Game review
Star Wars Jedi Survivor
7.5 / 10
- Developer
- Respawn Entertainment
- Publisher
- Electronic Arts
- Released
- 27 April 2023
- Platforms
- Windows
- Genre
- Action
- Monetisation
- One-time purchase; a Deluxe Upgrade adds cosmetics and a digital soundtrack
- Players
- Single-player only
The short version
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is Respawn Entertainment's sequel to Jedi: Fallen Order, continuing Cal Kestis's story as a fugitive Jedi in a third-person lightsaber-combat action-adventure. It sits at 69% positive ("Mixed") across 53,635 English-language Steam reviews, and this review read the 100 most-helpful negative reviews alongside the 100 most recent English reviews.
The game underneath the technical problems is well regarded even by its critics — many negative reviewers explicitly call the combat and story an improvement on Fallen Order before explaining why they can't recommend it. The reason is specific and dominant: performance appears in 65 of the 100 negative reviews this review read, and crashes in 44, spanning every year from launch to 2026, with one specific location (the Jedha map) named independently by multiple reviewers as a reliable crash point nearly two years after release. There's a genuine recovery story in the data, though: the 100 most recent English reviews run 80% positive, well ahead of the 69% lifetime figure, suggesting patches and hardware have closed much of the original gap. Even so, performance remains proportionally the largest complaint in this review's most recent sample, not a shrinking one.
Biggest strengths
- Combat and story reviewers across the negative sample repeatedly call a genuine improvement on Jedi: Fallen Order, even while recommending against buying the game
- A clear recovery trend in the data — the 100 most recent English reviews run 80% positive, well above the 69% lifetime figure
- Frequently and deeply discounted (85% off at time of writing), making it easy to buy in at a price that matches its current, imperfect technical state
Biggest weaknesses
- Performance is the single most common complaint in this review's negative sample — 65 of 100 reviews — spanning every year from the 2023 launch through 2026, not a fading launch-week problem
- Crashes specifically appear in 44 of the 100 negative reviews read, including a specific, independently-named crash point (the Jedha map) still reported by separate reviewers roughly two years apart
- A small number of reviewers raise the game's EA anti-cheat software and its EULA wording around system monitoring as a serious concern for a single-player game; this review found one very high-vote instance of this complaint but limited broader corroboration in its sample
Who it's for: Star Wars and lightsaber-combat fans, especially returning Fallen Order players, who are prepared to check current performance reports for their specific hardware before buying — the underlying game is well liked; the PC port's reputation is earned and still relevant.
Our recommendation: Worth playing for the story and combat, which this review's own negative sample keeps praising — but buy expecting to need patches, a strong PC, or patience, not a guaranteed smooth launch-day experience even three years on.
7.5 / 10
Introduction
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is Respawn Entertainment's sequel to Jedi: Fallen Order, published by Electronic Arts and released on 27 April 2023 at NZ$109.95. It continues Cal Kestis's story as a fugitive Jedi five years after the first game, expanding the lightsaber-combat, exploration and puzzle-solving formula across a larger set of planets. It sits at 69% positive ("Mixed") across 53,635 English-language Steam reviews. This review read the 100 most-helpful negative reviews of 16,483 total, plus a sample of the 100 most recent English reviews.
A game its critics keep recommending, sort of
The pattern running through this review's negative sample is unusual: reviewers marking the game down while praising what's underneath the technical problems. "The game itself is great, but my god $70 for an unoptimized game," reads one review, which goes on to specifically clarify: "people can like the game without the price and performance issues excusing what's there." Reviewers frequently compare it favourably to its predecessor before pivoting to their actual complaint, making clear the negative score is aimed at the PC port's condition rather than the design underneath it.
Performance: the dominant, persistent complaint
Performance is not a launch-week footnote in this review's sample — it's the single largest theme, appearing in 65 of the 100 negative reviews read, and its share of negative reviews has not shrunk over time. This review calculated the proportion year by year: 58.5% of 2023 negatives mention performance, 73.9% of 2024's, 59% of 2025's, and 78.6% of 2026's — meaning performance is, if anything, a larger share of what's left to complain about as the overall negative volume shrinks. "This is the worst PC port of 2023," reads one of the most-upvoted launch-week reviews. A 2025 review, 12 hours in: "the PC optimization is absolutely terrible. Even with the latest hardware, the game constantly crashes." Crashes specifically appear in 44 of the 100 negative reviews, and this review found a specific, named repeat offender: two separate reviewers, months apart in 2025, independently report reliable crashes specifically when reaching the Jedha map — "Even after more than a year this game still crashes every time I try to travel to Jeddha," reads one, nearly two years after release.
A genuine recovery, not a fading one
Set against all of that, this review found real evidence of improvement over time: the 100 most recent English reviews run 80% positive, well ahead of the 69% lifetime figure — an 11-point gap in the right direction, the opposite pattern from several other games this outlet has covered recently. That suggests patches, driver updates and better hardware have genuinely closed much of the original performance gap for most current buyers, even though the reviewers still writing negative reviews in 2026 are, proportionally, more likely than ever to be citing performance as the reason.
A smaller but serious anti-cheat complaint
One high-vote 2023 review (1,998 votes) raises a specific, serious concern: that the game's EA anti-cheat software, described in the EULA as running only while the game is active, in the reviewer's own testing continued running after the game closed. This review found limited further corroboration of that specific claim within its 100-review sample, so it's reporting a single high-vote, specific allegation rather than a broad pattern — but its vote count suggests many readers found it credible or concerning enough to amplify. Separately, several reviewers across 2023-2025 note the single-player game requiring an internet connection at points, with access disrupted during at least one EA server outage in May 2023.
Verdict
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a well-regarded continuation of Cal Kestis's story that shipped as one of 2023's most notoriously troubled PC ports — and the data shows a real, measurable recovery since, with recent reviews running well ahead of the lifetime score. What keeps this from a higher mark is that performance hasn't actually receded as a complaint so much as become a larger share of a smaller, more persistent group of unhappy reviewers, with at least one specific, still-active crash point reported independently years apart. Worth it for the game itself, which this review's own negative sample keeps praising — buy it discounted, on hardware you trust, and go in aware the PC port's reputation, while improving, isn't fully behind it yet.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Combat and story reviewers across the negative sample repeatedly call a genuine improvement on Jedi: Fallen Order, even while recommending against buying the game
- A clear recovery trend in the data — the 100 most recent English reviews run 80% positive, well above the 69% lifetime figure
- Frequently and deeply discounted (85% off at time of writing), making it easy to buy in at a price that matches its current, imperfect technical state
- Decent early achievement completion (over 80% on the first story milestones) suggesting most buyers who start the game do get into it
Cons
- Performance is the single most common complaint in this review's negative sample — 65 of 100 reviews — spanning every year from the 2023 launch through 2026, not a fading launch-week problem
- Crashes specifically appear in 44 of the 100 negative reviews read, including a specific, independently-named crash point (the Jedha map) still reported by separate reviewers roughly two years apart
- A small number of reviewers raise the game's EA anti-cheat software and its EULA wording around system monitoring as a serious concern for a single-player game; this review found one very high-vote instance of this complaint but limited broader corroboration in its sample
- Several reviewers note the single-player game required an internet connection to launch at points, breaking access during at least one EA server outage
- A meaningful share of reviewers say the game isn't worth its undiscounted NZ$109.95 asking price given the performance issues, even years after launch
Screenshots
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STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor™Image: Electronic Arts via Steam -
STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor™Image: Electronic Arts via Steam -
STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor™Image: Electronic Arts via Steam -
How the review scores each part of the gameWanderer Editorial -
The essentials at a glanceWanderer Editorial -
The short versionWanderer Editorial