Although last week's Star Wars Celebration was jam-packed with countless major announcements and big revelations (including the debut of
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and
Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Season 7's teaser trailers), there's no denying that the first intense footage from
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was the most exciting thing for fans of video gaming that aired during the Celebration in Chicago.
In a recent interview with Game Informer, Steve Blank, Lucasfilm's director of franchise content and strategy, and Stig Asmussen, Respawn Entertainment's director of
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, have revealed new details on the highly anticipated story-driven video game's main characters and setting.
In
Fallen Order, you play as Cal Kestis, a never-before-seen character portrayed by Cameron Monaghan (
Gotham’s Joker) who has managed to survive Order 66, the brutal Jedi purge that took place right after Supreme Chancellor Palpatine became the Emperor. "
Cal came organically out of a story we were crafting. What you were alluding to is the dark times, after Episode III, when the Jedi have fallen and are predominantly eliminated," Blank said. "
We thought that was a really interesting space to start a story. What do the Jedi look like in that space? What does it mean to have lived through this purge, and how do you deal with that in this new era?"
"
Cal came out of that. We have a padawan that hasn't been fully trained, but now sort of is living in this space. The layers of personality and specifics of story all of that came when Cameron got added and found his voice. It was a process to settle on the specificity of that character," Blank continued.
Given that the tile is being directed by Asmussen, who previously helmed
God of War III, his vision of a
Star Wars game is drastically different from DICE's work on the
Battlefront series. According to Amussen, while
Fallen Order is a single-player title, Respawn has focused really hard to make it an immersive and cinematic experience, and Lucasfilm and EA has reportedly been very supportive.
"
Everything that we were delivering to Lucasfilm and sharing internally at Respawn and EA was all "Get your hands on the sticks and play it, and watch how it's evolving." Asmussen said.
" It speaks to their great partnership there, and the process of developing the game. We knew Star Wars Celebration was going to be the moment in which we were going to unveil stuff. We started having those conversations of what does it look like publicly," Blank added.
Fallen Order is deep-rooted in the
Star Wars lore, which basically means that the player will have an opportunity to face some deadly enemies who serve the Empire. While Call will be forced to fight against all kinds of Stormtroopers, they won't even be his main problem, as the Empire’s Inquisitors will do their best to kill the young hero. The Second Sister, who was previously seen in Charles Soule’s
Darth Vader comics series, will be the game's main antagonist alongside the Purge Troopers.
As revealed by Blank, those characters "
were developed in conjunction with Marvel. They needed a very specific type of trooper to accompany Inquisitors at the same time, Respawn had that need. We connected the dots on the Lucasfilm side. Respawn took the lead on development because they needed them for gameplay. That was one of the first things they delivered to us, based on Marvel's timelines. They've been in a couple of Marvel issues, but you'll see them for the first time as an enemy combatant in Jedi: Fallen Order."
With
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order launching in November, we should learn more about this
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy-like video game in the near future, most definitely during the annual EA Play in June, that is scheduled to start this year on Friday night, June 7, 2019, with a new kickoff event.
Cal Kestis—one of the last surviving members of the Jedi Order after the purge of Order 66—is now a Padawan on the run. Experience this all-new single-player Star Wars story from Respawn Entertainment and EA Star Wars on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC this holiday season. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is an action-adventure game set after Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith. Develop your Force abilities, hone your lightsaber techniques, and explore the ancient mysteries of a long-lost civilization—all while staying one step ahead of the Empire and its deadly Inquisitors.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on November 15, 2019.