Obsidian Entertainment inherited a license and a problem. BioWare had already made the beloved Star Wars RPG. The sequel had to justify itself. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords does that by going darker, stranger and more interested in what the Force costs the people who use it.
The Exile Wakes on Peragus
The game opens with the protagonist regaining consciousness on the Peragus Mining Facility. That protagonist is The Exile, a Jedi Knight cast out of the Order, and the galaxy around them is a ruin. A brutal civil war has nearly destroyed the Jedi, and the Republic is close to collapse.
This is set 4,000 years before Episode I: The Phantom Menace, in a time when the Sith have almost finished the job. Five years after the first game, The Exile sets out to restore their connection to the Force and to stop the Sith.
Kreia, Atton Rand and the Ebon Hawk
The party is the best thing here, in this paper’s view. Kreia mentors the Exile with motives that never sit clean. Atton Rand flies the Ebon Hawk. Bao-Dur is a technician and Mandalorian War veteran, trailed by his droid remote. The criminal droid G0-T0 and the Sith apprentice Visas Marr round out a crew that argues with you.
The Exile’s backstory carries real weight. They served under Revan in the Mandalorian Wars and ordered a devastating weapon activated at Malachor V. The deaths that followed tore a wound in the Force so deep the character cut themselves off from it to survive.
Lightsaber Forms and Prestige Classes
Combat stays close to the original: pausable real-time, built on the d20 System, played from a third-person view. The additions matter more than the base.
- 30 new Force powers
- New lightsaber forms, each suited to a different situation
- Prestige classes that extend the Jedi classes from the first game
- Streamlined party management and weapon-set switching
One form suits fighting enemies with blaster weapons. Another helps you recover after using Force powers. Swoop bike racing and the card game Pazaak return as minigames.
Telos, Onderon and Malachor V
You travel to six planets, picking up party members along the way, on a mission to seek out the remaining Jedi. Telos, Onderon and its moon Dxun, Malachor V and the Peragus Mining Facility are new. Korriban and Dantooine come back damaged, their buildings ravaged and their problems worse.
Key Facts
- Score: 8.6/10
- Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
- Publisher: LucasArts
- Xbox release: December 6, 2004
- Microsoft Windows: February 8, 2005
- Nintendo Switch: June 8, 2022
- Engine: Odyssey
The Choices That Turn You
Dialogue drives alignment. Respectful, empathetic answers give light side points; egotistic and evil ones give dark side points. That system is not new, but in this paper’s assessment the writing behind it is sharper than the first game’s, and it makes the light side feel like an argument rather than a default.
The game is uneven. It leans on the same combat as its predecessor. In our view, the founding lore runs deeper here, and the questions it asks about the Jedi are the ones the series kept returning to.
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