Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order emerges from hiding on November 15th
And it's not even May 4th
Respawn Entertainment developers took to the stage at the Star Wars Celebration in Chicago today to unveil Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. It is (as they announced to great cheers) a singleplayer, story-driven game that follows a Jedi hiding from the Empire after the events of Episode III and the execution of Order 66. Here's a release trailer introducing the Padawan-in-hiding, Cal Kestis. He's not very good flying under the radar, so luckily he'll have Force powers and lightsaber combat to help him out of sticky situations.
If you're wondering where you've seen Cal's mocap (and voice) actor before, it's Gotham and Shameless actor Cameron Monaghan, who joined the panel to talk about his experience (and say that the combat is "kick ass").
The game's adding new characters and new planets to the Star Wars universe. There's also new enemies: Second sister inquisitors and purge troopers dressed in the slick black and red uniforms of the Empire. They're trained in hunting down Jedi, so should be tricker to take down than your average Stormtrooper if (and when, obviously) you end up getting into a clash with them.
It might help that that lightsaber's got some history behind it too, apparently, though unsurprisingly they didn't spoil what on the panel. They did hint, though, that it'll change throughout the game. Lightsaber upgrade tree? Force XP points? However that works, they've also stated that the game won't have microtransactions.
Most importantly, of course, is Cal's adorable droid partner, BD-1. "Buddy Droid," as they're affectionately known, is apparently inspired by household objects like vacuums and one of the developer's dogs. The perfect combination. And BD-1 won't be the only friend Cal picks up along the way - a "strange family" will form as he explores the galaxy.
The full panel will likely be up in EA's videos on demand on Twitch shortly.