Cameron “Cal” Monaghan “Kestis” is back once again in Star Wars Jedi Survivor.
This video game takes place roughly around the same time as the Obi-Wan Kenobi show, and 5 years after Cal’s original adventure in Jedi Fallen Order. Within those 5 years the original gang split up. There wasn’t a falling out, but rather everyone split off to do their own thing. Merrin left to explore the galaxy, Cere left to find remnants of the Jedi order, and Greez left to settle down with his own place.
Cal continued to fight the Empire in different ways, and we meet with him working a job for Saw Guerrera in Corusant.
He’s “captured” by some people to collect a bounty and they bring him to the lower levels of the planet to a senator looking to make a profit and gain influence with the Emperor. Cal’s capture was a ruse, however, and the group was all working together to access secret files the senator had. Their victory didn’t last long though.
The inquisitors found them after a distress beacon went out, and all but Cal and his new bestie Bode were killed when they tried to escape. Cal fled on the Mantis, which was badly damaged in the chase, so he took it to Greez to get it fixed.
Welcome to Koboh
Greez owns a cantina on the planet Koboh, it’s a frontier planet full of miners and raiders, and has a rich history in the far past of the Old Republic.
As the ship is repaired, Cal and BD-1 explore the planet and learn a bit of its history.
History of Koboh and Tanalorr
A couple centuries ago the Old Republic Jedi used Koboh as a base for experiments on Koboh Matter and studying the nearby rift in space they called the Abyss.
The two Jedi in charge were Santari Khri and Dagan Gera. Dagan somehow found a way through the Abyss and at the center he discovered a planet he named Tanalorr. Dagan and Santari invented a compass to travel through the Abyss safely after Dagan’s trip, and they decided to start building a Jedi temple on their newly discovered planet.
After a while the Jedi Council were invited to view the planet, and vote on making it official that Dagan and Santari taught the trainees at the temple in Tanalorr.
Dagan didn’t trust them, however and was quick to react angrily when they decided to leave the planet. Invaders had also arrived to attack the Jedi, but the aftermath of that attack is unknown.
Dagan started to turn against the Jedi after the decision to leave Tanalorr, and Santari had one last chance to talk to him to bring him back to the light, however he was determined to start a war against the Jedi. Santari sliced his arm off, and put him in stasis on Koboh, and the way to Tanalorr was forgotten after that.
Cal’s Discoveries
While exploring Koboh, Cal used his powers to discover the history of Tanalorr, and decided to try to rediscover the planet to use as a sanctuary for people trying to escape the Empire.
There were complications, though, because on Koboh some raiders, led by an alien called Rayvis, have taken over. They demand everyone on the planet to obey them and their droid army. Thankfully, Cal successfully defended the cantina from them.
During his explorations, Cal found a disabled Old Republic droid named ZN-A4 (Zee) and reactivated her. See helped Cal with her knowledge of the Old Republic, but her memories of how to get to Tanalorr were erased.
Unfortunately, Cal also reactivated a cryo-tube holding a one-armed Dagan Gera. He awoke centuries after Santari Khri froze him, and declared war on the Empire. The raiders were searching for him as well, and when Cal awoke him, Rayvis came in to collect him and fulfill a centuries long blood oath to serve him.
This is when the conflict of the game truly begins.
The rest of the Old Republic equipment was inaccessible for them, so Cal and team decided to look for Cere, who was leading an outpost of The Hidden Path on a desert planet called Jedha.
The Hidden Path was briefly shown on the Obi-Wan Kenobi show, where they were hiding and moving Jedi and people who were against the Empire in an Underground Railroad-type system. In Jedi Survivor, this branch of the Hidden Path is trying to collect and preserve ancient Jedi artifacts and traditions before the Empire destroys them all.
Cal meets Merrin on the way to the secret temple, and they reconnect during a sandstorm. They have to evade the creatures living in the desert and the Imperials occupying the planet.
At the secret base, they meet BD-1’s old owner and Cere’s old Jedi teacher, Eno Cordova. I thought that during Jedi Fallen Order he was dead. We never saw him in person so seeing him here was a surprise for me.
They led Cal and Merrin to a nearby Jedi temple that had people investigating the history of the Old Republic and might have clues to how to go through the abyss on Koboh. Unfortunately, the Empire has entered the temple and brought a super drill to destroy it, so the two had to quickly go and rescue the people trapped in there.
One giant cinematic drill fight later, most of the team were rescued and Cal has his next lead.
A lot of the story/gameplay at this point has a lot of traveling back and forth between Koboh and Jedha.
To summarize:
The gang traveled between Koboh and its moon to unlock ancient temples, figure out the history of Koboh and fight the raiders on the way. Zee was taken at one point and Cal had to rescue her with help from Bode, and later they traveled back to Koboh’s moon to fight Rayvis to find Dagan Gera. Rayvis lost and wanted a merciful death in battle, which Cal obliged. They figured out where Dagan was, Cal and Bode fought him and collected the surviving compass to travel through the abyss.
Back to Jedha, the compass was given to Cordova to unlock it and the group had a relaxing break by the fire before the next day.
BETRAYAL
The next morning the Empire had found the Hidden Path base. Bode called them in and stole the compass. He killed Cordova in the process and Cal chased him down before he escaped. Bode revealed he was a Jedi now working for the Empire.
Darth Vader himself arrived at the base in the meantime, and fought Cere in round two after the original fight in the Inquisitor base years ago. Vader won after a long battle, killing Cere. Cal was angry and swore to find Bode.
The Mantis crew found Bode’s tracker, and located him on a secret asteroid base for the Imperial Security Bureau (ISB). Think space CIA.
It’s revealed that Bode had been working for the ISB for years since Order 66. To survive, the administrator had kept him hidden, but Bode would have to work for him to keep his daughter safe.
Cal tore through the asteroid chasing him, tapping into the dark side of the force for the first time. Merrin was the only person able to bring him back and calm him down while Bode escaped again.
They went back to Koboh and found a new way to get through the abyss, which Bode had traveled to with his daughter.
They opened up an old laboratory and sent out a beacon to guide a ship through to Tanalorr
TANALORR
The Purple Planet.
The Mantis crew finally arrived and went to find Bode. They found his daughter by her outside an old Jedi temple and she led Cal and Merrin to him.
They tried talking him down but to no avail, and they fought, eventually to Bode’s demise. It’s ironic in a sad way because Cal used the blaster Bode gave him to kill him.
They held a funeral for the fallen on Tanalorr, and Cal had promised to Cere’s grave that he’d keep fighting.
Game Notes
The story is a lot because it’s way longer than any movie or tv show. It’s also very compelling because the player runs through the story instead of just watching it.
There’s a lot of bonus side content not even mentioned in the story. One thing though is that giant evil frog from the last game had a kid.
The world exploration is much larger and the map is much easier to follow thankfully.
Customization is also revamped. No longer can you customize the Mantis, but Cal, BD-1, and the weapons are all customizable and you can change the hairstyle and facial hair for many combinations.
Gardening is also back! In the previous game, you could collect eight different seeds during your travels to plant a small garden on the ship. Now you can collect seeds anywhere because the rooftop of the cantina has an entire garden you can use.
Also in the cantina there’s a ton of different characters you can talk to, and if you visit them multiple times you can find new interactions and have their personal story progress.
Also FISHING!
To round off this discussion of Jedi Survivor, let’s go back in time to an old post I’ve written on here, and use the official scoring method to rank the fishing in the game. If you need to look at how the scoring system works, you can click the link here.
Meet Skoova Stev. The local Koboh fisherman. Cal meets him when traveling through the planet, and recruits him to run the aquarium in the cantina. There’s multiple locations to find him fishing while exploring, and each time he talks about his rich backstory.
If you need a recap of how my fishing grading system works, you can check out the first post I wrote describing it here.
So without further ado, let’s crunch the numbers.
VARIETY OF FISH: 3
There’s a total of 12 fish species that can be added to the index and aquarium
FISHING LOCATIONS: 2
While 12 different fish species aren’t bad, each fish is found at a different location, meaning there are 12 different fishing spots. No two fish species are found in the same fishing hole. The hardest part of fishing is to find the locations themselves because sometimes they’re hidden behind locked doors or you have to find a way to jump cliffs to get there.
FISHING CONTROLS: 4
You don’t technically do the fishing in this game, you have to find Skoova, talk to him, and he catches the fish, so the controls are pretty easy in that regard.
KNOWLEDGE: 5
When you initially talk to Skoova he says something like “Aye laddie, today I’m fishing for the legendary ______ fish” so you are fully aware of what fish you’re getting, and there is a little bio you gain when it’s caught.
RELAXATION: 5
You know, after running around different planets fighting the fascist Empire and different hostile creatures, there is something calming about jumping around and finding Skoova and listening to his tale. Like a calm eye in the hurricane of the Empire.
EDIBILITY: NONE
All fish are collected and added to the aquarium in the cantina. If you listen to Skoova’s story throughout the game, you’ll understand why you wouldn’t want to just hunt the fish for fun.
OVERALL SCORE: 19/25
Not too bad! If the score was less than 10 I don’t think I could recommend playing this game.
This is a really fun game with a great story, and there should be a conclusion to it eventually I’m definitely going to play when it comes out.
The fall of the Jedi era is just about over and we are turning to the rise of the Rebellion.
Turn in next time when we go through Andor!
Kristopher K. Online 