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I’ll try to keep this review from going too far off the rails, but no promises!

There have been huge portions of my life where I’ve been totally wrapped up in video games; I’m just not currently in one of those phases. But when Jedi: Fallen Order came out, I was certainly interested. My son (who is currently thirteen) had been a big fan of some of the Star Wars games, Battlefront II most notably. And I’d watch him play a bit, and that was really that. The PS5 resides in his bedroom, and playing games just isn’t a part of my life.

But again, Fallen Order just looked so damn cool. So a couple years back, I think it was on sale & my son mentioned it, and I was like “just get it,” thinking I’d get around to playing it…someday.

But I just didn’t.

And then, I don’t know…sometime in the last year, I thought I’d give it a shot. And dang, I was rusty AF playing games & found the game super difficult! Even on the easiest setting. But I’d fire up the PS5 periodically, flail around as Cal Kestis for a bit…it was slow progress.

Like, wicked fucking slow.

And then they announced JEDI: BATTLE SCARS, and it lit a fire under me. I was determined to get through the game.

But oh no, I still sucked. I was going nowhere, fast. It was fun, but also frustrating. I thought *constantly* about just watching one of the walkthrough videos on YouTube, because I was really only interested in the story. I just wanted to know what happened, without all the frustration that came with being a retired gamer.

And then I got to the part of Fallen Order where you steal an AT-AT. And I lost my goddamn mind. I was cackling with glee, blowing stormtroopers away, and stomping around in an AT-AT, ffs!!!

I was HOOKED! So my mentality quickly shifted from “maybe I’ll just watch this on YouTube” to “maybe I should remember to put the controller down for a second and drink some water today” and I would for sure put Jedi: Fallen Order in among some of my very favorite Star Wars stories ever.

So…JEDI: BATTLE SCARS! In my head this is part two of a trilogy, with Jedi: Survivor on the way (I did see recently that one of the creators of the game envisions a trilogy of games, so we’ll see!), and the story picks up at least a couple of years after the events of Fallen Order.

The crew of the Mantis is well-established now, with Merrin officially joining Cal, BD-1, Cere, and Greez for their adventures. They’ve been getting by taking odd jobs to chip away at the chokehold the Empire has on the galaxy. There’s a sense that they want to be contributing more, and be in the fight more directly. Particularly from Cal.

It’s on one of these missions that they pick up someone new; a woman named Fret who, disguised as a stormtrooper, tries to defect from the Empire. She’s an analyst by trade, and her and Merrin hit it off rather quickly. They hit it off in a sexy kissing way, too.

The other members of the crew are…a little slower to trust someone with such close ties to the Empire. But Fret claims to have knowledge about secret weapon technology that could tip things in the Rebellion’s favor. It’s too tempting to pass up, so Fret is somewhat reluctantly accepted aboard the Mantis.

There’s a lot to love about BATTLE SCARS! I think Sam Maggs does amazing work paying tribute to the game, while keeping the book from feeling strictly like a wink and a nod to game-players. But certainly, it was incredibly fun to read written descriptions of some of the more visual elements of the game, like Cal’s wild acrobatics or periodic underwater missions.

Where BATTLE SCARS absolutely soars is in really developing these characters further, which is saying a lot because there’s no shortage of character development in Fallen Order.

Some of the things we learn are smaller, lighter things. Like Cal biting his nails, or just how goddamn much Greez likes plants.

But too, we get some really unflinching looks inside the minds of four characters (sorry, BD-1) who are carrying around significant amounts of trauma. Maggs does not shy away from this, and it serves the characters so well. They are all really broken in many ways, all four of them. And through the exploration of all their grief and trauma, we see how fucking close they’ve become. How, even though they don’t always agree, and they sometimes doubt one another (or themselves), they’re truly a family.

In short, if you love the ragtag group of survivors/found family aboard a spaceship (that may as well be another character), this might be the Star Wars book for you.

If you read this far (thanks!) and are wondering if you “can” read BATTLE SCARS without having played the game, I think the answer is 100% yes, of course you can! For sure, the experience will be different for people who have already spent some time with these characters, but from a plot perspective, everything you need in order to love this book is right there on the page.

I loved Fallen Order, and I loved BATTLE SCARS…I adore these characters & their ship & I cannot wait to catch up with them again for Jedi: Survivor!!

May the Force be with you!