The High Republic is a big part of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Adding one thing new to a universe as beloved and acquainted as Star Wars should appear an inconceivable job. Can you think about how arduous it is to point out somebody a new Star Wars droid, metropolis, or planet, and persuade them that this factor has been right here all alongside, you simply haven’t seen it but? What a bonkers factor to attempt!

And but builders at Respawn Entertainment, the oldsters behind Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, have thrown their hat into the ring with aplomb, not simply crafting new Star Wars characters and locales (on high of these already current within the wonderful Jedi: Fallen Order) however veering away much more absolutely from the established movie canon to discover the latest period of Star Wars: The High Republic.

The stones on these individuals.

[Ed. Note: This post contains minor spoilers for the first act of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.]

This is one of the most important surprises lurking in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor — the sport actually will get into the High Republic period. It’s not shy about this. Its plentiful databank entries reference the period always. It’s the time interval throughout which many of the Jedi ruins and Breath of the Wild-esque shrines you encounter had been constructed, and it’s the place the sport’s villain, Dagan Gera, hails from, as Cal Kestis learns after waking him up from a centuries-long nap in a Bacta tank.

Cal Kestis looks toward the camera, in front of which a mysterious, robed figure holds a Stormtrooper helmet, in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

On the one hand, this is fairly cool! The High Republic is a new part of the Star Wars canon that up till now has largely simply existed in books and comics; seeing its iconography rendered in three dimensions is neat stuff. Respawn’s inclusion of these components additionally alerts severe dedication to anybody not sure of how invested Disney-era Star Wars is on this part of the timeline. Video video games take a very long time to make, they usually have a fairly lengthy shelf life, so this narrative flip looks like a signal that the Powers That Be are excited by telling tales on this setting for a short while.

But additionally: The High Republic doesn’t significantly imply something but. The setting is solely simply beginning to be explored in depth (you may learn our primer on it right here), and whereas it’s launched some new characters who’ve already turn into fan favorites, just like the angsty Jedi Elzar Mann or the sentient alien rock Geode (Not a joke! He’s a rock!), the tales set within the High Republic period haven’t fairly made a case for themselves but. There are adventures aplenty, however it undoubtedly nonetheless looks like a publishing initiative greater than a absolutely realized place full of its personal distinctive tales.

Consider its closest analogue: The similar-sounding Old Republic, an period hundreds of years earlier than the films that, importantly, had two wildly standard Knights of the Old Republic video video games related to it. Now that setting is its personal distinct taste of Star Wars, with additional books and comics fleshing it out. The High Republic, set solely a couple hundred years previous to prequel and unique trilogy eras, doesn’t fairly have its KOTOR second but. Of its varied tales — the rise and fall of Jedi house station Starlight Beacon, the rising menace of the Nihil house pirates, and a few Force-related mysteries — it largely looks like a good method to hang around with some new Jedi.

Art from the Star Wars YA novel The High Republic: Path of Deceit, depicting a young Jedi with blue skin and a gold lightsaber standing beside a woman clutching flowers to her chest, and both of them behind a robed woman with her hands outstretched.

Jedi: Survivor fulfills a important perform in additional establishing the High Republic as a setting price getting invested in by having beloved characters from Jedi: Fallen Order get wrapped up in its historical past. Soon, this setting will likely be bolstered much more by The Acolyte, the forthcoming (and mysterious) new Disney Plus collection set within the period. Fleshing out the High Republic will likely be a lengthy sport, and extra importantly, it’s a completely different sport than the one being performed by the tales spinning out of The Mandalorian and the animated Star Wars collection.

Right now, The High Republic comes throughout like a bunch of tabletop RPG sourcebooks full of attention-grabbing tidbits to tug at, with no correct story to attract individuals in. Jedi: Survivor is a fairly good lure for followers interested in this new setting, however they could be shocked at how a lot of it is nonetheless simply potential.

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