Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a rare breed of RPG. It changed perceptions of what a Star Wars game can be, still holding a special place in the hearts of fans nearly two decades after its release. Remarkable as it may be, it's surprising that no Star Wars game has managed to surpass it. Though many have tried, Knights of the Old Republic remains the pinnacle of Star War video games.
While this reflects well on KOTOR, it also speaks to the pitfalls that Star Wars games tend to fall into. Formulaic design makes the experience of playing them far less memorable that waking up on the Endar Spire.
A long, long, LONG time ago...
Knights of the Old Republic has nothing to do with the events of the Star Wars films. It's not the first game to play fast and loose with established Star Wars canon - the Dark Forces series handed out lightsabers like they were candy - but it was the first to build an entirely new "world." KOTOR takes place four thousand years before the movies and takes full advantage of the creative freedom that allows.
Players were given the opportunity to discover the Star Wars universe for the first time, for a second time. Kashyyyk hadn't been seen on screen yet, leaving Tatooine as the only planet in the game that players already knew. Aliens that the movies treat as set dressings — Mon Calamari and Twi'leks, especially — were finally given a voice. All of the Star Wars mainstays were able to exist on their own terms rather than in relation to the Galactic Civil War.
This sense of exploring uncharted territory is also what makes the game's major plot twist possible. If Darth Revan had been established as a villain in the Star Wars movies, it would have been impossible for players to find out they were playing as him all along. This discovery is satisfying not only because players realize that they're their own enemy, but because they get to play as a major figure from Jedi history.
Making an Impact
Most Star Wars games take place during the same time period as the movies, so players can't have any real impact on the story. No matter what, the Rebels are eventually going to triumph, making personal victories feel hollow. This also means that players have little freedom in how they interact with the world.
This often results in another iteration of the same stale formula that has plagued Star Wars games for decades: The main character completes a series of tasks while more important characters yell at them over a headset. Listening to a radio drama is fine every once in awhile, but gets stale when it's the only way that story is conveyed. When players feel like they're shooting down TIE fighters just so they can be shuffled from one scene to the next, it makes playing the game feel like a chore. KOTOR managed to buck that trend by giving players a loose objective and letting them figure out the rest.
Dungeons and (Krayt) Dragons
Knights of the Old Republic also feels unique because the gameplay was based on Dungeons and Dragons. The RPG elements were taken from Wizards of the Coast's Star Wars Roleplaying Game, which was in turn based off of 3rd Edition DnD. BioWare, which had developed Neverwinter Nighters and both Baldur's Gate games, was no stranger to translating tabletop RPGs to video games.
By giving players multiple solutions to any given problem, BioWare ensured that every type of character had a chance to shine. Hacking into a computer terminal to activate a security droid was just as viable a mission path as going in guns blazing. Every player felt rewarded for building the exact character that they wanted to play. It also gave players the sense that the path they didn't take would have been equally exciting, inspiring them to play through KOTOR multiple times.
Doing Jedi Justice
Many Star Wars games have tried to make playing as a Jedi compelling, but Knights of the Old Republic is one of the few games that succeeds. Players actually get to experience the process of becoming a Jedi, and it takes a significant amount of time. This isn't a training montage on Dagobah, but a set of rituals that had previously been shrouded in mystery. Equipping a lightsaber for the first time feels like a privilege that was truly earned.
KOTOR also codifies the mysteries of the Jedi Order, letting players in on the secrets behind long-standing mysteries. Star Wars fans had speculated for decades on what it meant for a lightsaber to be blue or green, and KOTOR finally offered an answer. By the end of the game, players have become so intimately familiar with what it means to be a Jedi that it feels like they've joined the Order themselves. Most Star Wars games since have made playing as a Jedi feel like inheriting a pile of superpowers. This feels incredibly shallow to players that have already played through a more immersive experience.
Disney Didn't Own Star Wars Yet
Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm in 2012 was a massive blow to Star Wars fans. The Expanded Universe, which encompassed all of the books and games up to that point (including Knights of the Old Republic), was deemed no longer canon. Fan favorite characters like Kyle Katarn and Admiral Thrawn were lost, as was the idea of Stars Wars as a setting that belonged to its fans.
One of the things that had made the Expanded Universe so magical was the sheer variety of stories that could be told. Star Wars felt like a setting where anything could happen, which is how the Young Jedi Knights series could exist alongside the incredibly bleak Vector Prime. BioWare had the ability to shape KOTOR into what it became because Lucasfilm's approach to Star Wars stories was a little different.
Unfortunately, this might mean that a game of KOTOR's caliber won't be made for quite some time. Until Disney's plans for the future Star Wars as an IP are more concrete, there may be little room to add new lore to the universe, but the High Republic does have a ton of promise in and of itself.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 3 is rumored to be in development.