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First Star Wars Jedi: Survivor trailer features dual-lightsaber combat, open-world teases

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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is launching on March 17, 2023, for Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, and PC. The action-adventure game received an impressive trailer during The Game Awards that showed off several new features and teased some potential open-world aspects.

Survivor takes place five years after 2019’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, continuing the adventures of Cal Kestis and his droid pal BD-1. Cal is no longer a young Padawan and is now a full-blown Jedi. The much larger scope of the game seems to reflect that change.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor - Official Reveal Trailer

Combat is notably evolved in the trailer, as Cal can now freely use a dual-lightsaber stance in battle. Later, we see him enter “cross guard” stance as he takes down droids with heavy, two-handed slashes. EA tells Digital Trends that the goal of the sequel is to give players more agency when it comes to their playstyle.

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Traversal plays a large role in the clip too. In addition to swinging around via grappling points, Cal is seen mounted on animals. He’s shown riding the back of a four-legged creature and using a winged one like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s glider. The clip seems to imply that the game’s planets might be more open-ended than Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order’s, as one shot shows Cal peering out over a gigantic vista. EA notes that the sequel is still largely a Metroidvania-inspired title where Cal gets new abilities over time.

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Cal has a new human companion this time named Bode Akuna. In one clip, we see Bode flipping over Cal’s back to attack an enemy with a combo move.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was built with current-generation consoles in mind, with ray tracing being a major focus. It appears to be a graphically impressive showcase that features more dynamic lighting and flashy lightsaber effects. The adventure won’t launch on PS4 or Xbox One, but it’ll be available for PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on March 17, 2023.

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Giovanni Colantonio
Giovanni Colantonio
Senior Gaming Editor
As Digital Trends' Senior Gaming Editor, Giovanni Colantonio oversees all things video games at Digital Trends. As a veteran…
All Stim upgrade locations in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Cal picking up a stim upgrade with BD.

Just like Fallen Order before it, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has many Souls-like elements. Outside of the general flow of combat, and the way Meditation Points work, Stims are essentially analogous to your Estus flas -- a limited healing resource that you can only replenish by resting. You will only start with a meager two Stims, leaving you with very little room for error even on low-difficulty settings. Thankfully, Stim Upgrades allow you to increase that number by one for each you manage to find. Given how powerful these are, you'll want to gather up as many as possible to ensure your survival in the galaxy far, far away. If The Force isn't so strong with you, allow us to guide you to all the Stim Upgrade locations in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

We will outline where to find each Stim organized by the planet they're on, so minor spoilers ahead if you haven't seen every planet in the game yet.
All Stim Upgrades on Coruscant
Undercity Meats

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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor ending explained: What happens to Cal, Cere, and Bode?
Bode helps Cal up in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor finally launched on April 28, continuing the story of Jedi Knight Cal Kestis during the Reign of the Empire era. Its predecessor, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, ended with Kal, his mentor Cere, Nightsister Merrin, and Mantis pilot Greez destroying a Holocron with the locations of force-sensitive children on it. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor follows Cal five years after the events of that game as he struggles to balance his well-being with his fight against the Empire and uncovers a new threat linked to The High Republic and a mysterious planet.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a lengthy adventure as it takes over 20 hours to experience a story with quite a few twists and turns. Whether you’ve beaten the game and are looking for a recap or want to know how Cal Kestis’ adventures continue, this is a rundown of what happens in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and how it all coalesces into a somber ending.
This article contains spoilers for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
How does Star Wars Jedi: Survivor begin
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor begins with Cal Kestis seemingly captured on Coruscant. While it initially seems like he’s being turned over into the custody of a Utapauian senator, it turns out this is all part of an elaborate heist with a new crew that Cal has been running with since the Mantis crew from the first game disbanded. During this mission, Cal meets Bode Akuna, who tells Cal he’s fighting to protect his daughter Kata from the Empire.

They are eventually able to track down the Utapauian senator’s damaged ship, and all seems to be going well. Unfortunately, they are then ambushed by an Imperial Squad led by the Ninth Sister from the Fallen Order. Cal kills the Ninth Sister and escapes on the Mantis, but everyone but him and Bode is killed, and the Mantis is heavily damaged. With no other choice, he flies to the planet Koboh, where Greez is now living, and crash lands on the planet.
After fighting some of the Bedlam Raiders, led by a powerful Gen’Dai named Rayvis, Cal reunites with Greez. While Greez encourages Cal to settle down, Cal refuses and looks for a piece of technology in the caves beneath Greez’s Saloon. While doing this, he discovers an old ruin from The High Republic era, and frees a droid named ZN-A4 (or Zee) for short, who was sent on a mission by a Jedi Knight named Santari Khri during the High Republic era to find the “Key to Tanalorr.”
Cal investigates this, learning that Santari Khri and a Jedi named Dagan Gera found Tanalorr, a hidden planet beyond the dangerous Koboh Abyss, where they wanted to build a new Jedi base. Cal decides to free Dagan from his Bacta Tank, but he quickly betrays Cal after learning of the Jedi’s fall, adamant about retaking Tanalorr with the help of Rayvis, who owes him a life debt. Now, Cal, Bode, and Greez make it their duty to stop Dagan and potentially claim Tanalorr as a safe haven for themselves.
The quest to stop Dagan Gera
Following this encounter, Cal, Greez, and Bode, who found Cal on Koboh, decide to look for Tanalorr and make it their new home together. Looking for any existing information on Tanalorr, the group decides to go to Jedha, where Cal’s mentor Cere Junda is working with Jedi Master Edo Cordova to rebuild the Jedi Archives and support the Hidden Path, which protects force-sensitive people from the Empire.

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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor offers a big glimpse into Disney’s High Republic era
star wars jedi survivor high republic facility

After Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, it will be impossible for Star Wars fans to ignore The High Republic era. Once limited to books, Disney is starting to make the fictional time period matter a lot more to the overarching narrative of Star Wars. If upcoming shows like The Acolyte weren’t already an indication of that to you, then The High Republic’s presence and relevance in Survivor will be. Although the game isn't set during The High Republic -- it takes place in the Reign of the Empire time period between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope -- characters and locations heavily tied to that era play a major role in the game's narrative. 

For a significant chunk of Cal Kestis’ latest adventure, he’s going toe-to-toe with Dagan Gera, a Jedi from The High Republic era that was sustained in a Bacta Tank for hundreds of years after betraying the Jedi Order. Especially on Koboh and the Shattered Moon, players will explore a lot of High Republic facilities and learn more about how the Jedi Order functioned and trained new Jedi at its height, and be able to contrast that with Cal's current situation. 
So, what exactly is The High Repbulic, and why does it matter? This is what you need to know as the franchise looks to a new era.
What is The High Republic?
The High Republic is the third of nine Star Wars eras designated by Disney. It’s snuggled between The Old Republic, which we see in the aptly named Knights of the Old Republic, and the Fall of the Jedi era seen throughout the Star Wars prequel film saga. Disney first unveiled it in 2020, and Lucasfilm described it as “an era when the Galactic Republic and Jedi Order are at their zenith, about 200 years before Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" in a blog post.

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