In context: A Jedi's lightsaber is the most potent combat weapon in the Star Wars universe. It is so powerful that a single Jedi, armed only with his lightsaber, could easily take down an entire regiment of stormtroopers. With a blade made of Force-infused plasma and the balance and weight of only its hilt, minimal effort is needed for a wielder to slice through virtually anything like butter, including armor, flesh, and bone.
In Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Cal's blade was effectively as deadly as it should be, but it didn't act like a lightsaber when it came to fighting humanoids. Even though he could readily slice an R2 droid in half with no effort, hitting a stormtrooper or even an unarmored foe resulted in only leaving a superficial scorch mark. It's still good fun but very noncanonical mechanics.
That could change for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, though. IGN released an explainer regarding Survivor's combat stances over the weekend (below). In a fight, around the four-minute mark, Cal lops off a Stormtrooper's arm. Looking carefully, you can see other limbs scattering the battle area. So, it would appear that dismemberment is possible in the upcoming game.
In 2020, Respawn said Fallen Order didn't have dismemberment, despite being present in the previous iteration, Star Wars Jedi: The Force Unleashed, because Disney and Lucasfilm said, "no limb severing." So developers opted for the far less brutal scorch marks to the arm (or leg) that seem enough to knock them unconscious? Kill them? Who knows? The decision presumably made the title more Disney-friendly but didn't make much sense from a lore perspective because there is a reason that lightsabers are designed the way they are.
According to canonical Jedi Code, Jedi warriors were only allowed to kill in self-defense and only when there was no other recourse. Dismemberment provided that other option since the lightsaber cauterizes as it cuts through flesh. So, a Jedi could remove combatants from the fray without killing them by taking a limb if he chose — graphic but effective. The first time we saw this tactic was way back in 1977 in Star Wars Episode 4 when Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi, severed pig-nosed Dr. Evazan's arm to avoid killing him in a Tatooine cantina bar fight.
Regardless of the reasoning, it looks like dismemberment is making a return in Survivor. Watching more of the combat reveals the devs used it somewhat sparingly, which is good. There is a gratuitous line they probably should not cross. However, it's hard to know why the sudden change of heart.
Kotaku spotted the mechanic and contacted EA and Respawn for comment, but all the developers would say was, "The footage is what it is." It's hard to know what they mean by such a vague statement, but I take it as their way of not calling too much attention to the mechanic before the game is released.
It could be that the House of Mouse has not approved or does not know about the feature's return, and the devs hope the light dismemberment flies under Disney censor's radars. However, now that review copies are out, and the media has taken notice, the Magic Kingdom could still tell Respawn to throw the mechanic away again, possibly triggering a delay or a significant day-one patch.
Judging by previews, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor looks like an improvement on an already great game. It's slated to launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and Windows on April 28. we will see then if dismemberment survived.
https://www.techspot.com/news/97668-finally-jedi-cal-kestis-gets-lightsaber-works-like.html
