Summary
In the wake ofStar Wars Jedi: Survivorwas a reveal forStar Wars Outlaws, highlighting a trend inStar Warsgames after Disney’s commitment to foldingStar Warscontent across every medium into its canon. Set in points across an already established timeline, the fate of each game’s protagonist is a known quantity, and given that neither Cal Kestis nor Kay Vess are mentioned in any other preexistingStar Warscontent, their impact on the overarching narrative of the franchise is somewhat doomed to obscurity.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivorset a high bar for the franchises' games in the modern era, with a perfect blend of new and interesting characters intermingling with established icons and iconography from the movies. Cal Kestis and the crew of the Mantis are an endearing bunch, and their adventures have the high-stakes, galaxy-hanging-in-the-balance motif that falls right in line withStar Wars’more mainline heroes. But, therein lies the rub to having such weightedimplications toStar Wars Jedi: Survivor’s story. Fans know the before, during, and after ofStar Wars,and nowhere in its established lore is a plot line threaded with the legendary exploits of the fugitive Jedi Cal Kestis outside Respawn’s two critically acclaimed games. Unfortunately, Kay Vess is dealing with the same issues.
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A Story With a Spoiled Ending is Still Worth Telling
The same superfluous stakes haunt theupcoming plot ofStar Wars Outlaws. Regardless of the scope of Kay Vess' journey through the criminal underworld ofStar Wars, it is set betweenEmpire Strikes BackandReturn of the Jedi, with its ultimate conclusion already etched in stone. The Galactic Civil War’s outcome is locked in, and the largest impact that Kay Vess can possibly have on it is a retconned assistance to the Rebel cause a-la stealing the Death Star plans inRogue One.
That is not to say that injectingstories between arcs inStar Wars’sweeping narrativeis inherently bad. The included example ofRogue Oneas well as its prequel seriesAndorprove this, as they are some of the most well-constructed and memorableStar Warscontent to date. It does slightly deaden the tension of more stirring moments, knowing that regardless of the upper-hand the Empire has at certain points in the story, they will inevitably be upended by the Rebels, and then once again a generation later by the New Republic.
Star Wars Has Endless Paths to Build Out Its Lore
There is hope that the legends of Cal, Kay, and others will not be lost to the annals ofStar Warsobscurity. With the reins of the franchise now driven by Dave Filoni, who seems particularly inclined to throw obscure fan-service characters into his shows, these emerging video game protagonists might pop up in a new medium. There are speculative rumblings thatCal Kestis might even make a surprise cameoin the currently runningAhsokashow. A far-flung theory most likely to prove false, the fact remains that both he and Kay Vess are motion-captured and based on the likenesses of their voice actors, opening the door to their live-action introduction at some point in the franchises' future.
The other solution to this recent sad tradition inStar Warsvideo games is to explore its eras less concretely defined by existing media.Quantic Dream’s upcomingStar Wars Eclipsewill explore the route with its High Republic setting, which will hopefully be less constricted to the fringe ofStar Wars’grand plot, set centuries before the events of the movies and television shows. Future titles could also be respectively set years after the events culminated inThe Rise of Skywalker. It is more likely that Disney will want to develop that era via feature films, but it is possible that those films could be paired with video games more consequential to the franchises' ongoing narrative than they are currently.
Star Wars Outlawsis coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S in 2024.
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