ordered may be regretting their decision right now.
We want to underline that we thought Survivor is, by and large, a great sequel to Fallen Order. It’s just a shame that performance issues are such a blot on this otherwise very fun game.
43 years on from ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and fans finally realize Leia delivered an iconic line first
When George Lucas was writing Return of the Jedi, we doubt he ever thought Admiral Ackbar’s line “It’s a trap!” would become so notorious. This utterance has launched a million memes, been repeatedly referenced in other Star Wars media, and recently popped up in The Mandalorian.
But fans have now just noticed that Leia got there first. In The Empire Strikes Back Leia tries to warn the heroes about Lando’s deal with the Empire by yelling “It’s a trap!” Check it out:
Someone must have noticed this before, but judging by the reactions, many die-hard Star Wars fans are realizing this for the first time. That said, the consensus quickly formed that while Leia might have gotten there first, Ackbar did it better. As an addendum, another fan notes that the Imperial Officer pulling Leia back is played by none other than original Boba Fett actor Jeremy Bulloch, making this short moment a Star Wars trivia twofer.
We wonder what else in the original trilogy fans have missed…
A tiny detail in ‘The Mandalorian’ should have clued us in about this character’s villainy
While we’re on the subject of minuscule Easter eggs that everyone missed, how about this one from episode three of The Mandalorian‘s third season? This was something of a departure for the show, moving away from Din Djarin and Grogu to focus on former Imperial and clone expert Dr Pershing.
He’s now in the New Republic’s Imperial rehabilitation program, with his guide, the apparently reformed Elia Kane. By the end of the show, it was cemented that she’s secretly still working for Moff Gideon, but even early in the episode, we should have realized she’s still a villain. The clue? She’s sucking an evil popsicle!
As any Star Wars fan should know, in a galaxy far, far away, red = dark side. Arguably, this is reading a little too much into a sugary snack, though someone out there had to conceive of, design, and CGI those popsicles, so we’re betting this is indeed a sneaky nod to Elia Kane’s true motivations.
The rest of the week will be dominated by Star Wars Jedi: Survivor news as fans get their hands on it and begin picking through its story and connections to the wider Star Wars universe. The full release is on Friday April 28, when we’ll have a bunch of articles explaining the story and revealing some secrets. Until then, try your best to stay spoiler-free!
