Star Wars Jedi: Survivor dropped 9 minutes of gameplay and I wasn't ready for it to be this funny

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is rapidly coming into form with trailers and interviews galore ahead of its post-delay April 28 release date, and the latest snippet of gameplay stands out by being goofy as all hell, in a good way.

IGN shared nine minutes of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor footage earlier today, and it features protagonist Cal Kestis absolutely clowning on some battle droids as well as the local fauna of planet Koboh, which you'll encounter early in the game. This is some straight-up slapstick stuff here. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be this funny, but I'm getting Star Wars: The Clone Wars vibes from some of the deaths and dialogue.

My slapstick siren started to wind up around 1:17 when Cal incidentally blows a droid off a cliff, and that siren kicked into high gear at 1:52 when Cal snuck up on a droid just to yeet it off another cliff.

The funniest segment in the entire video may be Cal emulating Koboh's cute little marmoset-looking critters by wall-climbing at 4:30. There's just something about seeing our ostensibly grizzled hero leaping around like Mario in a hyper-realistic environment. I love it, honestly. 

Even the combat makes me laugh, and again, I don't know if it should. I actually like the combat style of the original game and the sequel seems to have polished it, but am I an asshole for laughing out loud at the way the dog lizard at 5:55 gets decapitated, somehow dying to a vertical cut from Cal's lateral swing? I don't know what it is; it's just so fast. Bam, headless. It's got the same energy as a pie to the face, you know?  

The droids get in on it, too. Around 7:50 one battle droid seems to throw a grenade at Cal only to blast the other droid currently trying to cut Cal down to size. Cal uses his Force powers to throw back another grenade moments later, but that first exchange is pure comedy. I hope this stuff is intended and just a taste of similar gags to come, because I genuinely like Star Wars with a sillier vibe to it.

Here's some serious business to offset all these gaffes: Star Wars Jedi: Survivor will feature "both fast travel and rideable creatures." 

Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with 12DOVE since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.

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