I wasn't all that excited when Star Wars Jedi: Survivor revealed it would be adding a Blaster stance to the game. Combat in the first game was fairly rewarding, and I wanted to see that evolve, not change. Adding a gun into the mix not only seemed to be very un-Jedi behaviour (we associate blasters more with Lando, Han, or Poe than we do Luke, Yoda, or Rey), it also meant extra work for the devs. New approaches with a melee weapon is one thing, but adding a new ranged attack into the mix as well, and having it feel worthwhile, was a very big ask. Not only did the gun need to fit in, but each new skirmish needed to be designed to accommodate either approach. After playing it, I found Blaster was my favourite stance. Now I want a game that fully utilises it.
While it does feel less Jedi-y to clear out droids with a series of quick shots from the hip than it does to slice them apart while Star Wars music blares in the background, I do see the narrative sense at play here. Cal's much maligned ponchos were a visual nod to Clint Eastwood's The Man With No Name, and with it Cal's position as a scrappy outsider and Star Wars' origins in borrowing from the western genre. They still looked silly, but they had a point. The blaster allows Cal to channel these rootin' tootin' origins without the need to look stupid while doing it.
There are five stances in the game, and you can have two active at once. As you progress, you'll get skill points to level them up, but it took me around three quarters of the game to max my main two out, and that was with hardly bothering with the Force. This means most people will pick their main two and then stick with them. For me, that was the Double Blades and the Blaster, although I did occasionally switch to the slow yet strong Crossguard stance, which gives you a powerful but heavy lightsaber like Kylo Ren's.
The Blaster is a little weaker than a regular melee attack, and it needs to be recharged, but you can also attack from further away, which has obvious advantages. It also has the major drawback of only recharging when you attack people with your lightsaber, and you can't even switch to your other stance while doing this, but must jab forward like an Olympic fencer. I understand that the combat is designed for up close encounters, but it feels like a cheap way to pull you in. With exploration, puzzles, and traversal, the game is too keen to have you play it as scripted, not allowing you to think outside the box, and forcing you to rush into the heat of battle even when you have a pistol is another example of that.
Still, the Blaster stance remained my favourite. Clearing out lower level droids from further away, or weakening stronger foes before they even had a chance to attack gave it the edge over the other approaches. The Double Blades also looked pretty cool and were great for clearing out packs with Cal's ability to throw the lightsaber in a circle, but they came a distant second to the Blaster, all things considered. If not for the goofy stabbing motion and limited clip size, I don't think I ever would have used anything else. It didn't pack the biggest of punches, but when you empty the clip Cal twirls it around his finger then stuffs it back into his holster. It's just cool, and nothing else really matters.
Combat was one of Jedi: Fallen Order's best assets, and here the game adds more into the mix to build on it further. It is a little less clean now, and Force powers have less impact, but allowing for different approaches gives the game a more personal touch. It would be better if it fully committed to the Blaster stance, but as it is, it's still Jedi: Survivor's most exciting addition, and I hope future Star Wars games realise the gun is mightier than the sword.