The vibes are strong with this one.
There’s no shortage of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Easter eggs in the newly launched game from EA’s Respawn studio.
Much like Fallen Order before it, the new game is keen to wear its Star Wars inspirations on its sleeve.
As you scan things around the galaxy with BD-1, Cal’s Databank will fill up with nuggets of lore, many of which nod to other corners of the galaxy.
If you don’t mind spoilers for all sorts of things from every stage of the game, keep on reading and we’ll run through some of the Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Easter eggs that we spotted on our first play-through. There are bound to be more that we can add later, but this is a good start!
Mentioned but not seen
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At the start of the game, Cal is on a mission for infamous rebel leader Saw Gerrera to gain intel from an Imperial senator. Fans will remember that Cal met Saw in Fallen Order.
Forest Whitaker’s character from the Rogue One movie and the Andor series, who appeared in The Clone Wars animated series before that (originally voiced by Andrew Kishino), Saw doesn’t appear in person this time out.
Also named in the game but not explicitly seen, The Hidden Path is a network of rebels that was introduced in the Obi-Wan Kenobi TV show. The Path is said to be in contact with Cere and Merrin, but you don’t get to meet/join The Path explicitly.
When Cal explicitly asks Merrin if she’s met any other Jedi through the Path, she says no. There go your hopes of an Obi-Wan cameo in this game… just to be clear, there isn’t one.
All the old familiar places (and faces!)
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Another nod to Rogue One, the planet Jedha that Cal visits was originally introduced in that film (and subsequently attacked by the Empire). In Jedi Survivor, you visit a hidden base in the middle of the desert on Jedha, as opposed to the main city from the film itself.
The game also lets you visit the galactic capital Coruscant, which has been seen in Andor and The Mandalorian recently. The city-covered planet was also a key location in the prequel trilogy of movies, with Cal noting that the Jedi Temple has now been turned into a base for the Empire.
There are also familiar characters to be spotted. The entire Mantis crew from the first game returns as expected – Cal, Cere, Merrin and Greez reunite eventually – and Cere’s former master Eno Cordova also makes a surprise appearance.
Cordova is BD-1’s previous owner, whose hologram recordings guided Cal through his Zeffo-themed history lessons in Fallen Order. Sadly, Jedi Survivor reveals that Cordova failed in his quest to connect with the Force-sensitive Zeffo species, as it sounds like they left the known universe.
A more civilised age… or two!
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Early in the game, Cal stumbles (literally) into an old Jedi ruin dating back to The High Republic era. This time period, roughly 200 years before the prequel films, is the topic of an on-going publishing project across Star Wars books and comics (the first of those books is called The Light of the Jedi if you want to give it a look). The upcoming TV show The Acolyte will be set in this era.
Getting to see what a droid would’ve looked like two and a bit centuries ago is a particularly cool touch. Zee, pictured above, is one of many bits of High Republic tech that players get to interact with in the game.
The main baddie of the game turns out to be a new character named Dagan Gera. A Jedi from The High Republic era, Dagan wanted to expand the Jedi Order with a new base on a hard to reach planet called Tanalorr.
As we’re told in flashbacks, the Jedi Order failed to help when Dagan’s new base was attacked by the Nihil (a band of hyperspace-travelling marauders who serve as constant baddies in The High Republic books and comics). Dagan and the Order fell out hard, prompting his friend Santari Khri to chop off Dagan’s arm and lock him away in a bacta tank for centuries.
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While Dagan was on ice, his long-living alien friend Rayvis amassed an impressive array of droids and ships from The Clone Wars/prequel trilogy era. These include the classic ‘roger roger’ battle droids, the rolling Droidekas and the powerful B2 super battle droids, with Cal having to fight through loads of them to take down Rayvis and Dagan.
Cal even calls the battle droids ‘clankers’, a nickname that will sound familiar to anyone who watched The Clone Wars animated series. Cal also shares memories of watching his master, Jaro Tapal, dispatching Droidekas during that conflict.
So, the game is throwing back to the prequel trilogy (and its beloved animated spin-off), and the High Republic era that slots into the timeline before it. The game is still set in the gap between Episode III and Episode IV, but it’s very backward-looking.
These throwbacks allow the game to feel significantly different to its Empire-obsessed predecessor. You do still fight one Inquisitor, though, with the Ninth Sister coming for a rematch near the start of Jedi Survivor.
Cameos ahoy!
Dagan, Rayvis and Santari Khri are all new characters, so the game feels a little light on cameos until you reach the final chapters of the main story.
Consider this your final SPOILER WARNING, because we’re about to mention the major cameos that come late in the game. Don’t scroll past the newsletter widget below unless you want to know who appears.
Darth Vader
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When the base on Jedha is found by the Empire, Cere must fight Darth Vader, with the fallen Anakin Skywalker reprising his third-act cameo role from the previous game.
In Jedi Survivor, Vader is voiced by Scott Lawrence, as opposed to the original movie voice James Earl Jones. Lawrence has previously voiced Vader in all sorts of projects, including the brilliant Vader Immortal VR game, so you might not even notice the difference.
Fans will remember that, in Fallen Order, Vader showed up at a similar point (just when you’ve defeated the game’s main baddie), with Cal briefly trying to fight him before absolutely legging it back to the Mantis. Vader remembers this showdown, and gloats that the Mantis crew’s attack on the Fortress Inquisitorius made very little difference.
This time, Cal is stranded elsewhere while Cere takes on the Dark Lord of the Sith, in a fun perspective-shift for players. Cere has been preparing for this, and she lowers the floor in the Jedha base to try to trap Vader in one place. She does reasonably well in the fight – add her to the list of people that nearly defeated Darth Vader, along with Obi-Wan and Ahsoka (in Rebels) – but Cere is ultimately killed by Vader, bringing his cameo to a brutal end.
Boba Fett
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If you fight through all the bounty hunters in the ‘Bounties’ side mission chain, you will also come face to face with Boba Fett. The Legendary bounty hunter was introduced in the original trilogy of films, and has had a resurgence in recent years.
Temuera Morrison reprises the role – he originally played Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones, before taking on the role of his clone son Boba in The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and numerous voice appearances.
Sadly, you don’t get to actually fight Boba, but it’s cool to see him show up as a reward for all your bounty hunter missions. Perhaps he could have more of a role in the potential third game.
The vibes are strong with this one…
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It’s worth noting that the developers of Jedi Survivor seems to have absorbed all the recent Star Wars output and poured those vibes lovingly into this project.
The Imperial senator at the start of the game, for instance, has a collection of random artefacts (screenshotted above) that might look familiar to hardened lore experts. It certainly feels like an echo of Luthen’s collection from the Andor TV show.
Later in the game, you chase Bode to an Imperial Security Bureau (ISB) base near the end of the game. Again, echoes of Andor can be felt, as the white-wearing pencil pushers of this spy unit were ever-present in that series. We didn’t spot any returning character names at this point, but the vibe is similar as are the uniforms.
Fighting through Dark Troopers to escape the ISB base also feels like a Mandalorian homage. In both the season 2 and season 3 finales, fighting through a wave of Dark Troopers provided some thrilling moments.
Also, flying through the dangerous ‘Koboh Abyss’ to reach Tanalorr felt familiar as well. It’s not dissimilar to Han doing the Kessel Run in the Solo movie, or Kylo Ren and Rey flying through dodgy conditions (guided by a Holocron) on their way to Exegol in The Rise of Skywalker.
The sacred Jedi texts!
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In the Jedha base, Eno Cordova had been trying to reassemble the Jedi archives. Eno and the Anchorites have assembled a couple of those blue glowing bookshelves, which you might recognise from the Jedi Temple of the prequels
Near the end of the game, after Vader and his army have decimated the base, Merrin meets you back at the Mantis and she clutches in her hands the last remains of these rebuilt archives
All that’s left are three well-worn brown books, which she hands off to Cal. Surely these are the ‘sacred Jedi texts’ that will later fall into Luke Skywalker’s possession.
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You might remember that Luke had a little lending library in The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, providing some light reading during his exile on Ahch-To.
The ending of Jedi Survivor seems to imply that Cal had these books first, so it’ll be interesting to see if he hands them on to Luke or anyone else in a future game. After Luke, they’ll fall into Rey’s possession, which could become important in the upcoming New Jedi Order film.
Now that Cal has a secret hideaway on Tanalorr, and he wishes to invite The Path to use it, there does seem to be a chance that he could become a little bit more connected to the rest of the galaxy.
Saying that, Cal’s lack of appearance in the original trilogy or the sequel era does suggest that he might stay in the shadows forever… but if the games keep being this good, we don’t mind that either!
Read more:
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor review – our fill verdict
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor planets – worlds apart
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor trophies – all achievements
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor cast — confirmed actors
- When is Star Wars Jedi: Survivor set? Timeline explained
- How long is Star Wars Jedi: Survivor? The hours you’ll need
- Does Star Wars Jedi: Survivor have New Game Plus?
- Why isn’t Star Wars Jedi: Survivor on PS4 or Xbox One?
- Is Star Wars Jedi: Survivor coming to Xbox Game Pass?
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