Jedi: Survivor Took Inspiration from The Most Controversial Star Wars Movie

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor drew from many different sources from across the legendary franchise, including the extremely controversial Last Jedi. The second installment in Respawn’s series of Star Wars action titles launched last April and continued the story of Cal Kestis as he traveled across the galaxy on a new mission to uncover a lost Jedi sanctuary. Along the way, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor players unlock new lightsaber stances and Force abilities, battle bounty hunters and Imperial stormtroopers alike, and explore several classic Star Wars locations.

As is the case with most Star Wars games, the developers behind Jedi: Survivor looked to the franchise’s long and storied history for inspiration. For example, Cal can unlock new alternate costumes based on Star Wars characters like Kyle Katarn from the beloved Jedi Knight series, and he even finds a cross-guard lightsaber like the one Kylo Ren famously wielded in the Sequel Trilogy to use for heavier attacks in one of Jedi: Survivor’s new lightsaber styles. The game is chock full of other references to the Star Wars movies, including a nod to one of the series’ most divisive entries.

While speaking at the recent GDC 2024, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor art director Daanish Syed revealed that the game’s character customization screen was directly inspired by a moment from Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi. As reported by TheGamer, Syed described how his team looked at the scene in the film where Rey enters a mysterious cave on Ahch-To and encounters mirror versions of herself as part of a vision. Players can select new outfits and hairstyles for Jedi: Survivor'sCal by toggling through mirrored reflections of the former Jedi Padawan, which Syed says represents Cal looking within himself as he decides how he wants to look.

Daanish Syed went on to state that Star Wars: Jedi Survivor’s pause menus are meant to be visual representations of the Force as it guides Cal’s thoughts and actions. For example, the skill trees that