10/10
May 4, 2018·✓ Recommended
Beat·Xbox
This might be a touch controversial, but I love this game even more so than its beloved predecessor. I say this without hyperbole: I think KOTOR II is the finest Star Wars game ever made, and I hold it next to works like Andor and the original Thrawn trilogy as the absolute pinnacle of the Expanded Universe.
The reason is in the game's writing. Set some years after the events of the first game, we are the Jedi Exile - one of the very last Jedi in a galaxy torn apart by Revan and Malak's war. The Exile returns to the galaxy to find it shattered; there's a bounty for any remaining Jedi, and a hidden coven of Sith hunt us, desperate to destroy the final vestiges of their hated enemy. The characters at the centre of the story are exceptionally written, chief among which is Kreia. A blind old Jedi, she functions as a twisted mirror to Obi-Wan in Episode 4, a broken, bitter, and twisted mentor who constantly questions our morality and weaves plots and nasty whispers in our ears. The result is a vicious deconstruction of many of Star Wars' central concepts as characters orbit around the Exile, providing a dark, warped, deeply philosophical take on the franchise.
Of course, KOTOR II is perhaps most infamous for its incredibly short development time, and as a result it has a ton of cut content such that many consider it an unfinished game. And yet, I honestly don't think that matters. What is here is nigh-perfect in my mind, an unrivalled story that showcases the best of Obsidian's work.
Check out my full review! The Almighty Backlog, review #18:
https://thealmightybacklog.wordpress.com/2018/05/28/star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-ii-the-sith-lords/
