During my playthrough of Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order, I became immersed in the game; wondering what other planets were holding incredible yet difficult creatures to challenge. While also making comparisons to the in-game mechanics reminding me of the soulsborne series and how difficult, unforgiving, yet fun the games can be.
One of the most popular genres in gaming has to be soulsborne games or soulslike games. FromSoftware has capitalized on their success with this formula by pumping out numerous games from Dark Souls to their most recent game Elden Ring.
As shown by the number of copies sold from Demon Souls selling 1 million copies with the remake selling 1.4 million to their most recent game Elden Ring selling 12 million copies out doing Dark Souls 3 which reached 10 million copies by 2020 and Sekiro: Shadows die twice which sold 5 million copies over a year after its launch and winning game of the year in 2019. Like FromSoftware other games have used their formula in their games and these games are considered soulslike from Nioh to Lords of the Fallen to finally Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order just to name a few.
Here shows the number of copies sold with Elden Ring selling higher than most. Image from arstechnica.com
Compared to other soulsborne games
Even though a sequel has yet to be confirmed by Respawn or EA. Many like myself are left wondering what adventures will take place for Cal and his friends. Let’s look at how the second game can make itself look and feel almost like a soulsborne game. For starters the playthrough like most soulsborne games Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order show some similarities in playthrough when it came to dying.
In Jedi Fallen Order you would lose all of your XP to whatever enemy you faced similar to the soulsborne game where if you die all of your XP that you’ve collected is gone until you eventually retrieve it. When it comes to their healing potions, they’re also similar in Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order BD-1 gives you these tiny health packs that are called stem packs similar to blood vials in Bloodborne or estus flasks in Dark Souls.
Most of the soulsborne games also emphasize the use of blocking, parrying, and studying your enemies move set in combat. By telling you when it’s time to fight and when it’s time to back off rather than diving headfirst into an area and button mashing your way through enemies. The games also follow a similar formula of strategizing because every enemy is different in these kinds of game.
Sekiro fighting the first boss Gyoubu Masataka Oniwa. Image from Attack of The Fanboy
For instance, in Sekiro Shadows Die Twice one of the early bosses you meet is called Gyoubu Masataka Oniwa and he teaches you one, if not the most essential part of the combat, when it comes to the boss fights or any fight in these kinds of games the art of deflecting. These kinds of games feature brutal combat that is also rewarding once you beat a difficult boss or enemy by giving you both XP and weapons similar to Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order.
Although it doesn’t give you a variety of weapons besides a lightsaber that you get to customize it makes up for that with a variety of upgrades on the force that Cal uses throughout the game making combat a little bit easier than most soulsborne games.
Cal holding a blue lightsaber readying himself for combat. Image from PC Gamer.
The Games Inspiration
In the soulsborne games they are shown to have a vast majority of lore and inspiration from mythology and religion in their storytelling using their inspiration they’re able to create amazing stories with extensive lore from the environment to the enemies within the games. With Demon Souls main inspiration taken from Kings Feild with its level difficulty and overall dark atmosphere.
In Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice its inspiration is from historical Japan and Japanese folklore from the enemies to the many different locations in the game. In Dark Souls the game takes some inspiration from Kentaro Miura Berserk, same as the other soulsborne games from the armor design that’s used on Sir Artorias the Abysswalker that is from the main protagonist Guts. While bloodborne is inspired by both Bram stoker and H.P. Lovecraft.
Now with Star Wars it’s made up of many different themes and takes inspiration from many different things. For starters one of the many influences is from Flash Gordon along with a few other inspirations from cultures like on the planet Naboo most of its influence is based on Asian culture.
Same with religion taking inspiration from Christianity, Hindu, Greek mythologies, and other religious icons to create their villains. With their impressive amount of lore to pull from they could easily transition to a more soulslike game in their sequel. By creating something more soulslike it would be interesting to see the direction the next game takes since it has been shown that the franchise is more than capable of creating something similar to a soulsborne game. If you want to read more on Star Wars check out GNN.net for more Star Wars related content.
