First released in 2009, the absolutely massive Jedi Academy mod Movie Duels dropped its sixth major update at the beginning of January. The project aims to recreate iconic lightsaber duels from throughout Star Wars history with Jedi Academy’s peerless lightsaber combat system.
The Jedi Knight games have some weird DNA that led to their excellent saber combat. The series came from FPS devs, first at LucasArts, then Raven, and approaches saber combat differently from most brawler-style takes, with a starting point closer to classic FPS melee weapons like Gordon Freeman’s crowbar or the Doomguy’s chainsaw.
Instead of a weighty sword and sticky lock-on feel, the Jedi Knight games are almost more about pure positioning, with your saber just ruining whatever it comes in cont…