There has hardly been a dull moment for Cal Kestis and the Stinger Mantis crew since Cere Junda and Greez Dritus rescued Cal on Bracca in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen OrderHowever, no one has pursued the crew of the Stinger Mantis as successfully and vigilantly as Star Wars Jedi series as Haxion Brood, a band of bounty hunters whom Cal met when he and BD-1 were kidnapped by them and forced to face waves of enemies led by Sorc Tormo in an Ordo Eris fighting arena.
Bounty hunters are a great source of spontaneous tension and high stakes in the Star Wars Jedi franchise so far, but whether it should revive the Haxion brood for a third time or put it on ice for another handful of different, random mercenaries is another question entirely, especially if Cal himself is to become a kind of bounty hunter. In fact, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor makes the Haxion spawn a much bigger threat than before. But even though they appear in the same way to intercept players, Cal now gains the upper hand and the hunters become the hunted this time in Star Wars Jedi: Survivorand announces a whole new storyline for Cal in a future entry.
Star Wars Jedi: Making Cal Kestis a bounty hunter could be based on Jango Fett's origin story
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter features numerous optional “dead or alive” contracts that players can seek out at their own discretion. This concept is implemented phenomenally in early chapter levels like Coruscant, where enemies are so sparse that players can comfortably and generously take their time scanning NPCs with Jango's slow-motion POV visor.
However, bounty hunting becomes much more tedious and inconvenient in later chapters when enemies flood the screen in waves, flanking players and bombarding them with blaster bolts or missiles from an invisible distance, but it's still an engaging feature that makes the game feel like more than a simple arcade shooter game. Choosing to turn in bounties alive means players must first mark a scanned bounty target and then shackle and interact with them using Jango Fett's whip cord, which is nearly impossible in the middle of a room full of enemies.
It is even harder to painstakingly eliminate all other enemies in a room first and save the bounty target for last, but in the mid to late game levels there are few opportunities to secure a bounty. Either way, these elements would be fantastic ingredients for the next Star Wars Jedi game, especially if Cal himself becomes an official bounty hunter, since he technically already became one in Survivors while eliminating targets for the scheming Caij Vanda.
The only incentive for players were bounty pucks for various skills – some for
Survivors
for the blaster stance and some for droid slashing with BD-1 – and blaster cosmetics that could be traded in for it. And certainly in a sequel there could be an even bigger reward for hunting down characters and having the opportunity to turn in the bounty alive.
The Jedi bounty hunt in Star Wars is too important to put on hold now
The Haxion Brood isn't completely out of the way yet, and since Cal has taken down so many bounty hunters and bounty droids, it would make sense for Sorc Tormo's manhunt to be even more persistent and brutal in a third game. Now that Cal has acquired a taste for bounty hunting, that puts him in an interesting position where he can potentially hunt for bounties on his own, even without Caij tipping him off to locations of Brood members patiently awaiting his arrival.
Survivors hinted that Cal might soon retire his lightsaber and leave the fight behind him. Of course, while the Haxion Brood searches for Cal Kestis and the Stinger Mantis crew, the fugitive Jedi Knight may not have a way to get out of the bounty hunting business until this problem is finally solved for him, and it would be a shame if this subplot arc were suddenly dropped in a third installment. Star Wars Jedi Game without a concrete solution in one direction or the other.
