Right after the Episode IX teaser, Star Wars fans got their first look at Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order—which releases before the trilogy ender on November 15, 2019. Developed by Respawn Entertainment, the dev behind current battle royale fave Apex Legends, the third-person action adventure game has good pedigree behind it.
But it's been a long time since 2010's Force Unleashed II—the last big single-player Star Wars title—so expectations are going to be high for a return to form for the franchise. Here are the legendary titles it needs to live up (and, no, Force Unleashed isn't in there) in terms of gameplay, plot, and plain old fun factor:
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
Fallen Order is said to focus on melee combat, which means it needs to live up to the combat system in Jedi Academy that made its multiplayer such fun because you could choose from single, double, or dual lightsabers and mix it up with different battle stances.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
The premise of player character Cal Kestis being a Padawan on the run after Order 66 isn't as open-ended as creating a game in a then-unexplored period of time like KOTOR and its sequel. But that doesn't mean the post-Jedi Purge isn't an interesting setting as well. No Star Wars game has topped the plot (and memorable dialogue) of the 2003 RPG and while Fallen Order doesn't have to topple it, we do want it to be a memorable story.
Lego Star Wars: The Video Game
One of the biggest complaints about The Force Unleashed is that the gameplay wasn't the best. The recent Battlefront games have also received criticism for gameplay that is fun but thin. So let's go to a title that was pure fun for inspiration: Lego Star Wars. Unlocking characters, finding secrets, using unique abilities, simple but satisfying combat—it was fun even if you weren't a kid. Having no microtransactions to distract from that is a good start for Fallen Order, let's hope that the November release is enough time to get its systems polished as well.