Replace: An excellent sport marred by damaged guarantees.
Replace June 5, 2023: After we initially revealed this assessment on June 8, 2022, writer Aspyr introduced that Knights of the Outdated Republic 2 was going to be adopted up with a free DLC replace dubbed the Sith Lords Restored Content material a number of months after launch. Virtually a yr later, Aspyr introduced that DLC replace isn’t coming. Whereas Knights of the Outdated Republic 2 remains to be a terrific sport, the hopeful language utilized in our unique assessment was optimistic this may be the definitive official launch with the restored content material. With out the free DLC, it is a far inferior package deal with out accounting for the truth that an organization introduced an thrilling bonus for the Swap launch after which proceeded to not say something about it for a whole yr earlier than sheepishly saying it is not occurring. As such, we’re dropping our unique assessment rating as a result of damaged promise that impacts your complete notion and high quality of this launch. Our unique 8/10 assessment posted on June 8, 2022 remains to be under. Simply know that the DLC pack referenced all through was a advertising and marketing stunt that the writer by no means delivered on.
Knights of the Outdated Republic 2 is a celebrated Star Wars RPG that’s extremely deep and enjoyable, but additionally barely held collectively by the equal of improvement toothpicks and duct tape. Because the legend goes, unique developer Obsidian Leisure had slightly greater than a yr to make an expansive sequel to the Bioware-developed Knights of the Outdated Republic. The truth that this sport, subtitled The Sith Lords, is nice despite the expedited improvement says quite a bit concerning the energy of the idea and the talent of those that made it. With simply sufficient streamlining to make the journey slightly bit extra approachable, Knights of the Outdated Republic 2 is a good follow-up to certainly one of my private favourite Star Wars video games.
That’s with out accounting for the potential silver bullet of this 2022 Swap launch. The rushed improvement meant quite a bit was left on the slicing room flooring and through the years, followers modded the sport on PC so as to add again on this content material. For the primary time in an official launch, The Sith Lords Restored Content material shall be added to the Swap model as free DLC after launch. Whereas we don’t know for positive precisely what shall be included, writer Aspyr has mentioned it’s going to have “new crew dialogue and interactions, a bonus mission starring HK-47, and a brand new revamped ending.” For the reason that sport had such a rushed improvement, there’s a noticeable quantity of minimize content material. For instance as regards to the referenced revamped ending, within the unique launch, most of your social gathering simply disappears whenever you attain the endgame. This content material, if it’s something just like the fan mod, will treatment that.
That makes this Swap launch a bizarre prospect on day one. Mechanically, The Sith Lords is a powerful sport. Whereas the visuals present their age a bit, the D&D-inspired gameplay, well-crafted narrative, and distinct tackle Star Wars are pleasant. It may be arduous to understand should you’re not aware of the Baldur’s Gates of the world, however good tutorialization and versatile issue makes studying the ropes of the tabletop-heavy system simpler. A very good bulk of the sport is about exploring ships and planets, on the lookout for loot, quests, and puzzle options all of the whereas battling enemies in technically turn-based fight. I say technically as a result of fight performs out in actual time however your hits and misses are decided by behind-the-scenes cube rolls fairly than correct intention. In a single sense, this might be seen as a predecessor to trendy titles like Xenoblade although a lot less complicated and with fewer real-time parts.
Your ever-expanding social gathering consists of a various forged, together with the likes of scoundrels, droids, and bounty hunters you’d anticipate to see on this planet of Star Wars. Your customized protagonist is an exiled Jedi who loses their reminiscence and goes on a quest to keep away from seize by the titular Sith Lords whereas additionally searching for out the previous couple of Jedi Masters to assist restore his or her connection to the Pressure. The story, which follows up the primary sport not directly whereas nonetheless happening 1000’s of years earlier than the films, is powerful sufficient to hold the journey, with a wealth of well-written characters, occasions, and plot machinations to string you alongside. If I needed to evaluate the second sport to the primary, I believe the primary sport remains to be extra impactful and memorable, however The Sith Lords is extra even and constant.
The sunshine facet and darkish facet pull of your character’s alignment is extra grey than it was within the first Knights of the Outdated Republic. It’s finest to choose a facet and follow it for optimum talents, but it surely’s much less concerning the extensive, sweeping good and evil choices and extra about the way you carry your self in dialog. Are you merciless and sardonic? Begin choking fools along with your darkish facet powers. Are you form and accepting? Heat hugs on the sunshine facet then. Working these powers into fight will be actually enjoyable, particularly as your arsenal grows bigger.
Whereas the first mixture of exploration and fight is an efficient mix, the assorted mini-games that popped up fell flat for me. They’re modifications of tempo, however firing a stiff turret to fend off enemies was all the time extra of a chore, swoop racing is cute however unrefined, and the cardboard sport is amusing however fleeting. It additionally didn’t assist that the commonest game-breaking bug I encountered was in the course of the turret sequences. I’d wind up in an limitless loop throughout these segments, however fortunately loading up the final auto-save would take me out of it. I didn’t encounter too many horrible bugs alongside the best way, however as a result of rushed improvement, the unique model of the sport is rife with bugs each massive and small. We received’t know till the Restored Content material DLC comes out to know the way a lot was fastened.
Even earlier than the free Restored Content material DLC is launched, Knights of the Outdated Republic 2 remains to be a terrific sport, albeit one with some lacking content material and technical points. I sit up for revisiting the sport to see what was added, tweaked, and stuck when the DLC is added. If that add-on delivers, there’s a great probability the Swap model is the definitive model of this 2004 Xbox traditional. Till then, it is a high quality approach to play a great sport with some caveats. Hopefully these caveats turn into a factor of a previous, however time will inform.