I’m still pretty early Star Wars Jedi: Survivorand while I have not encountered game-breaking bugs faced by PC players on my PS5, I ran into a progress-halting problem: I can’t go back to playing the main story because I’m too busy dressing Cal Kestis in the cool (and not-so-cool) outfits I find in Respawn’s galaxy far, far away.
Read more: Star Wars Jedi: Survivor: The Kotaku Review
Full disclosure: I don’t like it star Wars. I think the movies are mostly bad, the rigid world building structure of The Force and the Jedi is unbearable and despite my respect for many games like Knights of the Old Republic, I haven’t really latched onto anything in this universe to make it more than something I observe from afar. However, thanks to TikTok’s algorithm insisting on showing me gay TV shows, I watch them all Shameless right now, and I’m fascinated by its portrayal of a poor family trying to make it in middle America.
This family includes Ian Gallagher, the gay son played by Cameron Monaghan, the same actor who portrayed Cal Kestis in Eat: Survivor. Like my hyperfixation on Shameless grows and so does my desire to play the space fantasy game. I dig the lightsaber swinging, on Unchartedstyled decorations and the performances of the actors, but really I’m just here to play the Ian Gallagher dress up game.
Eat: SurvivorThe wardrobe is extensive and customizable
Overall, the character customization is enough to get me into most games. Fashion and making new outfits was a huge part of that why i liked it Cyberpunk 2077 much more the second time. Although I can’t create a character in the Eat: Survivor, the wealth of options now available to me gives me some ownership of my version of Cal. When it comes to video game fashion, I love putting together outfits that are ugly as sin. I like contrasting colors that are bright, flashy and don’t match at all.
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Not only does it Eat: Survivor allow you to mix and match shirts, jackets and pants from different sets, but each comes with a selection of swap palettes that you can change on the fly. So if I like Han Solo’s robes but brown isn’t my color, I can change them to a hideous mustard yellow and pair it with red pants that look like a full cheeseburger while looking for dudes with my glowing space sword. I’m still incredibly early, but the breadth of choice Eat: Survivor that it gives me in the first few hours has me excited to explore its world more – with the sole aim of filling Cal’s wardrobe.
Oh, we’re flying to a new planet to do some serious space exploration and Jedi business? Okay, but only after digging up every inch of its surface to find new clothes. Do you serve the Jedi Order? I can’t, I’m too busy serving this unsightly combination of fabrics and colors, because I can’t be in a room unless my clothes make me the center of attention. Darth Vader or whoever the hell I’m fighting will see me coming light years away as my outfit will be so loud that the astral beam throughout the galaxy.
While I’m here to attack the eyes of anyone who dares look in Cal’s general direction, others are taking a different approach to character customization in Eat: Survivor. Whether that turns into Cal in a stereotype of a peasant or in a hair metal frontman who got lost and ended up in space somehow. There’s a lot of potential for silly looks, but there are also some pretty stylish pieces to be found around the game to make something really cool to look at.
And Eat: Survivor there are also weapon customization options
Even outside of clothing, Eat: Survivor is incredibly generous with its customization options. You can change Kal’s hairstyle to a mullet and join the legions of fans playing pranks asking where he was on January 6th. You can also change his beard from his usual stubble to a clean shaven one, or give him something awful to look at like a goatee. It’s not just Cal’s looks. You can also swap out parts of your lightsaber or your BD-1 robot companion. In the first few hours I found rainbow material for my weapons and you know I’m going to slap everything I can when I get back to the workbench because despite what Disney wants you to think, there are gays in space. I want the stormtroopers to ask if it’s Cal “LGB because his gun is pink.”
While the story of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor can develop the same way for everyone, it’s cool to think that no Cal is exactly the same. So far I only have a few options, but despite my initial reservations about going for a star Wars game, after making sure several times that this franchise is not for me, I’m really kidding Eat: Survivor, and I’m willing to break through the stormtroopers in the name of fashion. Cameron Monaghan serves his country like Ian Gallagher, but if I have my say, he’ll serve lefties like Cal Kestis.