Jedi Fallen Order Free Update Is Amazing

May the 4th this year came with an unexpected surprise, a huge free update for Respawn Entertainment's recently released Star Wars game Jedi Fallen Order.

Honestly the content in this update would have been a paid DLC for most games but came entirely free, and much of the work done to get it released was done by employees working from home during the pandemic lockdown. The update includes two major features, the addition of a new game plus and a challenge mode. The new game plus allows players who have completed the game to start a new game with all of their unlocked cosmetics, lightsaber parts and lightsaber crystal colors already unlocked. Force echoes can be discovered again and various ability unlocks and skills need to be acquired again but players can rock whatever lightsaber color or costume they want from the very beginning. New game plus also adds new cosmetics including access to Cal's Inquisitor outfit and a red lightsaber crystal color. If that were not enough Respawn also added two new lightsaber hilts and gave all players access to the previously pre-order exclusive content including the orange lightsaber crystal color, two exclusive lightsaber hilts, material colors and cosmetics for BD-1 and the Mantis. I am currently working through my fourth play through of the game wearing Cal's Inquisitor armor and rocking a red lightsaber and its kinda awesome.



The second major part of this update was the addition of a challenge mode. From any meditation save point in the game, including the one on the Mantis, the player can now access the new challenge mode. The mode is broken down into two components, one that allows the player to engage in a number of pre-made challenges. These challenges pit the player against pre-selected groups of enemies in a number of waves and set on a variety of different maps from the game, including the various planets the player visits, the Fortress Inquisitorius and more. The second to last challenge sees the player face off against every lightsaber wielding opponent in the game, the Ninth Sister, Taron Malicos, the Second Sister, and lastly Inquisitor Cal. The opportunity to fight yourself as an Inquisitor was an awesome surprise to the challenge mode as dark side Cal has all the same abilities and equipment as the player and uses them to devastating effect. The ultimate challenge sees the player face off against both Inquisotors simultaneously, a chaotic and brutal fight that will put the player's skills to the ultimate test. In each challenge the player can obtain up to three stars, one for beating the challenge, one for beating the challenge without healing and one for beating the challenge without taking damage. Should the player collect twelve or more total stars they will unlock three new BD-1 skins.

The other component of the challenge mode is an editor that allows the player to choose map locations and size and then place a number of enemies on that map from a list of every spawnable NPC in the game, including astromech droids and even Cal's former master Jaro Tapal. The player can spawn in enemies from multiple factions and set them to fight against each other in a chaotic melee or remove factions and fight them all as a unified threat. The player can choose to watch these battles without participating or get stuck right in. You can also spawn in multiples of the same characters including five copies of Taron Malicos if that is your jam.



Both of these additions to the game are absolutely fantastic and totally unexpected. Precious few are the developers who would dedicate development time and resources to adding content to an already released game, and even fewer who would do so without charging a price-tag. Time and again while re-engaging with Jedi Fallen Order I found yet further details to this update that I hadn't noticed before. In addition to all the new cosmetics and other content the development team even took the time to add in new animations for Cal, including a slick animation where Cal spins around his lightsaber after completing combat, blows on the emitter as though it were the smoking barrel of a six shooter and then slams his weapon back on his belt like he was holstering a colt peacemaker. Little details like that really show how much time and devotion the developers put into this update and this game and really speaks to the passion and commitment Respawn has to their project and to the Star Wars universe.

If you have not picked up Jedi Fallen Order yet I would highly recommend you do so now, this game is a prime example of the kind of consumer friendly, player-first product that we should all want to support and see more of in the gaming industry. In an age of games as a service and endless open betas Jedi Fallen Order is a stunning diamond in the rough and I have hope that Respawn will continue to impress as they work on the sequel.