Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order – How to Find and Unlock Hidden Areas

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order draws a lot of inspiration from games like Uncharted 4, God of War, and Dark Souls, in that it encourages you to explore every nook and cranny of each planet you visit for treasures, shortcuts, and upgrades. Older games might draw comparisons to the classic Metroid and Castlevania games, and they’d be right. While there’s plenty of room to explore from the moment you first take control of Cal, many paths won’t be open to you until you’ve unlocked a new ability or Force power. As such, Jedi: Fallen Order encourages you to revisit previous planets as you unlock new abilities, so you can scour the areas and open up new paths.

In this guide, we’re going to provide you with a brief explanation of how exploring works, and to give you some tips that will help you get to new areas faster. That way you can get your hands on much more loot earlier.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order: Why Explore?

Exploring is absolutely worth it in Jedi: Fallen Order in a number of different ways. Here are a few:

• You’ll fight more enemies, which means more experience to spend on new abilities, Force powers, and upgrades.
• You’ll find treasure, which can include new cosmetic ponchos, outfits, lightsaber parts, and BD-1 appearances.
• You’ll find upgrades, like increased health and Force power, and more Stimpaks.
• You’ll uncover more of the story by scanning stuff you uncover, which will help further immerse you in the world.
• You’ll unlock shortcuts, which allow you to traverse the different planets a lot faster (and safer) than before.
• It will help you master your abilities and Force powers, encouraging you to explore their various different uses.

As you can tell from that list, if you want to have an easier time in combat and look better while doing it, exploring is absolutely worth it. You’ll also generally find it easier to traverse the world, as it opens up a number of different shortcuts. These can save your life in a bind too, as they can allow you to reach meditation points a lot faster. Also, for those who love lore in video games, exploring is essential, as you can miss plenty of it by sticking to the main path.

How do I Unlock New Abilities and Force Powers?

Sadly, many of the useful abilities and Force powers that allow you to traverse the world only unlock as you progress in the story, though you can get a few by spending your skill points. We’d recommend taking a look at your skill tree often to see if there are any useful abilities that might help you. Otherwise, you’re going to have to simply wait until you’ve unlocked the requisite ability before exploring that new area.

How do I Explore Effectively?

It’s usually pretty obvious which path is the main path, as you’re typically chasing a particular objective. During these instances, simply head down each side-path, no matter how big or small, to see if there’s anything hiding down there. Don’t just look for chests either, as often the treasure is something that you can scan using BD-1, which will fill in the lore of the planet your exploring.

Jedi: Fallen Order also uses verticality well, so you’ll want to keep an eye on what’s going on above or beneath you. Sometimes you can progress through a level and find a section where you can climb higher or drop lower, which can open up backtracking options. In these instances, don’t be afraid to backtrack as you might uncover a chest that was sitting just out of visibility above or beneath you.

How do I Use My Map Effectively?

The most effective method of exploring though is to use your map. At any moment, press the big button on your PS4 to look at the handy map BD-1 has been creating for you as you explore. It includes really useful details for exploring, including:

• Red doors: You can’t unlock these areas with your current abilities, or they’re locked from the other side.
• Green doors: You can access this area using a shortcut you’ve already unlocked.
• Yellow lines: These denote an area that is accessible to you but you haven’t explored yet. This is what you’re looking out for when seeking out new hidden areas to explore.

You can also press down or up on the dpad to look at areas above or beneath the current area you’re in on planets that have a lot of verticality.

We’d also thoroughly recommend holding the pointer over each individual area of the map. Each planet is divided into numerous named regions, and while hovering your pointer over a region, you’ll see the percentage of which you’ve explored it, as well as the number of secrets and chests you’re yet to uncover.

If an area isn’t 100% explored, it means that there’s unexplored sections that you haven’t found yet, so look for the series of yellow lines on the map to find an area you haven’t yet covered.

As for chests and secrets, these are what you’re exploring for. With that in mind, we recommend moving your pointer over each individual area of a planet once you’ve completed it to look for any chests or secrets that you haven’t found yet, then thoroughly explore that region.

If you’re having no luck, or can see that there’s a blocked section, it’s well worth coming back to the planet later, when you’ve unlocked new abilities. Chances are, that will allow you to reach the currently inaccessible area where the chest or secret is located.

Is There Any Way to Check My Overall Progress?

Yes, there is. Press the big button on your PS4 to bring up your map, then press square to view all of the planets you’ve encountered so far. Move your pointer over a particular planet and you’ll be able to see how many chests and secrets you’ve uncovered, as well as the percentage of the planet that you’ve managed to explore.

This is incredibly useful, as it helps you to learn which planets you should come back to when you’ve unlocked all of the abilities Jedi: Fallen Order has to offer.