‘You don’t have to limit everything the player does’
It’s an inevitability that every single action role-playing game gets compared to Dark Souls. You know the type. Anything where you can’t rush in head-first to every combat encounter? Then it’s just like Dark Souls, or so the lazy discourse goes.
Not Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, though! No, this is more like that new From Software game, the one that’s not Dark Souls. Developer Respawn says Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a better analog for Jedi: Fallen Order. Comparisons aplenty, but at least it’s not the exact same comparison we’re usually treated to; this is mildly — ever-so-mildly- different.
In an interview with Edge magazine (and as reported by WCCF Tech), lead combat designer Jason de Heras explained how Sekiro‘s success despite having no limitation on stamina really gave Respawn confidence. “I thought it was pretty badass, and a little comforting to know that you could make this type of game without a stamina bar,” de Heras said.
He continued “They let you attack, they let you roll, they do all this for free — and then the AI will tell you if you’re doing the correct thing. It just confirmed to us that you don’t have to limit everything the player does; let them have a little more agency, and then let the AI give them a slap on the wrist or a punch in the face. It was a positive thing for us to know there was a game that was similar to ours. Very similar.”
That’s not to say Respawn is looking to emulate Sekiro. It’s just that Sekiro served as proof positive that the foundation of Jedi: Fallen Order‘s combat should work. And, if comparisons are going to be made, we might as well draw lines between the most applicable games.
Edge September 2019 Issue 335 [My Favourite Magazines via WCCF Tech]
