Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order release date, lightsabers, and all the latest details

To the delight of Star Wars fans everywhere it was announced on May 4, 2016 that Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind the excellent Titanfall series, was making a Star Wars game. At E3 2018 we finally got some details, including a title, a story outline, and an approximate release date.

We’ve gathered this and everything else we know so far about Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order right here. Details are still a little thin, but we’ll update this article whenever anything new is revealed. So if it’s not here, it’s not anywhere.

Everything we’ve heard so far sounds super exciting. It’s confirmed that we get to wield a lightsaber, and since this is from the Titanfall devs, we wouldn’t be surprised if there aren’t some joyfully fluid movement-based, wallrunning force powers too. Read on all the details.

Though, what this means for the future of Titanfall is another question.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order release date

According to EA’s presentation at E3 2018, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order will release in holiday 2019. This was recently confirmed in a quarterly earnings call where EA say the Respawn Entertainment are going to release two games before then end of 2019, one we know to be Jedi: Fallen Order, while the other could be Titanfall 3. One thing is for sure EA are unlikely to launch either game near 28 October after Titanfall 2’s poor sales.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order setting

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is set “shortly after the events of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.” It’s a turbulent time in the galaxy, with the manipulative Senator Palpatine – secretly a Sith Lord named Darth Sidious – having recently been declared Emperor and ordered the liquidation of the Jedi Knights (hence ‘Fallen Order’, presumably).

The old Republic will be in the midst of its reorganisation into the fascistic Galactic Empire, and its clone army will be actively hunting any surviving Jedi. As you’re about to learn, that includes you.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order story

At EA’s 2018 E3 conference, Respawn boss Vince Zampella says Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is set in a “dark time” when “the Jedi are being hunted.” According to the website, the story turns around a Padawan (a trainee Jedi, and almost certainly the player character) who survives Order 66 (the aforementioned liquidation of the Jedi).

We don’t know much more about the game’s story yet, but plenty went down in the period between Episodes III and IV that Respawn could hook us into. At the very least we can expect to fend off hundreds of clone troopers, and perhaps also the Inquisitors – a group of force-sensitive warriors trained by Darth Vader specifically to finish off the Jedi.

There’s a lot of potential for cameo appearances from figures such as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, Princess Leia, and perhaps even the Emperor’s chief bloodhound, Darth Vader himself. That’d be a hell of an endgame boss.

“We promise to pay respect to the Star Wars legacy at all times, a fact that will be constantly reinforced and honored as a central game design tenet,” game director Stig Asmussen said, when the announcement was made. “Fans should expect the exemplary level of quality first established at Respawn with Titanfall, a game that epitomises our studio’s dedication to slick, larger-than-life action and fun, groundbreaking mechanics.

“Moving forward, we couldn’t ask for a better universe in which to continue this journey, and although I would love to share all of the exciting places we are going, we have the following piece of information to divulge with you all today: We’ll be making a third-person action/adventure game set in the Star Wars universe.

“Now, I understand on the surface this might sound a bit dry, but developing a game within the ever-expanding Star Wars universe opens up so many paths for us to go down, and an unparalleled playground to design within.”

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order gameplay

Basically, Vince Zampella confirmed that we’ll get to wield a lightsaber. When Respawn’s Star Wars was first announced back in 2016, we heard it would be a third-person action game, and as the Jedi Knight series showed us, lightsaber combat works best in a third-person perspective. This pretty much confirms that the player character is the Padawan around which the story is confirmed to turn, and it’s hardly extrapolating from that to imagine we get to play with force powers.

Speaking of which, starting as a novice Jedi gives a pretty clear path not only for character growth, but also mechanical development: we can well imagine a game in which getting stronger in the Force manifests in an expanding repertoire of stronger force powers. Respawn are perfectly placed to deliver the physical side of this, having given us double jumps, wall running, grappling, and plenty of other exciting movement systems that would transfer splendidly to an action game in which you play a Jedi.

Guns are unconfirmed, but Respawn is a shooter studio, and blasters are everywhere in Star Wars. So… whisper it, but anyone who wants to see another Jedi Knight game – which is literally every single person who ever played one, because they were all fantastic – would be forgiven for getting cautiously excited.