Star Wars has a visual language that I think is essential for any Star Wars piece of media, whether that be a movie, TV series, or video game. And the latter category can really be hit or miss when it comes to this. That said, Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order contains some of the best scenery I’ve seen yet in a Star Wars video game.
The planet Zeffo is filled with some beautifully Star Wars-looking structures, from the sort of rounded adobo houses to the industrial interiors to the underground temples (shown below). It’s a gorgeous planet all-around.
However, it’s Dathomir that really takes the cake. Dathomir, in Star Wars canon, was settled by a race called the Zabraks — the most famous Dathmirian Zabrak is, of course, Darth Maul. It’s also the native home of the rancor, which you might recognize from Jabba’s palace in Return of the Jedi.
We’ve gotten a pretty decent look at Dathomir in the Clone Wars animated series already, but the planet really comes to life in Jedi: Fallen Order, with ancient alien architecture and red skies. In fact, a lot of scenery here looks like it came straight off a science fiction novel cover from the 1960s.
Look at this absolutely stunning shot I was able to capture in the game:
Or this one:
I like that second image a lot because somehow I captured a little bit of blur and a sort of film-graininess that makes it look like it was captured in a science fiction movie from the 1960s or 1970s.
While too much Star Wars media struggles to nail down the Star Wars aesthetic, Jedi: Fallen Order does so phenomenally. And it does so without an overreliance on reusing visuals from other pieces of Star Wars media (though I definitely saw some moisture vaporators on Zeffo).
