Star Wars Jedi: Survivor recap - what happened in Fallen Order?

Or maybe you didn't play it at all, and just fancy diving into Survivor when it drops in a couple of days. Either way, you might feel a bit lost.

If you do, fear not. We'll provide a rundown of what happened in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. After reading this you'll be ready to jump into Cal Kestis' story without any confusion, and battle the Empire with a clear head.

Ready? Let's start right at the beginning of Fallen Order, where things weren't looking too hot for the Jedi.

The memorable opening

The game takes place five years after the events of Revenge of the Sith, which means the execution of Order 66 has taken place (that's the attempted execution of every Jedi in the galaxy by the big bad Palpatine).

However, there are still plenty of Jedi, in hiding, scattered across the various planets. One of whom is Cal Kestis, our protagonist. He's a young lad with a lot to learn about the force, and he's hiding from the Empire on the planet Bracca - which is basically a huge scrapyard.

After an accident at his dreary job, Cal uses his force powers to save his colleague. This draws the Empire's Inquisitors to search for him. Despite his friend's sacrifice, the Inquisitors discover that Cal is a Jedi - and an epic chase begins. Cal just about manages to escape the Empire, and in doing so gets off his dive of a planet.

This is the beginning of our adventure, and it only gets more gripping.

The mission and planets

After the adrenaline fuelled opening, Cal's raison d'etre soon presents itself. After the end of the initial chase, he is rescued by former Jedi Cere Junda and pilot Greez Dritus, in their ship - the Stinger Mantis. They then tell him about a hidden vault on the planet Bogano that only a Jedi can access, so Cal helps them out (adopting a cute little droid called BD-1 on the way).

In this vault is information about a MacGuffin — sorry, a "Holocron" — which contains a list of Force sensitive children. Finding this Holocron leads us to certain planets - to start with, Zeffo and Kashyyyk. This is the gameplay loop for a bit.

Hey, if you're not working on a scrapheap, you may as well be on a mission to bring back the Jedi and return balance to the force. Right?

The flashbacks and lore dumps

Beginning just before we open the vault on Bogano, Cal starts to have flashbacks to his training as a Padawan learner from his Jedi Master Jaro Tapal - back before Order 66. Not only do these moments teach us about the gameplay, but they reveal moments in Cal's childhood.

There are plenty of other moments of exposition outside of these flashbacks, too. For example, on planet Zeffo (home of the Zeffo people) we learn a lot about the history of the planet. The Empire are occupying it due to Project Auger - this is a now-abandoned mining expedition to find an ancient Zeffo artefact.

Throughout the game, Cal learns nuggets of information about the Force-sensitive Zeffo race. Cere's former master, Eno Cordova, was obsessed with this ancient and mysterious species. He doesn't meet Cal in person, but Cal watches a lot of Eno's hologram recordings. This particular lore trail leads Cal to a number of puzzle-laden Zeffo vaults.

We learn about the lore on many other planets, too. Our favourite is the Wookie planet, Kashyyyk, where we bump into one of the infamous hero of Rogue One - Saw Gerrera.

That unforgettable ending

What follows is a long an arduous adventure, with many near misses, in which Cal gets tricked by the Empire, caught by a bounty hunter, thrown into jail (then escapes), and - after many a misunderstanding - he pals up with a Nightsister of the planet Dathomir called Merrin.

One of the chief Inquisitors - Trilla - continually pops up through the story, and towards the end we witness her own tragic backstory (there are a lot of tragic backstories, if you hadn't guessed). In the final sequence, after we defeat her, she is ruthlessly murdered by... Darth Vader himself. Which is a shame, because we were just beginning to like her.

The following battle is unforgettable, but not exactly victorious on Cal's end. It ends with us escaping by the skin of our teeth (much like in the game's opening). In an attempt to keep the Force sensitive children safe from Vader et al, Cal destroys the Holocron.

Well, that's where the game ends. If you're hungry for more story, though, there is a tie in novel called Battle Scars which takes place between Fallen Order and Survivor. We recon it's worth reading, but it isn't essential.

Either way, we hope you're all caught up for Survivor now. May the Force be with you!

Read more:

• When is Star Wars Jedi: Survivor set? Timeline explained
• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor cast — confirmed actors
• Why isn't Star Wars Jedi: Survivor on PS4 or Xbox One? Developers tell all
• Is Star Wars Jedi: Survivor coming to Xbox Game Pass?

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