I’ll spare you the history lesson, but Star Wars fans looking for a lengthy single-player Star Wars game, or really even a finished, released, and not canceled single-player Star Wars game haven't exactly had the most satisfying decade. I’m not reminding you of that to depress you, though. I’m reminding you of that because after playing three hours of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, I can confidently state that there is finally some real, tangible hope that a full-fledged single-player Star Wars game is here. One that has no multiplayer or microtransactions or loot crates or season passes. Really. Seriously. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a real, actual single-player Star Wars video game that I have actually played extensively and it’s actually coming out soon. A new hope indeed. So, how does it play?

Fallen Order takes some of my favorite things from my favorite games and carefully places them in my favorite universe - Star Wars. It’s got the 3D map from Metroid Prime that looks like if AutoCAD designed building plans showed breakable walls and health upgrades. It’s got the combat from God of War or other similarly visceral action games, just with lightsabers cauterizing decapitated limbs. It’s got the dungeons from 3D Zelda games with lengthy, inventive puzzle sequences and miniboss fights. It’s got the bonfires from Soulsborne games, complete with the retrieval system in place when some nasty enemy murders you. It’s got the traversal from Uncharted and Tomb Raider, complete with huge walls to scale, ropes to swing on, and icy tunnels to slide through. It’s got skill trees. Shortcuts to unlock. Unlockable character (and droid) skins. Lightsaber parts to collect. It’s a third-person action-adventure video game, through and through, with a refreshing, canonical story to boot.

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Brian Altano and Ryan McCaffrey discuss what they thought of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order after playing it for two hours.

That’s not to say that Fallen Order is just relying on other games to stand on its own, however. Only that it kit-bashes and combines some excellent systems that work really well elsewhere and connects them cohesively inside something that is sorely needed in 2019 - a legit, single-player Star Wars game. Fallen Order takes all of these things and gives them a Star Wars spin, letting you go wild in massive, sprawling, intricately woven environments rife with secrets, collectibles, unlockable shortcuts, branching paths, and dangerous enemies. I was consistently impressed with the way Fallen Order doled out new mechanics, new combat techniques, and new lore to scan and ingrain. Every new area was a little more interesting than I anticipated. Every combat scenario just a little more intense than I expected. This is a much bigger game than I thought it would be in nearly every regard and I’m thoroughly impressed so far.

The consistent theme I had running through my head in my three hours spent playing Fallen Order was “wow, there is way more here than I thought there would be.“ What I found was a game that repeatedly impressed me with how deep it could be. The various worlds in the game can be visited and subsequently tackled in whichever order the player decides. You head to the safer planets early on or dive into the tougher ones and see how long you'll survive. Combat can scale to the player’s need for difficulty on the fly simply by popping into the difficulty settings. Players can opt to stick to the main path or explore hidden tunnels, craggy walkways, and entire secret areas should they choose to. Exploring can reward crafty players with things like skill points - found in crates in the world or farmed through combat - or cosmetic unlocks for your valiant Jedi and droid duo. Fallen Order isn’t a linear game and it isn’t an open-world game. It’s in that recently popular genre of “open-ish” games we don’t really have a word for. When first I booted up the similarly scoped God of War in 2018, I was presented with a subtle personal choice early on: should I beeline to the main story, or go off the beaten path and really explore everything in this world? After my very first optional treasure chest was discovered, I chose the latter and was rewarded with a rich world of wonderful side quests, hidden paths, and collectibles. Minutes into Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, I knew I’d once again be facing that same choice here. And once again, I knew exactly what decision I would make. Fallen Order is wondrously fun, challenging, and densely packed so far and there are tons of things to do and see if that's what you're looking for.

New Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Screenshots (October 2019) 7 IMAGES

Lots of people love Star Wars because of the epic space battles where screaming, hyper-angular ships dogfight to victory while a seemingly endless barrage of asteroids soars by. Others love Star Wars for its boots on the ground, sci-fi spin on soldier combat, where helmeted troopers dodging blaster fire and explosives battle to the death for the freedom (or oppression) of the galaxy. Those things are great, of course, but they don’t lend themselves to a third-person action game as well as they do for something like Battlefront, per se. For me, I like the parts of Star Wars when the fog clears and mysterious harps and oboes flutter through the speakers to reveal a strange planet teeming with bizarre flora and unusual wildlife. Where otherworldly monsters tucked in the shadows of gnarled plant life meet powerful Jedi donning tattered robes. Basically, I like when Star Wars gets weird and alien.

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Fallen Order seems to understand that Star Wars is more than just intergalactic Saving Private Ryan with sword fights or Top Gun in space. Star Wars is about mystery and discovery, about ancient religions, magical superpowers, and exotic worlds. I found that in spades while exploring this game. There are marshy planets to dock your ship on where you can step outside in the sun and swing your saber around while burrowing aliens pop in and out of sinkholes like scruffy meerkats. I plundered the depths of secret tombs, battled toothy tunnel rats and buff mountain goat-like creatures, plus the occasional large, gross looking four-armed mini-boss charging towards me. Then I decapitated him with my mighty lightsaber and had my droid scan his arm so I could read up on his lore later on in my databank. You know, weird-ass Star Wars stuff. It's a video game that seems to understand those parts of this universe really well. You don't start the game as a crazy overpowered Jedi, but rather a wide-eyed, eager student of the Force, picking up new skills and experiences on your adventure. That journey is earnest and welcome and full of discovery and I can already tell that becoming a Jedi - and subsequently using all of my newly found skills to open up the world more - is going to be a really magical experience.

The "Cal's Mission" trailer above is probably our favorite trailer for Jedi Fallen Order yet.

I can’t wait to see where else this game goes as my ragtag group of rebels continues to hop from planet to planet across the galaxy. Poking around my crew’s ship, I noticed a few interesting side quests that I already can’t wait to dig in to. I’m excited to see if I’ll get to visit any grimy dive bars in the criminal underbelly of the galaxy. Or if I’ll get to fight some big, menacing iconic monsters from the films, like a Wampa or a Rancor. Or just how many massive Zelda-style temples await for me. It seems like there’s going to be tons of stuff to do here, but I’m mostly just excited to explore it all at my own pace and to get lost in this big, dangerous world. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order went from being a game that I was cautiously optimistic about to a game I know I’m going to play to one hundred percent completion - and likely - one that I’ll be championing when those heated “Game of the Year” debates start springing up in a few months. I’m really hoping the full game is as deeply rewarding and fun as the chunk I’ve played so far. This feeling continues in our Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order review which is live now.

Brian Altano is a host and producer at IGN. When he was a little kid and hadn't seen any Star Wars movies yet, his neighbor gave him a Dengar action figure and he thought that Dengar was the star of Star Wars. Then he saw Empire Strikes Back and realized that Dengar is basically a sentient pile of cargo shorts wrapped in toilet paper who gets five seconds of screen time in the entire film. So like, definitely not the star of Star Wars. He still has that Dengar action figure on his desk at work. Anyway, Dengar is pretty cool. Brian is less cool, but feel free to follow him on Twitter if that's something you think you'd enjoy after reading this weird paragraph about Dengar.