Do you have to read Jedi: Battle Scars before playing Jedi: Survivor?

When Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was released in the fall of 2019, no one knew whether it would be a one-off video game set in a galaxy far, far away or something bigger. Now, we’ve not only gotten a novel featuring these characters — we’re also getting a sequel to the original game, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

Do you have to read Battle Scars before Jedi: Survivor? Here’s what you need to know about the story contained within those pages — and how it sets up the forthcoming game.

The novel, written by Sam Maggs and published by Random House Worlds (formerly Del Rey), takes place in the years between Fallen Order and Survivor (the second game occurs five years after the first). In the book, the Stinger Mantis crew searches for a dangerous piece of technology that could change the galaxy for the worse if the Empire were to get its hands on it.

While there is no such thing as required reading in Star Wars, sometimes reading a book — especially when it features characters that are part of an upcoming project — can’t hurt! You can understand and enjoy Survivor without having read Battle Scars. But the story is still worth checking out even if you want to play the game first.

The book does something a Star Wars video game simply can’t: It fully develops its characters and makes a huge effort to create even higher emotional stakes for its main characters. While there is plenty of action in the book — Maggs is a game developer and comic book writer and knows writing action sequences well — it also has the chance to really slow down and allow you to spend time with the characters in quieter moments.

It is, technically, not an essential read — Star Wars is a buffet, after all. But it’s worth every page.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is available for pre-order, and will release on Xbox, PlayStation 5, and PC April 28, 2023.

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