Star Wars Games: Has The Force Faded? Can We Recapture KOTOR’s Magic?

by Falagar / Articles, Editorials, Star Wars Game / 29 May 2025

There is a disturbance in the Force…

…and it is not just some other Sith Lord making mischief. To a gaming generation STAR WARS was not just a movie franchise; it was a world that we lived in through our PCs & consoles…

A Golden Age Remembered

Titles like KOTOR were not tie-ins -> they were genre-defining RPGs that enabled us to create our own Jedi (or Sith) stories with choices that felt galaxy-changing. Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast provided lightsaber combat so gloriously visceral, it’s still the standard. These games : along with Republic Commando’s gritty tactical squad action or the sheer scale of Battlefront II, were not merely good Star Wars games. They were excellent games, period – ambitious, fearless, and full of ideas that still hold up today.

The Recent Journey: Hits and Misses

Leap forward to the last decade and the journey here is… spotty. Hope was reignited with Respawn’s Jedi: Fallen Order and its more refined followup, Jedi: Survivor. Both provided excellent, engaging singleplayer action elevating mechanics & discovery with each iteration. But even as good, complete experiences, they didn’t quite realize that Platonic glow. They were good, well-crafted adventures, but the profound freedom and agency of a KOTOR, or the unbridled thrill of Jedi Knight’s combat duels, were toned down somewhat….

And let’s not forget Star Wars The Old Republic. BioWare’s MMORPG giant is a testament to ambition, trundling on with a loyal player base to this day. It boldly tried to take the narrative depth of KOTOR and apply it to a persistent online environment. Perhaps not the KOTOR 3 so many hoped for, and definitely dated in some ways, but SWTOR is still a sprawling repository of Star Wars lore, a worthy if slightly creaky gem.

The Outlaws Predicament: Hype vs. Reality

Then there was Star Wars Outlaws!. Pre-launch hype was charged: an open-world scoundrel fantasy in the space between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, with a galaxy of underworld politics on offer. The trailers were stunning, Ubisoft created a vision of boundless exploration with a new hero, Kay Vess. The hype was real.

At launch, the picture is more… complicated. Aesthetically Outlaws is a triumph… The presentation is straight-up Star Wars ; from the wonderfully rendered planets to the authentic ship designs and top-notch sound. The developers seemingly gave the presentation their heart.

But behind that initial sparkle the gameplay foundation reveals some unsettling cracks… combat is adequate enough -> but lacks much punch. Stealth capabilities are prone to be clumsy, sometimes cut short by maddening auto-fail moments. Even the cinematic space battles are disappointingly bare… the open world, grand in scope as it is, has the potential to turn into a repetitive checklist of things to do very fast with mechanics like reputation & bounties not feeling particularly consequential.

Ubisoft has already begun deploying patches, addressing some of the more egregious stealth sections. But the underlying problem isn’t one of polish or of bugs; it’s one of a generalized sense of safeness. Outlaws attempts to be jack-of-all-trades – action, stealth, a hint of RPG – but by not dedicating itself to any one discipline, none of them excel…it’s the gaming version of an eye-catching buffet where no meal is really worth remembering.

The Core Discrepancy: Depth vs. Accessibility

Compare this to the classics. KOTOR’s choices had real weight, setting your character, your friends, and the galaxy in motion. Jedi Knight’s lightsaber and Force powers were the be-all and end-all of its design, not surface-level additions. Even the lighthearted cuteness of LEGO Star Wars knew exactly what it wanted to be and did it to perfection.

With Outlaws, the priority seemed to be getting something cinematic and broadly accessible out there, potentially at the expense of depth and replayability. It’s a game that demos incredibly well but never quite translates that spectacle into long-term, compelling play.

This might be sensible and fine, but it’s also the source of the issue. The enormous burden to get look and sound right, to adhere tightly to canon, and to appeal to the broadest possible audience can, it seems, make actual innovative game design secondary.

A New Hope on the Horizon?

So when shall we see another truly great Star Wars game? One that uses the legendary brand not merely as a prop, but as a launching point for an experience that can stand alongside the best of what the industry has on offer?

The potential is certainly there!! The Star Wars world is an endless supply of stories. There’s a hungry audience salivating over deep RPGs, tactical shooters, and games that are willing to venture out into the galaxy’s uncharted regions.

With several studios having the license now, including tested hands like Respawn, there’s cause to be cautiously optimistic. But it will take more than stunning appearances and an iconic score. It will require brave design -> a willingness to experiment and above all, the creative freedom to innovate.

Star Wars wasn’t made a cultural phenomenon by playing it safe. Neither were those games that initially beguiled us with their interactive possibilities.!.!

Until that next masterpiece arrives -> we’ll continue to look back at the classics with fondness ; hoping the next venture truly brings the Force back to Star Wars gaming.

What are your thoughts?? Is the M-A-G-I-C truly fading or is a new hope on the horizon?!?

Falagar

He is the founder and editor of Magic Game World. He loved gaming from the moment he got a PlayStation 1 with Gran Turismo on his 7th birthday.
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