But not all friends are friendly in Star Wars.
Did you ever worry you were laying things on a little too thick?
The great unknown in writing is toeing a line and trying to not tip the scales too much.
Image: Respawn/EA/Lucasfilm
I think from talking to a lot of players, were proud with how the portrayal landed.
So long as Cal feels that, then we feel like were succeeding.
io9: The shared reveal of Bode as a traitor and a Jedi work really well.
Image: Respawn/EA/Lucasfilm
Had you thought about potentially spacing them out and having one reveal before the other?
Swany: A crucial way Bode challenges and pushes on Cal is with his daughter, Kata.
io9: It sounds like you had a pretty strong concept of Bode during development.
Image: Respawn/EA/Lucasfilm
How much did [Bodes actor] Noshir Dalal bring to the character?
Theyre all digging into their characters or talking through their own ideas.
He was a double agent, yeah, but his affection for Cal is genuine.
Image: Respawn/EA/Lucasfilm
Hes just also a family man first.
Bodes a genuinely good person, but the circumstances of his life led him to the Dark Side.
Once you go down that path, finding clarity can be so difficult to pull yourself back from that.
Image: Respawn/EA/Lucasfilm
In this case, that meant ending the life of someone he once called brother.
io9: You have Cal embrace the darkness twice, both times because of Bode.
Those moments really show how much that betrayal affected him.
In the first instance, Cal meets Kata for the first time at the ISB base.
No matter how monstrous that is, I think theres an aspect of Cal that understands that.
That feels to Cal like a sign from the galaxy that he could lose his loved ones.
What went into developing her, specifically?
One of the things were most proud of is how we handled Cal and Kata.
Its a challenging thing for any writer, especially with a child.
Swany: Children are always tricky in stories.
But we also get to see the hopeful angle, where shes building relationships with the people around her.
Homan: For me, Clementine from Telltales The Walking Dead ended up being a big influence on Kata.
With Clem, she grows up real fast, and you see that growth play out across that series.
Putting all that together is what helped us make the character really sing.
The ending indicates that darkness is still lingering in him, do you think hell get through this?
That loss is all around him, and he can feel himself slipping at times.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivoris available now for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
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