Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Respawn's 2019 game arrived after years of Star Wars titles built around multiplayer and monetisation, and it is a straightforward single-player action-adventure with no microtransactions at all, which was itself news. Cal Kestis is a Padawan hiding as a scrapper five years after Order 66, and the combat is openly Souls-influenced: stamina-adjacent block meters, parry timing, enemies that punish button-mashing, and meditation points that restore health while respawning everything. Levels are Metroid-shaped, with planets you return to as new Force abilities open earlier shortcuts, and BD-1 handles the map and healing. Its weakest element is traversal friction - some backtracking is tedious and the wall-running is finicky - and it launched with performance problems that were later patched. Its best is tone: the Inquisitors are a genuine threat, the Purge Trooper encounters are tense, and one late-game cameo is among the most effective in modern Star Wars. It sold well enough to make Survivor and a third game inevitable.