The first single-player Star Wars title in almost a decade, there was a LOT riding on Respawn's Jedi: Fallen Order when it released in 2019.
EA had bungled the launch of two Star Wars games - both of them entries in the Battlefront franchise - and had cancelled about as many single-player titles since taking on the Star Wars license in 2013. They needed a win, and Fallen Order had to deliver - if nothing else than to prove to EA that story-driven Star Wars games were still worth pursuing.
And deliver it did. Despite rocking a few gnarly bugs and a lack of polish in certain areas, Respawn made a truly compelling Star Wars title that featured a brilliant story and combat made in the Souls-esque mould.
Assuming the role of Padawan fugitive Cal Kestis (played by a charming Cameron Monaghan) as he attempts to rebuild the Jedi Order with compatriots BD-1, Cere Junda and the cantankerous Greez Dritus, Fallen Order whisks the player from planet to planet, delivering a mature story that sees Kestis reckon with the trauma of Order 66, as well as his place in a galaxy dominated by the Empire.
Fallen Order was a major breath of fresh air, and hopefully just the beginning of a new Star Wars video game franchise for Respawn.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
