Earlier this month at EA Play, Electronic Arts and Respawn Entertainment showcased 13 minutes of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order gameplay — which looks like it could have easily popped out of the last decade. As of now, the director for Fallen Order says that the November 2019 due game takes cues from Metroid Prime and Dark Souls’ structure.
Ultimately, the game in question looks like something that came out of the 2008-2009 days going by the EA Play reveal. Although that’s my personal opinion of the “alpha” gameplay trailer. Nevertheless, Stig Asmussen, the director, offers his vision on how the game’s mechanics will pan out at launch.
According to website Game Informer (archive.is), we learn that Asmussen looked at the structure of Metroid Prime closely and at games like Bloodborne and Dark Souls so that the feel of Fallen Order is “fresh.” It’s worth noting that obtaining upgrades in the game isn’t like Metroid, and while it’s not a Souls game, it does carry a similar methodology:
“We looked at the structure of Metroid Prime closely. Early on, I looked at the cadence of getting upgrades in Metorid and we mapped that out. Ours in Jedi: Fallen Order is nothing like that, but it was a good exercise to go through. I think [Jedi: Fallen Order’s approach] will feel fresh; it’s not exactly like Metroidvania. We also looked at games like Bloodborne and Dark Souls that have the same types of methodology. We studied those games and they inspired us to find an experience that works well for our game.”
Furthermore, Jason de Heras, combat designer, followed up on Asmussen’s explanation to elaborate on the Dark Souls side of things in that “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” regarding the combat system.
Heras feels the main character has a simple tool kit, but the enemies and the world around the character make things dangerous:
“We look at all genres, and all action games, Dark Souls, obviously, because it’s a very what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of combat system. The main character has a simple tool kit, but it’s the enemies and world around them that makes it dangerous. It’s all about the player trying to read each enemy, figure out what the challenge is, what the different timings are, and react to that and have some strategy.”
If the AI stays the same as the EA Play gameplay trailer, I don’t see how Fallen Order will nudge or push the player into trying to read each enemy, figure out challenges or pull a new strategy if there’s no challenge in the first place. Nevertheless, things could change in the AI department later down the line, but if EA’s track record (e.g., Battlefield 1 and Battlefield V‘s AIs) holds any indication, then this game is in hot water when it comes to “challenges.”
Anyway, if the game seems interesting to you, you can look forward to it dropping on November 15th across PC, PS4, and Xbox One as shown below:
