Set five years after Revenge of the Sith, the game follows a Padawan who managed to survive Order 66 - Palpatine's command to destroy all Jedi. The story takes us to planets familiar to fans of the movies and shows such as Kashyyk - the Wookie homeworld shown in Revenge of the Sith, Ilum - the planet that would become Starkiller Base in The Force Awakens but was originally shown in The Clone Wars series as the place where Padawans retrieve their kyber crystals that power their lightsabers, and Dathamir - homeworld of Darth Maul and the Night Sisters from The Clone Wars. There we interact with established characters such as Saw Guerra (from Rogue One, The Clone Wars, and Rebels), Tarfful (Chewbacca's friend who helps Yoda escape from Kashyyyk in Revenge of the Sith), and the iconic Darth Vader--in a particularly stunning encounter. Still, it's the new characters and their growth that kept me invested in finding every secret I could before finishing the game.
Throughout the game, Cal (the protagonist) uses his force powers and his lightsaber to overcome the Empire's hunters as well as the other dangers in the galaxy. His faithful droid companion (BD-1) creates believable reasons behind some of the game mechanics (such as the 3D holomap) while also providing a character I grew to love. Even the his (less-useful) friends are entertaining and believable as they try to stay one step ahead of the Empire.
There are some issues. The "uncanny valley" was frequently a distraction for me in cut-scenes. Textures and objects would not always load properly, with some gameplay hiccups, and even a complete freeze. The combat and controls are not intuitive and have animation patterns that continually made me think that Cal was a second or two behind my attempts to control him. I almost quit the game in the beginning until I figured out how to operate Cal with the delay. This delay made action sequences, and especially boss-fights, much more frustrating than they should have been.
As a Metrovania-style action game, it generally does a good job in pacing and guidance when back-tracking is necessary (although I did have to rely on the Internet to find everything). However, the rewards are nearly all cosmetic only, making them a bit anti-climatic. Also, the sliding mechanic of one-way pathways needs to go. It seemed to want to be a Star Wars version of Arkham Asylum, but although a valiant effort, it falls short of the mark.
It still was an entertaining game, and I recommend it to any Star Wars fan.