Revan from the Knights of the Old Republic games is among the most beloved Star Wars characters to date. While Disney removed the expanded universe from its main canon when it acquired Star Wars years ago, several of the Legends' content has begun being recontextualized into the modern canon, including Revan. His story was considered non-canon until he was referenced in the Shadow of the Sith novel. Now with the Knight of the Old Republic remake on the way, fans will soon see more of the iconic character. This opens up possibilities for the character to take a more active role in the lore, particularly in the gaming world.
Revan was first introduced back during 2003's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic where his story was expanded in the sequel and in the self-titled novel. The book takes place between and after the two KOTOR games, which looks to fill the gaps in Revan's story that were previously unaddressed. While it's expected that Revan's KOTOR game lore will be reintroduced to the canon, his expanded story is already ripe for his own series of games, particularly in the backdrop of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.
How Revan's Story From the Novel Could Become Its Own Fallen Order
Respawn's Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order found success as an original story told through the format of a singleplayer game. Despite having open areas and featuring familiar RPG elements, Fallen Order retains a simple, straightforward structure while progressing Cal Kestis's story. A Revan game could follow a similar formula considering the numerous interesting story beats presented in the expanded content. In Drew Karpyshyn's novel, his story kicks off two years after the events of KOTOR in Coruscant, with Revan is married to Jedi master Bastila Shan and looking to regain his lost memories from his time as Darth Revan.
Revan's quest to regain his lost memories would serve both as the ideal storytelling device and gameplay mechanic, not unlike how Cal Kestis's past was utilized to build on the narrative and introduce skills and mechanics as the story progressed. This would also act as a bridge to the upcoming KOTOR remake that will help push the story forward in a slightly different form, one which is centered around Revan himself.
Showcasing the Dark Side and Adding Mandalorians
Another interesting aspect is that Revan has embraced both the light side and the dark side, and is a character that believes force users should learn from both sides of the force. This opens opportunities to introduce novel gameplay mechanics through a skill tree like Fallen Order's, only more expansive since it can include dark side force powers and skills as well. It could allow developers to bring some of the more brutal combat styles of Star Wars to a modern game, particularly considering how Star Wars Jedi: Survivor itself will include dismemberment.
Revan's expanded story also sets the stage to incorporate other interesting parts of the lore such as the Mandalorians. In the Revan novel, the character joins the Mandalorian Canderous Ordo in the hunt for the mask of Mandalore, which is denoted as the most important symbol for Mandalorians and marks the leadership of the culture. Of course, in the modern context, it's likely this mask may be replaced with the darksaber that's currently part of the Mandalorian series. Either way, Revan's role in the Mandalorian wars and his eventual journey to find the mask would make for an intriguing gameplay sequence.
The journey with Canderous, along with other expanded story elements like events from Nathema, Coruscant, and even Dromund Kaas, adds an interesting exploration aspect to a potential Revan-centric game. Fallen Order utilized exploration uniquely, not only letting players visit various planets but also using each location to build on the story and expand the character's capabilities. So, it wouldn't be too far off to assume a Fallen Order-style Revan title would thrive with some similar planet-hopping.
Setting the Stage for Future Star Wars Games
Additionally, a Revan-centric game similar to Respawn's title gives ample room for future Star Wars stories considering the massive gap in history between the Old Republic timeline and the prequel trilogy. For instance, Darth Bane, who comes years after Revan's time, followed Darth Revan's philosophy to come up with the rule of two for the Sith. This rule goes on to become a crucial part of the universe for centuries to come. A Fallen Order-styled Revan would mean that more Sith-centric games could become a possibility, with Revan acting as the foundation.
Apart from Jedi and Sith, fans have often wondered what a Mandalorian game could look like, and Revan's hypothetical game could give a taste of what it would be like. After Revan rediscovered the mask of Mandalore, he offered it to Canderous, who ended up becoming Mandalore the Preserver. This would be an interesting jumping point for a potential Mandalorian game. While there are already rumors of a Mandalorian MMO in the works for Xbox, a Mandalorian title set in the Old Republic timeline is bound to pique the interest of many fans. This is especially true at a time when the Mandalorian series continues to explore more of the culture and its past.
Nevertheless, it's possible that Revan's story might simply unfold in its entirety within the KOTOR games. The remake of the first KOTOR may mean that its sequel could get a similar treatment, as well as other stories from the Legends like 2011's Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG. Yet it easy to see how applying Jedi: Fallen Order's type of storytelling to Revan's character would be interesting for both longtime fans and newcomers looking to discover more Star Wars stories. Respawn's title has showcased that gamers will continue to embrace single-player narrative storytelling in the Star Wars world, and more games like it should be prioritized.
As of now, it remains to be seen how Aspyr and Saber Interactive will approach the KOTOR remake and what it means for the possibility of KOTOR 3. While the studios could take cues from Fallen Order's success, only time will tell how the Old Republic stories take shape in the modern canon. Either way, fans won't be short of Star Wars games for the next few years.