Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Orderteased the potential that it could have with an elaborate NPC companion system. Players accompanied Cere Junda and Greez Dritus across the galaxy aboard the Stinger Mantis, and recruitingFallen Order’s Nightsister Merrinand a Bogling at the end felt like a step in the right direction for having new crew members come along.Star Wars Jedi: Survivorseemingly abandons the Mantis as the player’s hub, substituting it for Koboh’s town hub and cantina, but one companion improvement the sequel introduces should influenceGod of War Ragnarok’s own sequel.
God of War RagnarokandStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Ordershare few similarities, but a trend in modern AAA gaming seems to be the inclusion of NPC companions who not only accompany players as conversationalists but also as combatants.Fallen Orderhas BD-1with the player at almost all times, but otherwise there is not a fully fledged companion system likeSurvivorhas.God of War Ragnarokdemonstrates how important companions could be in the series’ future, andSurvivor’s tag-team takedown animations would be great to see between Kratos and other characters.
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Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Features Companion Takedowns
Star Wars Jedi: Survivorhas shown combat that allows both Cal Kestis and his current NPC companion to attack an enemy in a tag-team takedown. Indeed,Survivormay not be as lonesome as presumedwith companion characters Merrin and Bode Akuna, and both characters have their own animations for collaborative takedowns that seem to be active finishers while a companion is nearby.
Fallen Orderhad Merrin aid Cal in Taron Malicos’ boss fight on Dathomir, but it will be incredible to see her fight alongside Cal in actual combat as a dedicated companion, rather than only seeing her attack intermittently from the sidelines. It is still unclear what Bode’s role inSurvivoris, such as whether he can be fully trusted or not, but it is still exciting to see that companion tag-team takedowns will be available with multiple characters.
Many games with NPC companions like this sort of satisfying synchronicity, which likely peaked inBatman: Arkham Knight’s own Dual Play system - somethingGotham Knightsplayers missed out on without companion NPCs- that lets players swap between characters and have combo-led takedown animations between them. Either way,Survivor’s own implementation of NPC companion is a feature all modern action games could learn from.
God of War Ragnarok’s Sequel Will Likely Feature More NPC Companions
God of Warhaving Atreus at Kratos’ hip was phenomenal for storytelling, though spamming arrow fire on enemies was only a limited taste of what an NPC companion could offer to the franchise. Then,God of War Ragnarokbuffed that out further with many more NPC companions who all contributed something unique to combat, even if that was only expressed through a dynamic ability that a previous companion lacked.
God of War Ragnarok’s New Game Plus updateimproved Niflheim’s Sparring Arena, which now allows players to choose their preferred companion match-up, and fans could easily take this andRagnarok’s narrative to assume that the franchise’s next installments will also emphasize NPC companions in combat. If so, it would be excellent to see Kratos and Freya juggling an enemy in a takedown animation, for example.
Knowing how many abilities and weapons Kratos has, there could be any number of fun animation permutations conceived between him and another character, let alone Atreus and another character wherever he ends up. Takedown animations are not necessary for NPCs to be satisfying in combat, but it would seem like a logical next step thatStar Wars Jedi: Survivoris right to have capitalized on.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivorlaunches on July 08, 2025, for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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