Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Hands On - 10 Things We Learned
3. Platforming And Exploration Are JUST As Important As Combat
EA
Fallen Order has a huge focus on combat, but those expecting the game to be nothing but balls-to-walls action are in for a surprise.
From the gameplay demo we were given (which takes place on the planet of Zeffo, for clarity's sake), Cal has to navigate all sorts of environmental puzzles to progress through levels. The force is fundamental in this regard, and it's also where the game's Metroidvania-stylings can best be seen. When players go to a planet the first time around they'll be able to create shortcuts to come back to, while other areas are locked behind force abilities they presumably won't unlock until the game's latter stages.
Bear in mind we only played for an hour, but Fallen Order seemed to divide its time between combat and platforming pretty evenly. There's an entire section on Zeffo that introduces wind tunnels as an added obstacle for Cal to overcome, and one would assume similar environmental hazards will present themselves in different areas too.
In short, the platforming works great. It's in the vein of Uncharted 4 almost, only with force abilities to spice things up.
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.
