Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's blaster stance brings less civilized ranged attacks to more civilized lightsaber combat

The Star Wars Jedi: Survivor developers have offered a few more details on Cal Kestis's new blaster and crossguard lightsaber.

Both those new pieces of equipment have been teased in previous promotional materials and interviews, but we haven't gotten a whole lot of concrete details on how they work, beyond the fact that they'll each be tied to one of the five lightsaber stances available in Jedi: Survivor. But in the newest issue of Play Magazine, which is out today, director Stig Asmussen offers some more insight.

The design for Kylo Ren's crossguard lightsaber was pretty controversial when the sequel trilogy was getting underway, but it looks like an actual purpose for it will be explored in Jedi: Survivor. Asmussen says that the crossguard blade will offer a "heavy yet measured and purposeful approach" when equipped. This stance is  "for when you really need to bring a measured, hard-hitting approach to a fight."

The blaster stance is there "to encourage ranged attacks" alongside your normal lightsaber strikes - particularly notable, since the original game was effectively all melee combat. We don't often see Jedi wield blades and blasters together in the broad Star Wars canon, never mind in the games.

We also learned as part of this preview that Jedi: Survivor will feature fast travel and rideable creatures, and that the game's new-gen launch was helped along by the PS5 port of Fallen Order. Jedi: Survivor recently hit a six-week delay, and is now due to launch on April 28 for PS5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC.

For more on Play Magazine's Star War Jedi: Survivor cover story, you can follow that link.