Before you and your BD-1 Droid run off across the galaxy in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, there are some things you should know. Fallen Order is influenced by a few other games, drawing upon their best ideas, and then injecting that classic Star Wars twist. There are ways to maximize your use of certain mechanics, saving you time and possibly a limb or two. Despite it being a fairly accessible game, Fallen Order can get complicated, especially when learning the ins and outs of the combat system.
Here are just a few tips we wish we’d known before starting our quest to rebuild the Jedi Order.
Further reading:
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order gets new modes in free May the Fourth update
- The best Star Wars games of all time
- The best single-player games (July 2020)
Use meditation areas effectively
Fallen Order makes use of meditation points that are similar to bonfires in Dark Souls. Stopping in these areas will save your game, creating a checkpoint. You will have the option to spend points in the skill tree or even rest. Resting will replenish your health and equipment. However, resting will also revive all of your fallen enemies. You’ll have to decide whether or not it’s worth it to repopulate a given area with enemies. We recommend only doing so if you anticipate a tough battle that might require using health stims, or if you’re moving into a new area and won’t have to fight those reanimated baddies again.
Much like the Souls games, you can meditate — replenishing your healing items — and then run past the enemies to get to your destination quickly. Though, we recommend not to do this until you’ve gotten all the skills you want. Defeating enemies will grant you XP that can be used to buy more skills. Sometimes, you’ll need to do the opposite: Purposely resetting enemies multiple times to grind for XP to unlock skills. Either way, you can manipulate enemy spawns to your advantage.
Block. Do it.
If you’re anything like us, the second you get a lightsaber you’re going to want to come out swinging. Blocking and parrying effectively, however, is paramount to your survival against higher-level enemies. A fully offensive strategy may work against low-level peons and troopers, but you will need to learn to parry and block promptly to defeat high-level melee enemies like Sith. Deflecting shots with your lightsaber will also save your life, so make sure you press the block button right before you get hit with a long-range blast. Doing this correctly will send the shot back at the enemy, dealing substantial damage.
Parrying works similarly: Wait for an enemy to strike you and press the block button at the peak of their attack. The timing will vary from enemy to enemy, so make sure you experiment with parrying to get it right. If done correctly, your enemy’s guard will lower, leaving them open for an attack. Timing will also change depending on the difficulty sliders chosen before the start of the game.
Do make sure you keep an eye on your block meter, which is the small bar above your health. This will deplete as you block, so try not to spam it. The nice thing is that parrying does not deplete your block meter, so use this as a little incentive to learn how to do it properly.
Some attacks cannot be blocked. When you see your enemy turn red, this indicates an unblockable attack is incoming, meaning the only thing you can do is dodge out of the way. Typically, an enemy is left open for an attack a few moments after executing an unblockable move, so keep your eye out for this.
Use your holomap
BD-1 is more than a cute little droid. He’s a good boi with the ability to project a holographic map for you, on command. This holomap is more than a lore-friendly player map. BD-1 will record all of your travels and note passageways and shortcuts for you. Fallen Order features Metroidvania-like passages that may become accessible with new powers and it is worth it to check your holomap and backtrack to those areas. Usually, you’ll be rewarded with cosmetic items from player skins to BD skins, or even lightsaber parts.
Sometimes, the map can be a little tricky to navigate, but you should get used to it by the end of the game. Keep an eye out for available passages, along with unexplored areas. The map’s legend will indicate what each marker means. Sometimes, certain areas are inaccessible until you gain a specific ability.
Use all of your skills
One gratifying part of leveling up early on in Fallen Order is seeing just how necessary and useful all of your skills are. Leaning on one maneuver and ignoring the rest really isn’t possible, due to the variety of enemies. Use a mix of your Force powers and physical moves in combat to make the most out of your arsenal of attacks. Restraining one enemy using the Force while delivering crushing blows to another is satisfying, useful, and a deadly combination if used well.
There are also a few alien enemies who rely on a speedy charge in your direction to do damage. Rather than simply dodge rolling away, using the Force to slow them down and delivering an onslaught of your own blows could end the battle much more quickly. Make a point to read all the skill descriptions so you have an idea of what to unlock first. We recommend grabbing health and Force meter upgrades first.
Scan everything
As you explore ancient Jedi temples or alien landscapes, you’ll receive prompts to scan various items. From interesting fauna to rock formations and more, you’ll be able to scan these anomalies and collect data on them. This information could help you defeat new enemies or unlock memories in Cal that awaken dormant powers. We were stuck in a particular area that required the wall-running ability and couldn’t progress until we backtracked and found a clickable item that unlocked that power. Save time; interact with everything as you come across to avoid having to backtrack. The information you gather can also be revisited in the codex along with some interesting lore, for those of you who enjoy some light reading on the in-game world.
The other main reason to scan everything is to earn XP. That’s right, scanning things will grant you XP — a lot of times, much more than you’d get from defeating enemies. Some of the later skills you unlock require three skill points, which might take a while to earn. But if you scan everything you can, you’ll learn about some lore and be awarded with a major source of XP.
Isolate your enemies
Low-level enemies aren’t a challenge on their own, but getting surrounded by a pack of them can lead to death by a thousand cuts. Being attacked by a handful of melee enemies along with ranged foes can bring a quick death, sending you back to the last meditation spot you visited. We’ve suffered a few deaths by running into a combat scenario with little to no planning. Stake out the area if only for a moment, and identify the enemies you need to dispatch first.
We recommend making a beeline for troopers with blasters or even rocket launchers before dealing with baton-wielding troopers. They can easily be taken out by deflecting their blasts. Using your slowing Force powers on ranged troopers as you run towards them will also slow their blaster bolts. Oh, and don’t try to block a rocket with your saber the way you do with bolts… just don’t.
Create your own saber
While the narrative of Jedi: Fallen Order tends to be relatively linear, the customizations for your main character, Cal, are surprisingly immersive. To customize your lightsaber, visit the workbench in the back of your ship. At the workbench, you can swap in new parts, adjust the finish, and even apply crystals to your lightsaber, in addition to changing the color of the blade itself. While it’s just one small aspect of your character, the lightsaber helps define Cal’s story, so it’s nice to be able to make it just the way you want.
Look for red objects when climbing
Large platforming sequences are another element that Fallen Order found inspiration in from Tomb Raider and Uncharted. Massive set pieces transform — and fall apart — while you traverse the scenes. You’ll need to think quickly while sliding, climbing, and leaping in those moments. You’ll generally find that a single color (red) indicates that a surface is amenable as a ledge or climbing surface. In contrast, the Tomb Raider series uses yellow to highlight these elements.
In moments of chaos (and there will be a few), look for red ledges and climbing surfaces and keep moving. That maglev train is not going to wait for you to find the next handhold before falling apart under imperial blaster fire.
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