All Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Rumors Leaked So Far
When Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind the Titanfall series, announced that it was working on a third-person Star Wars game in 2016, it left the doors open for lots of speculation on what the game might be. At EA Play 2018, Respawn head Vince Zampella revealed that the game was called Jedi: Fallen Empire and that it was scheduled for a Holiday 2019 release.
The game will take place in the aftermath of Order 66, which left the Jedi Order all but extinct, except for a few survivors scattered across the galaxy. You play as a Jedi Padawan who must learn to survive in a Galactic Empire that wants him dead. We also know that the game will feature lightsaber duels.
We don't know much about Jedi: Fallen Order beyond that, but there are plenty of rumors making their way around the internet. Below, we've compiled all the unconfirmed details we've heard about the game. As always, take them with a grain of salt.
The game will be like The Force Unleashed
The latest Jedi: Fallen Order rumor suggests that the game might resemble one of its third-person Star Wars predecessors, The Force Unleashed. The 2008 action-adventure title is, of course, best known as the game that let you bring down a massive Star Destroyer from the sky with the Force. The game was meant to push Force abilities to their very limit, showcasing a level of power that had never (and still hasn't) been displayed in the movies. It also happens to be the game George Lucas hated so much that no one was allowed to mention its protagonist to him in the years after its release.
Jason Ward, host of the Making Star Wars podcast, Now, This is Podcasting!, revealed that he'd spoken to someone familiar with the game's production and that this person told him that Jedi: Fallen Order would be like The Force Unleashed but "without the Mountain Dew qualities."
Ward described the upcoming game as being "true to canon, and content that we've seen in films and stuff, so we won't see anything absurd," such as "pulling down Star Destroyers and stuff."
While this still leaves plenty of questions concerning the actual gameplay, this rumor could mean that the game may employ swordplay or platforming similar to The Force Unleashed. We won't know for sure until Respawn shows off some footage of the game.
No multiplayer
Jason Ward also suggested on Now, This Is Podcasting! that Jedi: Fallen Order won't feature multiplayer, saying that Star Wars video game fans "will want to keep your Star Wars: Battlefront installed for Star Wars multiplayer." As it stands, the rebooted Battlefront games offer the only Star Wars multiplayer experience on current-gen consoles and it could remain that way if what Ward has heard is true.
Zampella shared on Twitter that Jedi: Fallen Order is a single-player story-based game, but didn't mention anything about a possible multiplayer component. Neither Respawn nor publisher Electronic Arts has made an official announcement on a multiplayer mode as of yet.
It should be noted that Electronic Arts currently has at least one other Star Wars project in development at EA Vancouver, which is reportedly working on an online multiplayer title similar to Destiny and Warframe. This could mean that Jedi: Fallen Order doesn't really need a multiplayer mode when there's already Battlefront II on the market and another online game on the way.
It could feature unused characters from Project Ragtag
EA made headlines in 2017 when it announced the cancellation of Visceral Games' action-adventure Star Wars game, codenamed "Project Ragtag." Kotaku later reported Ragtag would have been set in between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and starred a Han Solo-like scoundrel named Dodger and his crew of thieves as they go on heists. The game would have also featured traversal through space and a multiplayer mode focused on ship combat.
While there's little hope that we will ever see what Visceral was working on, there's a chance some of that stuff could be reworked into Jedi: Fallen Order. This rumor comes Dork Side of the Force after Motive Studios general manager Jade Raymond told Game Informer that EA planned to recycle the assets Visceral developed for Ragtag.
"We have three terabytes of Star Wars artwork, which is crazy, and there is a lot of really good work there," Raymond said. "When we announced we were moving the game, the idea was pivoting more into player agency but still keeping a lot of the stuff that was great about it. There was a lot of really cool stuff like tons of assets and really cool characters that had been created. So, there's the goal of making sure we use all that."
Raymond was speaking about EA Vancouver's online title specifically, but Dork Side of the Force posits that this could apply to Respawn's game as well.
Darth Vader's in it
At the center of Order 66, also known as the Jedi Purge, is Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader. In the film Revenge of the Sith, Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker falls to the dark side and becomes Emperor Palpatine's apprentice in an attempt to save his wife Padme from dying during childbirth. This doesn't quite work out the way Anakin hopes. Transformed into the half-man, half-machine nightmare known as Darth Vader, the Sith Lord sets out to kill every last Jedi in the galaxy. This could put him on a direct path to the Padawan who is set to star in Jedi: Fallen Order.
Dork Side of the Force suggests that this is indeed the case based on a video that was released by EA which showed lightsaber-duel motion-capture work being done at Respawn. The video depicts a Jedi and Sith battling it out with blue and red lightsabers. Considering that the game takes place during a time when Darth Vader was at the height of his power and hunting down Jedi, there's a good chance that the video is teasing a Vader scene in the game.
Of course, it could be nothing more than Respawn modeling character movement.
There will be a crossover with Rebels
Since Jedi: Fallen Order takes place in between the Prequel and Original Trilogies, there's a chance that the game will cross over with other Star Wars stories that take place roughly during the same time. According to What Culture, Jedi: Fallen Order could indeed feature cameos from characters from the Rebels animated series, which tells the story of a group of heroes known as the Spectres in the early days of the Rebel Alliance.
What Culture says that two specific Rebels characters could appear in the game: Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndulla, the leaders of the Spectres.
"Kanan Jarrus is the Jedi in hiding, living a life of rebellion and crime, which sounds absolutely perfect for a video game," What Culture explains. "Going on missions, getting into hairy combat encounters with Imperials and criminals, exploring the galaxy, using blasters and a lightsaber — it's fun to be Kanan Jarrus, which is why he'd be a perfect unwilling mentor character for Jedi: Fallen Order."
As for Hera, she could be one of the NPCs giving you missions to thwart the Empire. Considering that Disney is really into connecting all of the Star Wars stories it tells, this Jedi: Fallen Order/Rebels crossover isn't so far-fetched.
"God of War with lightsabers"
The development team behind Jedi: Fallen Order points to something epic, according to Games Radar. Respawn not only includes the expertise of Vince Zampella, the developer who helped bring the seminal Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare to life, but also the talent of Stig Asmussen, the director of God of War 3.
As the outlet writes, the epic scale of God of War 3, with its massive third-person set pieces that pit literal gods against each other, points to Jedi: Fallen Order having a similar feel under. It could be "God of War with lightsabers," according to Games Radar.
"While Asmussen has an art background, he was responsible for GoW 3's ridiculous scale; he also created entire levels on GoW 2, so just think about that series' tight focus on combat and apply it to Star Wars," Games Radar says.
We'll find out whether Asmussen's time on God of War has rubbed off on Jedi: Fallen Order when EA finally reveals some gameplay footage.
It could be a next-gen game
While the announcement of a new Star Wars game was an exciting possibility going into EA Play 2018, no fan was prepared for the way EA unveiled Jedi: Fallen Order. EA didn't show off a short teaser or screenshots or even some concept art. Instead, the game was announced in a brief interview with Zampella about the game's title and setting. It wasn't the kind of explosive debut you'd expect from a Star Wars game.
According to Games Radar, this quiet and vague reveal could be a sign that the game is being primed as a next-gen release for the next PlayStation and Xbox consoles.
"There were a few questions as to why Respawn's Star Wars game appeared at E3 in such an insubstantial way with little more than a name and a release date," Games Radar explains. "There's a chance here that with a Holiday 2019 release date with could be a dual format release, targeting both this and next generations and EA doesn't want to reveal Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order via the lower spec version."
If this is indeed the case, fans might want to hold out for the next-gen version of the game to get the most bang for their buck.
The comics may be dropping hints about the game
There may already be a bunch of Jedi: Fallen Order info out there already, but you wouldn't even know it. According to a rumor that first popped up on Twitter, Marvel's Darth Vader comic might have revealed the name of Jedi: Fallen Order's main character.
The rumor stems from a panel in Darth Vader #7 teasing a list of Jedi who survived Order 66. Eagle-eyed fans translated the list, which is written in Aurebesh (the written language of the Star Wars galaxy), and discovered some names that haven't previously appeared in the Star Wars universe.
Among those names is "Kayce Beradun," whom fans suspect might be the Jedi Padawan who will star in Jedi: Fallen Order. But Matt Martin, creative executive at Lucasfilm, has said that isn't the case, explaining that the name is just an "Easter egg." He did reveal, however, that the Marvel comics will indeed drop some hints about the game.
"There will be some hints at the game in that series though," Martin said on Twitter. "But those issues aren't out yet."
That was back in June 2018. Does that mean the comics have dropped a few hints since then? It'll be hard to tell until we learn more about the game's story.