Does Star Wars have an Elden Ring? Fans are still debating Fallen Order.

Will this ever end?

We do not live in this galaxy, so, naturally, people are still debating if Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a Soulslike or not. May the Fourth be with you.

Upon its 2019 release for PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was instantly hailed as one of the best Star Wars games ever made. Set five years after the events of Revenge of the Sith, Fallen Order cast players as Cal Kestis, a Jedi padawan in hiding from the Empire following its purge of the Jedi Order. One of the feathers in Fallen Order’s cap is that it was developed by Respawn Entertainment, the makers of Titanfall, meaning, yes, it featured lots of wall-running. So much wall-running.

But the action was more than just pointing Cal toward a wall and watching him defy gravity. Slick combat gave you a lightsaber and mixed dodging, parrying, and various forms of slashing to defeat foes. Dense, intricate levels double back unto themselves, with more pathways unlocking shortcuts as you explored. Whenever you died, you’d respawn at a Meditation Circle — rest spots where you could heal, save your game, unlock skills, and perform more “safe” activities. Whenever you interacted with a Meditation Circle, defeated enemies respawned.

Boss fights in particular were brutal affairs. Winning a boss fight required meticulous pattern memorization, flawless parry timing, and, in most cases, multiple attempts. Most every boss battle — from the fight on Kashyyyk against the Ninth Sister to the grueling duel with absolute jerk Taron Malicos — served as a skill check that could lead you to walk away from the game for several days before coming back to it. (Guilty as charged. Also screw Taron Malicos.)

All of those features, many players noted, are hallmarks of “Soulslike” games — the subgenre of ravishingly difficult action games established by FromSoftware with its breakout hit Demon’s Souls. Not everyone agreed, though, and it’s a debate that has raged on since Fallen Order’s release. In fact, the debate has been going on since before the game even came out.

In 2019, about a month before the game was even out, one Reddit user sparked up a thread: “Apparently Jedi Fallen Order Is Soulslike.” This was about as tame as the debate would ever be, with respondents calling the claim “interesting,” tossing out quips like “STAR SOULS,” and likening pre-release gameplay footage of Fallen Order to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, FromSoftware’s 2019 Soulslike that also happened to win Game of the Year that year.

Reddit and forum threads raising the debate have continued to pop up in the years since. In 2021, one GameFAQs user declared “Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order isn't soulslike.” In 2023, one Reddit user asked, “Do you guys consider Jedi Fallen Order a Souls Like?” In 2024, a different Reddit user echoed that question with, “Do you consider the Star Wars Jedi series (Fallen Order/Survivor) to be soulslikes?” (If nothing else, this eternal topic of discussion proves that no one can agree on how to style “Soulslike.”)

In all cases, these posts led to the same outcome. Over the course of lengthy threads, people would debate if Fallen Order is or isn’t a Soulslike, yes, but would also get it into over what qualities actually qualify a game for Soulslike status, as if it’s a nebulously defined term whose definition is constantly evolving alongside the medium. Across the board, the belligerents fall into three camps. Most gamers seem to think Fallen Order is a Soulslike. FromSoftware persists say it’s absolutely not. And the centrists say both sides make valid points. Thank you, centrists.

The Steam page for Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order technically includes the “Souls-like” tag, but in 2025, one user took umbrage with its inclusion. “I’ve clicked for deleting this Tag,” they wrote in a Steam discussion thread. That, of course, prompted more players to start debating the merits of Fallen Order’s Soulslike status. “It has soulslike elements,” one person said. “Its combat is nearly a direct rip of souls games,” said another. Others counted by pointing out that it merely shares elements of Soulslike games, but doesn’t quite hit every beat of the subgenre. “Enemies respawning after death and a bonfire like system. That's it. It's an action adventure game,” one player declared.

Yes, these arguments eventually start to look like the Meditation Circles you find in the game: flat and circular.

So, is Fallen Order a Soulslike? Not that these things matter in the grand scheme of it all, and of course there are some undeniable similarities between FromSoftware’s groundbreaking oeuvre and Respawn’s tour de force. But I’d argue Fallen Order is actually a– [transmission ended].