Respawn Entertainment has rolled out an update for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, adding new features nearly nine months on. Patch 8 adds a new high contrast mode, audio ping functionality, and new slow motion presets.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor update 8 (January 2024) patch notes

Complete patch notes courtesy of Electronic Arts are as follows:

• A new high contrast mode allows players to desaturate the environment and use colors specifically for narrative and gameplay elements, making them stand out more.
• A new audio ping functionality allows players to both passively and actively ping the environment, giving the ability to echolocate objects and interactable elements nearby.
• This update includes additional slow motion presets. With this new implementation players can toggle between both their own custom value and three new presets.
  • The presets are set at 30%, 50% and 75% and available through the shortcut menu. This will allow users to switch between multiple different slow motion values, and not just the custom value and the default game speed.
• This patch also incorporates some fixes for performance and stability across all platforms.

Respawn didn’t elaborate on the additional performance and stability fixes, but did say that it’s eager to continue hearing feedback from players.

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Unfortunately, 2023 wasn’t the best year for PlayStation exclusives. The only title from Sony’s stable to make it on our Game of the Year 2023 list is Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. However, there were plenty of third-party masterpieces to make up for it. Check out our favorite games of the year below!

PlayStation LifeStyle Game of the Year 2023 List:

10. Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

Cyberpunk 2077’s had a long road to redemption. When Son kicked the game off the PlayStation Store because of technical issues, we never thought its DLC would end up on our Game of the Year list two years later. Phantom Liberty has enough content to be a game in its own right and offers an alternate take on how V’s journey could have ended up. Unfortunately, the DLC and the 2.0 update that launched alongside it are only available on PS5. However, if you have the PS4 version, you can still upgrade for free!

Buy Cyberpunk 2077 on Amazon

9. Final Fantasy 16

It seems inevitable that Final Fantasy 16 will be one of the more divisive entries in the series. It primarily concentrates on one character, Clive Rosfield, as opposed to a huge party, and the story is focused on his perspective. For some fans, that eschews franchise tradition, but we appreciated the narrowed focus compared to Final Fantasy 15, which was a bit all over the place. Clive’s story stands out as one of the more poignant we’ve seen in a Final Fantasy, and it’s a spectacle to behold.

Buy Final Fantasy 16 on Amazon

8. Assassin’s Creed Mirage

This pseudo-prequel to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla takes the series back to its roots and pays homage to the original. Unlike the sprawling epics we’ve gotten in the last few entries, Assassin’s Creed Mirage is localized to 9th-century Baghdad and ditches many of the role-playing elements to emphasize stealth, assassinations, and parkour. We couldn’t help but be relieved to play a distilled experience, and Basim Ibn Ishaq’s origin story reminded us why we fell in love with the franchise in the first place.

Buy Assassin’s Creed Mirage on Amazon

7. Hogwarts Legacy

Despite the controversy surrounding the Harry Potter franchise, Hogwarts Legacy managed to captivate us with its rendition of the titular wizarding school and the surrounding countryside. For those of us who grew up alongside Harry, the chance to attend Hogwarts was a dream come true. Exploring its nooks and crannies, attending classes, and seeing the many easter eggs the developers included was a treat. Where Hogwarts Legacy goes above and beyond, though, is that the gameplay is fun enough to stand on its own merits. Even if this is your first visit to Hogwarts, you can still have a blast and leave wanting more.

Buy Hogwarts Legacy on Amazon

6. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order itched the scratch Star Wars fans had for years when it was released in 2019, and we couldn’t wait to get back to a galaxy far, far away in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. It’s everything the first game was, but bigger and better. Cal gets more abilities and equipment, environments are more expensive, and we even get to chill in a cantina whenever we want. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor provides the excitement that most of Disney’s projects have lacked and has done much more to keep the franchise alive than it gets credit for.

Buy Star Wars Jedi: Survivor on Amazon

5. Street Fighter 6

Street Fighter 6 is our favorite fighting game of the year because of its respect for newcomers and veterans. It’s an excellent point to enter the series, thanks to its revamped mechanics and multiple control options. However, it still retains enough of the franchise’s traditions to keep from alienating those who cut their teeth on SF 2-5. We also loved the absolutely bonkers story mode that channeled Yakuza to make one of the best create-a-fighter experiences ever. If you have even a little interest in the fighting genre, it’s worth checking this game out.

Buy Street Fighter 6 on Amazon

4. Resident Evil 4 remake

Resident Evil 4 revolutionized the series when it debuted in 2005 and is lauded as one of the best games ever. Its influence on gaming as a whole is so strong that many doubted that a remake could do it justice. However, Capcom managed to pull off a fantastic retelling that complements the original perfectly. Almost every aspect of the original has been remade or expanded, and the updated gameplay makes blasting through Ganados a thrill. Resident Evil 4 remake is another excellent entry in the alternate continuity started with RE2 remake, and we’re excited to see which game gets reimagined next (fingers crossed for Code Veronica)!

Buy Resident Evil 4 remake on Amazon

3. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

Marvel’s Spider-Man and its Miles Morales-centric follow-up were hard acts to follow. Somehow, Insomniac Games managed to outdo themselves and then some with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Peter Parker and Miles join forces to take on a multitude of threats while navigating their personal lives. From Kraven the Hunter’s militaristic menace to the symbiote Venom sapping Peter of both his good nature and healthy relationships, this gutsy sequel took an already solid foundation and gave both heroes an expanded inventory of unlockable abilities, gadgets, and suits with which fans could explore and defend New York City. While this movie could have resulted in a tired storyline or rote gameplay loop, instead it strengthened an already excellent series with thoughtful writing, inclusive characters, and comic book-powered combat to satisfy all players. The biggest problem with this tandem adventure is that it eventually has to end.

Buy Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on Amazon

2. Baldur’s Gate 3

Player agency has been a hot topic in the gaming industry for decades. Some studios like to keep players focused on the task at hand, while others open their worlds up for a bit more interaction. However, with Baldur’s Gate 3, Larian Studios went beyond this. It removed practically all limitations to how a player could affect their surroundings. See a locked door? You can talk the key out of an NPC, blow it down, find a hidden route to completely bypass it, or simply ignore it. The challenge in this CRPG is to find your way, and there are so many possibilities and so much raw content that everyone’s playthrough will be different.

1. Alan Wake 2

It took 13 years for Alan Wake 2 to be released, but the wait was worth it. FBI agent Saga Anderson joins Alan’s struggle to escape the Dark Place, and we’re once again thrust into the madness surrounding the town of Bright Falls. The plot is a roller coaster examining family, religion, and the supernatural, and it had us hooked from beginning to end. Excellent pacing keeps the lengthy story from becoming a slog, and the ability to alternate between Saga and Alan’s story means each player will have a slightly different experience during their playthrough. While it’s rooted in survival horror, we recommend this game to anyone who wants a strong single-player experience.

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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor released a new patch today, continuing its attempt to clean up the game post-launch.

Respawn Entertainment released Patch 7.5 today, a month after the last update. A blog post on publisher Electronic Art’s website details the contents of the patch. The fixes apply across all platforms, aiding in improved performance overall. Unlike the patch in September, Patch 7.5 only contains a few fixes.

What’s in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s Patch 7.5?

EA thanked Star Wars Jedi: Survivor players for their support, noting that the team continues to work to improve the game’s performance. When the Fallen Order sequel released in April, fans and critics complained of massive performance issues across platforms. Despite the issues, reviews deemed it a solid entry in the series, leading to continued support post-launch.

In September, Respawn and EA launched Patch 7 in an effort to improve Performance Mode and Quality Mode. One of the chief complaints around Star Wars Jedi: Survivor post-launch centered around its boasted 60 frames per second. In Patch 7, the team removed ray tracing in Performance Mode, something it claims would stabilize the FPS. Quality Mode received an update that Respawn claimed would prevent FPS fluctuations.

In Patch 7.5, Respawn focused on issues surrounding the disabled ray tracing. Noted issues included problems with binocular beacons not working and poor graphic quality on reflections without ray tracing enabled.

The fixes are as follows:

• Fixes for creature & vehicle animations
• Fix for binocular beacons not working when ray tracing is disabled
• Quality improvement for reflections when ray tracing is disabled

Despite the performance issues with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Respawn Entertainment confirmed plans for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One editions during an earnings call. However, it remains unclear when the game will come to PS4. According to Respawn, the team remains focused on smoothing out performance issues on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X, and PC.

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Prepare yourselves, Star Wars fans, as a third installment in the Jedi series is said to be in development, according to Cal Kestis’ voice actor. Details are scarce, but the actor has said that it’s currently something that’s being worked on.

Confirmed at Ocala Comic Con 2023

Cameron Monaghan – along with Tina Inlev (who voiced Nightsister Merrin in both Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor) – confirmed that the team is “currently in the process” of making the next game.

Monaghan adds that conversations are underway for the third installment, with a view to begin making it soon. You can check out the entire panel in the video below. The information regarding the new Jedi game begins around the 42:35 mark when the host asks both actors what projects they currently have in the pipeline.

Obviously, it’s too early to say what the story will be about, when it’s likely to be released, or even what platforms it’s coming to. However, Monaghan seems excited about what awaits fans of the recent Star Wars games.

This information comes shortly after it was announced that Fallen Order and Survivor’s director, Stig Asmussen, announced he was leaving Electronic Arts. Revealed by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, a spokesperson for EA confirmed Asmussen has decided to “pursue other adventures” and that “veteran leaders” at Respawn Entertainment will be taking the helm on future Star Wars Jedi releases.

With both Fallen Order and Survivor being big hits, no doubt many Star Wars enthusiasts will be looking forward to the next entry. We can only assume that Monaghan will be reprising his role as Cal Kestis.

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Game director Stig Asmussen, who has overseen two immensely popular Star Wars games, is leaving Electronic Arts.

What Star Wars games did Stig Asmussen direct?

Jason Schreier revealed on Bloomberg that Asmussen is leaving EA after helping the Star Wars franchise make something of a comeback in the games industry. In terms of which games he was involved in, Asmussen served as director for 2019’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and 2023’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which were both critical and commercial hits upon release. A specific reason for his departure was not given in the article.

“After careful thought and consideration, Stig Asmussen has decided to leave Respawn to pursue other adventures, and we wish him the best of luck,” an EA spokesperson said in a statement to the outlet. “Veteran Respawn leaders will be stepping up to guide the team as they continue their work on Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.”

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor first released for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC earlier this year on April 28. The sequel followed wandering Jedi Cal Kestis five years after the events of 2019’s Fallen Order and featured the return of several characters, including BD-1, Cere Junda, Merrin, and Greez Dritus.

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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor launched in a less-than-ideal state across all platforms, as each system had their own set of technical woes. But that is seemingly changing as the latest Star Wars Jedi: Survivor update contains a flurry of fixes that promise to stabilize the shaky frame rate and visuals.

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The Star Wars Jedi: Survivor update patch notes have plenty of performance-related fixes

The Patch 7 update patch notes for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor specially call out both Performance Mode and Quality Mode. Ray tracing has been disabled in Performance Mode, which Respawn Entertainment claims will lead to a more stable 60 frames per second. Quality Mode has also “received optimizations to help reduce FPS fluctuation,” so that mode should run more cleanly, too. The PS5 port also got VRR support, which should help further stabilize the frame rate for those who have VRR-ready displays.

The game was almost unanimously criticized for its performance when it came out in April. An analysis by Digital Foundry called out its visual artifacting and inconsistent frame rate and noted it was a “far from a perfect release.” It remains to be seen how much this September 5 update will do to alleviate these problems or how a game with this many issues will run on the last generation of hardware.

Here are the Star Wars Jedi: Survivor update patch notes:

• This patch introduces several performance-related improvements* on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S including:
  • Performance mode has been completely reworked to substantially improve player experience.
    • A number of GPU and CPU optimizations – along with disabling Ray Tracing – has resulted in a better player experience, including a solid 60 FPS in Performance mode.
  • Quality Mode has also received optimizations to help reduce FPS fluctuation and introduce other visual improvements.

• Variable Refresh Rate support added for PS5.
• Additional performance & optimization improvements for PC, including DLSS support.
• Save system tweaks to help prevent save game corruption.
• Fixed issues where players could not retrieve their XP after dying under certain circumstances.
• Various crash fixes.
• Various bug fixes & improvements across all platforms, including fixes for cloth, lighting, and UI.

*Note: Cinematics in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor on console are locked to 30 frames per second.

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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was one of the bigger games to forgo a last-gen version. However, it seems like that is about to change since Electronic Arts has confirmed that Respawn Entertainment is developing a Star Wars Jedi: Survivor PS4 and Xbox One edition.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is coming to older systems

As reported by GameSpot, EA announced this at an earnings call. The company simply said that Respawn was in the “early stages” of porting the game over and did not offer any specifics, meaning it’s unclear what cuts will be made or when it is coming out. However, it noted that that “additional performance improvements” are coming to the existing PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC releases, which are a “top priority.”

Some are likely puzzled by this port for a few reasons. Survivor notoriously ran terribly on PC and did not run smoothly on PS5 or Xbox Series X|S, as noted by tech-focused breakdowns by Digital Foundry. The outlet called the PC version the worst AAA PC port of 2023 and said the PS5, despite having some some impressive aspects, had some noticeable technical problems, including its shaky frame rate in Performance Mode. This doesn’t even count the numerous bugs found in all three versions that Respawn has issued multiple patches for.

Trophy Talk: The Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Platinum Isn’t Too Grindy

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Respawn had also previously talked about the benefits of leaving the last generation behind. Game director Stig Asmussen told Play Magazine (as spotted by MP1st) that the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S were helpful in bringing the game to a new level.

“[The new systems allow us] to create much larger maps with more detail, greater density, broader enemy and NPC variety, and overall fidelity,” said Asmussen. “We didn’t want to break what we did in the first game. We wanted to evolve and enhance the experience.”

He went on, once again laying praise on the new hardware.

“You’ll experience the benefit of the more powerful hardware throughout Survivor,” said Asmussen. “Bottom line, we learned quickly that we could take advantage of the faster processors, larger and faster memory, better loading times to create much larger maps, with more detail, greater density, broader enemy and NPC variety, and overall fidelity. These features aligned perfectly with how we wanted to push the game. We didn’t want to break what we did in the first game because it was well received, but we wanted to evolve and enhance the experience. This new generation allowed us to do exactly that, and I believe it translates to a true new-gen experience in the Star Wars universe.”

There haven’t been a ton of big current-gen exclusives, and some have even had their last-gen ports come out later. Hogwarts Legacy, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Metal: Hellsinger, and Destroy All Humans 2: Reprobed are part of that list, while titles like Blasphemous 2 are just about to join that club.

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Respawn Entertainment is well on track to fulfill its vision of a successful Star Wars Jedi trilogy. The developer has published a number of new job listings for a variety of roles specifically in its Star Wars Jedi development team, suggesting that it’s proceeding full steam ahead.

Will the next Star Wars Jedi game have multiplayer?

Back in January 2023, Respawn published a now-deleted job ad for its “Star Wars FPS” team, seeking a senior gameplay software engineer with “experience working on a multiplayer game.” The listing was removed as soon as it made rounds, but it certainly wasn’t for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which was billed as a single-player experience from the start and released this April.

As spotted by Tech4Gamers, the new job opportunities published on LinkedIn and EA’s official website over the last week or two seek candidates for principal game writer, VFX artist, and combat designer. Respawn says that it’s committed to developing a “compelling and immersive narrative gameplay that fits seamlessly within the Star Wars universe,” and wants someone who can write “concise and evocative dialogue in multiple voices.”

Although Respawn has said that it wants Star Wars Jedi to be a trilogy, it has yet to officially announce the third game.

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Electronic Arts and Respawn have released a new Star Wars Jedi: Survivor update. The patch is set to squash a handful of bugs — including an infamous bounty hunter glitch.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor update 6 (June 20, 2023) patch notes

The latest Star Wars Jedi: Survivor update — officially referred to as “Patch 6” — introduces a bounty of optimizations and changes. The most vital part of the update fixes an issue where bounty hunters wouldn’t spawn. Caij — who helps you track down bounty hunters — would also become invisible, essentially making it impossible to finish that questline.

Alongside the bounty hunter fixes, other minor tweaks come with the update. These include fixes for various crashes, tweaks to photo mode, and further collision improvements.

The patch notes for the latest Star Wars Jedi: Survivor update are below:

• Various crash fixes across all platforms
• Fix for bounty hunters not spawning
• Fix for an issue where Caij would become invisible
• Fix for occasional issue where “Find the Gorge’s Secret” Rumor could not be completed
• Collision improvements
• Improved blaster handling
• Fixes for Photo Mode
• Wind puzzle on Jedha fixed
• Updates to the holomap map data
• The training dummy on Jedha was sneaking around. It has now been immobilized
• Various bug fixes & Improvements

EA has also promised more fixes will come in the future.

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Respawn Entertainment’s Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has managed to top April 2023’s PS5 sales chart after being on the market for just two days. The game released on April 28th, but climbed atop PS Store download charts in both North America and Europe.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is already beating Fallen Order sales

Despite launching with a plethora of game-breaking bugs, Jedi: Survivor is already on track to beat its critically acclaimed predecessor Fallen Order. In the U.K., Jedi: Survivor’s launch sales were 30 percent higher than Fallen Order’s, according to GamesIndustry.biz data.

April’s other big release, Dead Island 2, settled for the second spot in both North America and European PS5 download charts. MLB The Show 23 rounded up the top three games in North America while Grand Theft Auto V was Europe’s third best-selling PS5 game in April.

The unstoppable GTA V wasn’t far behind in North America, where it was the fourth best-selling PS5 game last month.

Meanwhile, in the absence of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, PS4 players in both regions have been playing The Last of Us Part II. Thanks in part to the HBO television series‘ success, the franchise has seen an influx of new players.

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