Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is the latest title from developer Respawn Entertainment. Based on one of the most iconic IPs known to man, it’s finally a Star Wars game released in a long time from publisher EA that gamers can actually be proud of. It’s not perfect, but it’s certainly a commendable effort from Respawn.
As such, most players are probably rearing to jump into it. If you’re playing it, you’re probably already an avid Star Wars fan. So, instead of pointing out lore facts, this list will just look at some gameplay features that you might’ve overlooked while playing. Some minor spoilers ahead.
10 Radio Calls
When searching around planets, Cal will sometimes relay his thoughts over comms back to the crew on the Mantis. These radio calls treat you to some enjoyable dialogue between characters and are prompted to the more observant player who takes the time to indulge in the sights of a new area first before exploring deeper into its nooks. So, some of them could be easily missed if you’re quick to dive right into new discoveries as some radio calls require you to be looking at a specific piece of architecture from a specific angle for the prompt to appear.
9 A Tomb Guardian
In the Zeffo tombs, you’ll often run into enemies called Tomb Guardians. They’re your heavy, tank-like enemies for these areas. Usually, they’ll activate as soon as you get close enough to them. But there’s one that doesn’t. In the tomb of Miktrull, next to one of the rest points, you’ll find a Scazz, curiously scurrying away from you when you enter the area. This event will more than likely draw your attention away from the adjacent guardian standing next to the wall. Strangely enough, this particular guardian isn’t aggro and will stand there no matter how close you get to it. It will attack you if you strike it though.
8 The Binog In The Sinkhole
On Bogano, you might spot a huge, amphibious-like creature in the distance, the Binog as it’s called. It’s pretty harmless, though a bit creepy when you realize that it’s sometimes staring down at you through one of the sinkholes on the planet.
In the area where you first learn to wall-run, you might notice that there’s breathing and it’s not coming from Cal. After thoroughly scouring the area, you’ll then notice that there’s nothing threatening around… until you look up and spot the nosy beast peeking in at you. It can be just a little off-putting.
7 Crazy Guy In Cells
After getting jumped by a bounty hunter on Zeffo, Cal finds himself in an unknown area. Searching around the area reveals plenty of caged up wildlife from different planets. Once you find and free BD-1, a little more searching leads you to this wacky character behind some cell bars as well. The person seems pretty… unwell, speaking in a very crazed and manic way. Whoever this guy is, he’s clearly been broken by all of the horrors that no doubt go down in this place. If you weren’t ready to hightail it out of there after finding BD, you will be after meeting this guy.
6 Floating Cal
This game has a fair share of invisible geometry, but few are as silly as coming across this one. In the swampy areas of Kashyyyk, there are areas on a tree that Cal can cleanly stand on even though there’s nothing under him. This specific area pictured here is artificially obscured by a bush of leaves that in reality has no collision, so you can easily walk through it to the other side. The geometry of the tree then would lead you to believe that Cal would just slip down the sloping branch to the water below but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Instead, Cal continues to stand in mid-air.
5 You Can Translate The Written Language In The Game
Written symbols throughout the game show up on crates and other objects. While they might be easy to overlook, even when some context is given to the objects they're written over when scanned, this is a language called Aurebesh.
You can actually use the Play Disney Park App to translate this language. It's a pretty neat detail and it gives a little more context to what BD-1 is actually reading whenever he happens to scan any of these objects with this language on it like what the object might be used for or what's inside of it.
4 Jaw Plants
Plantlife is a very fickle thing in this game. It breaks the very firm rule of ‘when you slash it, it should die, sooner or later’. When you first encounter Jaw Plants, you might not even know you can kill them. They’re introduced alongside Saava which are actually completely invulnerable to all your attacks. You also can’t target them like any other traditional foe and when you do strike them, they hardly give any visual feedback as to whether you actually did any damage or not.
Since they aren’t much of a threat and just function as environmental hazards, you’ll probably just be satisfied with avoiding them altogether. They’re actually a scan-able enemy though and they are killable. You more than likely won’t realize until your second trip through Gloomroot Hollow though.
3 Unlocking The Double-Bladed Lightsaber Early
If you just follow along with the story, unlocking the double-bladed lightsaber will take a bit of time, at the most waiting until deep in Kashyyyk to receive it. But if you’re the type of person that likes to be thorough, you’ll actually be rewarded with the weapon fairly early on in the game by going to Dathomir as soon as it’s accessible. For the adventure-ish types, Dathomir is a pretty unkind place for players just starting the game. If you go as deep as you can get with the current abilities you have, the reward is more than worth it. It’s fitting that you can find Star Wars’s most iconic weapon variant on the homeworld of Darth Maul, the Zabrak who first appeared wielding it in the movies. Just don't get stuck.
2 BD-1 Reflects Cal’s Condition
This may be something you’ll miss if you never found yourself at low health. When in critical condition, the lights on the back of BD’s head will also change from green to red to reflect this. It’s a nice little visual to let the player know that Cal could use a stim without looking down at the health bar and possibly taking your eyes off the action if you’re currently in a fight. Though small, it’s another nice detail that further conveys the bond that Cal and BD have with each other.
1 Backside Of Imperial Cells
In the detention cell of the Fortress Inquisitorius, two jail cells are missing their back ends. Through them, you can clearly see the outside of the underwater fortress. This wouldn’t be a huge deal if the barrier field keeping the water away from the fortress wasn’t currently compromised at this point. It doesn’t look like the cells are filled with water though. Either way, it’s still very strange. Surely the Empire wouldn’t just let their captives out that easily and the fact that the cell’s shielding is still active is also quite curious. The game has its fair share of technical issues, so was this intentional or simply just a design oversight?