Gameitall 
You can take what you will for the EA Play streams, but the small amount of time dedicated to Respawn’s Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order brought us what appears to be the Star Wars game we’ve always wanted. By showcasing some of the combat and action, it was clear that Respawn had something impressive on their hands. However it left us wanting more and with that, left us thinking… What if it’s a strictly linear game?
Now not that they’re anything wrong with Linear games, but it almost feels like Star Wars requires something more in the term of giving players the ability to explore the universe. Luckily Respawn Entertainment Lead Level Designer Jeff Magers sat down for an interview with GameInformer to give us a huge idea of how the game will actually play out citing a prominent influence – Metroid.
While in the interview (which you can watch here,) Magers described the game as being an “exploration game from the level design perspective, at its core” and that “traversal feels snappy [and] responsive.” Magers brought up Nintendo’s own Space Adventure game, along with other games like The Legend of Zelda and Dark Souls, to influence the flow of the game itself.
Metroid absolutely served as an inspiration for us,” Magers told GamerInformer. “What the Metroid-style level design does for us is somewhat [of] a way to give the player guided exploration. A ton of freedom within the world, but at the same time we can deliver really handcrafted moments and really focus on the moment-to-moment.” Magers then described design sensibilities common in Metroidvanias: hidden secrets, backtracking, abilities/weapons that unlock new areas. For Jedi: Fallen Order, “Force powers are lock-and-key mechanisms,” meaning that behind the Force push gate you couldn’t get through earlier, “Maybe there’s a whole other area [or] maybe there’s a little secret.”
“We have linear sections of the game,” Magers continued when asked about if the game was linear. “And each, I’d say 30-minute to one hour section that we call a level… will be somewhat linear, although there [are] different branching options, different choices to make, different secrets to find [and] areas to explore. But when it really opens up is kind of at a macro level. You will be retraversing through these levels that earlier was kind of more of a linear experience… with your new tools and your upgraded hero. It really aligns with kind of the goal of the game, which is to become a Jedi.”
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is set to release November 15th on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
