Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order - 9 things we learnt from the video game’s developer
Shortlist speaks to Aaron Contreras about what to expect from Respawn’s latest venture

It’s fair to say that recent Star Wars video games have not always been well-received, with games such as Star Wars: Battlefront II often being criticised because of ‘pay-to-win’ content and wafer-thin storylines.
However, the latest offering is meant to be a change in the tides. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a single-player action-adventure game that follows the last surviving Jedi, Padawan Cal Kestis, who is on the run from the Galactic Empire.
Set five years after Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, developers Respawn have created a Star Wars world that combines fan favourites with new, original characters, locations and creatures - of course, always under the watchful eye of Lucasfilm.
We sat down with Respawn’s Aaron Contreras, the narrative lead on the new game, to try out the game and find out what makes this one different.
Here’s everything we learnt - condensed down into 9 easily digestible points.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is available to pre-order now on PS4, Xbox One and PC, and will be officially released on 15 November.
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1. It may be a one-player game, but you’re not alone
Cal Kestis is accompanied throughout the game by droid BD-1.
2. You get to visit Chewie's home planet
Kashyyyk (aka Wookiee Planet C) also features in the game.
3. There's plenty of original locations, too
The game is a mix of roughly 50/50 existing Star Wars locations and original locations created for the game, according to Contreras, and each planet offers a completely new challenge with the creatures and environment.
4. You Shouldn't Even Be Able To Tell It's Loading
“We’ve built the game to stream so as those conversations are playing out, we’re loading the next thing in the background,” Contreras tells us while we stand aboard The Mantis - a research ship.
“The approach we took when building the game was to make the experience as seamless as possible for the player. So, there is loading happening, it’s just happening while you’re in the game.”
5. You can customise your own lightsaber
“We have a whole lot of customization options for the player,” Contreras demonstrates. “You can get paint jobs for BD-1, different paint jobs for the ship and different outfits for Cal as well."
6. What a lightsaber does doesn't change
Contreras explains that one of the first elements of the game that the design team looked at was the lightsaber because it was essential in “nailing the fantasy of becoming a jedi”.
7. Using the force is more than a tap of a button
“One of the things we went back and forth on the most [with Lucasfilm] was The Force, which is unsurprising in a jedi game,” Contreras laughs. “With Cal, it was that he has the slow ability. There were a lot of iterations to try and get that right so that it felt good for gameplay but it also felt like a force ability.
8. There Are 10 Different Stormtrooper Personalities
“You never see [stormtroopers’] faces because their sort of ‘faceless grunts’ but we’ve got about 10 different personalities for stormtroopers,” says Contreras.“Different stormtroopers will have different conversations depending on where you are in the game because you can come back to planets later in the game.
“Some are more aggro, more gung-ho and ready to fight you, and then you occasionally come across a stormtrooper who is uncertain. ‘Oh, you’ve got a laser sword and I’m kind of afraid of you’ but they will still try and fight you - it doesn’t change that much.”
9. There are 'infinite' hours of fun
There’s a range of difficulty modes (ranging from Story Mode to Grand Master), which will likely dictate how long it takes you to play the game. Though, Contreras is unwilling to give any indication of how many hours it would take the average player.
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