Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor finally launched on April 28, continuing the story of Jedi Knight Cal Kestis during the Reign of the Empire era. Its predecessor, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, ended with Kal, his mentor Cere, Nightsister Merrin, and Mantis pilot Greez destroying a Holocron with the locations of force-sensitive children on it. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor follows Cal five years after the events of that game as he struggles to balance his well-being with his fight against the Empire and uncovers a new threat linked to The High Republic and a mysterious planet.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a lengthy adventure as it takes over 20 hours to experience a story with quite a few twists and turns. Whether you’ve beaten the game and are looking for a recap or want to know how Cal Kestis’ adventures continue, this is a rundown of what happens in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and how it all coalesces into a somber ending.
This article contains spoilers for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
How does Star Wars Jedi: Survivor begin
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor begins with Cal Kestis seemingly captured on Coruscant. While it initially seems like he’s being turned over into the custody of a Utapauian senator, it turns out this is all part of an elaborate heist with a new crew that Cal has been running with since the Mantis crew from the first game disbanded. During this mission, Cal meets Bode Akuna, who tells Cal he’s fighting to protect his daughter Kata from the Empire.
They are eventually able to track down the Utapauian senator’s damaged ship, and all seems to be going well. Unfortunately, they are then ambushed by an Imperial Squad led by the Ninth Sister from the Fallen Order. Cal kills the Ninth Sister and escapes on the Mantis, but everyone but him and Bode is killed, and the Mantis is heavily damaged. With no other choice, he flies to the planet Koboh, where Greez is now living, and crash lands on the planet.
After fighting some of the Bedlam Raiders, led by a powerful Gen’Dai named Rayvis, Cal reunites with Greez. While Greez encourages Cal to settle down, Cal refuses and looks for a piece of technology in the caves beneath Greez’s Saloon. While doing this, he discovers an old ruin from The High Republic era, and frees a droid named ZN-A4 (or Zee) for short, who was sent on a mission by a Jedi Knight named Santari Khri during the High Republic era to find the “Key to Tanalorr.”
Cal investigates this, learning that Santari Khri and a Jedi named Dagan Gera found Tanalorr, a hidden planet beyond the dangerous Koboh Abyss, where they wanted to build a new Jedi base. Cal decides to free Dagan from his Bacta Tank, but he quickly betrays Cal after learning of the Jedi’s fall, adamant about retaking Tanalorr with the help of Rayvis, who owes him a life debt. Now, Cal, Bode, and Greez make it their duty to stop Dagan and potentially claim Tanalorr as a safe haven for themselves.
The quest to stop Dagan Gera
Following this encounter, Cal, Greez, and Bode, who found Cal on Koboh, decide to look for Tanalorr and make it their new home together. Looking for any existing information on Tanalorr, the group decides to go to Jedha, where Cal’s mentor Cere Junda is working with Jedi Master Edo Cordova to rebuild the Jedi Archives and support the Hidden Path, which protects force-sensitive people from the Empire.
They have to land far away from the base due to a sandstorm, and Cal reunites with Merrin, a Nightsister who Cal holds feelings for but who left the Mantis crew so she could explore the galaxy on her own terms. After riding out the storm in a cave, Cal reunites with Cere and Edo. While they don’t have much information on Tanalorr, Edo sends them back to Koboh and its Shattered Moon to search for devices that could get them to Tanalorr.
Cal finds a damaged device on the planet and its Shattered Moon, learning that Dagan had betrayed the Jedi Order after they decided not to settle on Tanalorr. Cal brings these back to Jedha but is sidetracked to help Merrin save a Hidden Path safehouse being attacked by the Empire. They can recover the contact codes at that safehouse and kiss for the first time while taking down a giant drill.
Returning to Cere’s base, they learn that the devices are compasses that could get them through the Koboh Abyss. While Santari Khri destroys two of the compasses after Dagan’s betrayal, they find that one remains and go looking for it. Upon returning to Koboh, the Mantis crew, who Merrin has since rejoined, find that Zee has been kidnapped. Cal saves the droid after another fight with Dagan and then has to stop Rayvis on the Shattered Moon.
Cal fights Rayvis there, learning he has a life debt with Dagan. After defeating Rayvis, he tells Cal that Dagan is getting the final compass at an observatory in Koboh’s mountains. Then, he begs for an honorable death, so Cal kills Rayvis. After that, Bode and Cal assault this observatory, where the Empire and Bedlam Raiders are in a massive fight with each other. They eventually fight their way to Dagan, who reveals his true goal of rebuilding a new Jedi Order in his image on Tanalorr before taking over the galaxy with it.
After a tough fight, Cal and Bode defeat and kill the fallen Jedi. All seems well as the crew heads back to Jedha with the final compass. Bode is looking increasingly uneasy, though, ever since he learned that Cal wants to make Tanalorr a haven for The Hidden Path and not just a refuge for him, Merrin, Greez, Bode, and Kata. Edo Cordova repairs the final compass, and the crew celebrates that night, with Cal admitting his feelings to Merrin, who reciprocates.
The following day, they are disrupted by an Imperial attack on the Jedha base and even more shocked by Bode, who betrays the group. Edo attempts to reason with Bode, but Bode kills him and flees. This kicks off the final stretch of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s plot. Bode is the true villain of this game.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s ending
After Bode betrays Cal and kills Edo Cordova, Cal quickly follows him on a speeder as a massive Imperial attack on the Jedha base begins. Cal learns Bode is a former Jedi who now works for the Empire. Cal is defeated but not taken into custody. The game then temporarily lets players control Cere as she defends Jedha and fights Darth Vader, who is leading the attack himself. While Cere fights valiantly, she is ultimately killed by Darth Vader.
Of course, Cal is traumatized by Bode’s betrayal and the deaths of Edo and Cere but tracks down Bode to an Imperial Security Bureau base on Nova Garon with a locator beacon. While wreaking havoc on the Imperial Forces here, Cal learns that Bode used to work in espionage for the Jedi Order during the Clone Wars but ended up working for the Empire to protect his daughter after they tracked him down and killed his wife. The whole time, Bode had been a mole for the Empire and ultimately affirmed his allegiance to them when Cal revealed he’d use Tanalorr for the Hidden Path.
On Nova Garon, Cal manages to get to Bode’s living quarters, where he meets Kata in person. They are friendly toward each other, but Bode returns and escapes with Kata, planning for Cal to destroy the base in his rage. Cal does start to succumb to the Dark Side as he chases Bode down, but Merrin keeps him from fully turning. Bode escapes, but the Mantis Crew learns they can also align arrays on Koboh to unlock a path to Tanalorr.
With the help of Zee, they create an opening in the Abyss, and Greez flies through it without destroying the Mantis. They land on Tanalorr, ready to confront Bode. On the way to that fight, though, Merrin and Cal agree to try and reason with Bode as they do not want Kata to experience a complete loss of their family as they both have. They find Kata, who brings them to Bode. While they try to reason with Bode, it’s clear he’s far gone, and he starts to fight Cal.
Cal seemingly comes out on top after a fight and begs Bode to surrender, but Bode uses this opportunity to counter-attack, hurting Kata, Merrin, and BD-1 in the process. With no other choice, Cal embraces the Dark Side temporarily to get the upper hand against Bode, killing him with a blaster Bode had given him earlier in their adventures together. Cal and Merrin head back toward the Mantis with Kata in tow, recognizing that they’ve passed their trauma onto Kata and now need to care for it.
Before they leave, the crew holds a traditional Jedi funeral for Edo Cordova, Cere Junda, and Bode Akuna, with Cal not leaving their sides until only their embers and lightsabers remain. After this, the post-game begins, with Cal voicing his intention to make Tanalorr a haven for the Hidden Path in Cere’s honor. That’s the end of the game’s main story. Cal, Merrin, Greez, Kata, and BD-1 all make it to the end, but Cere, Dagan, and Bode do not survive.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is available now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
