They have, by my count, made approximately 600 Star Wars games over the last few decades. That’s pretty weird, because you only need, like, three or four. Those would be TIE Fighter, Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR), KOTOR 2, and—I don’t know—probably Empire At War.
The best of those, for my money, is KOTOR 2, and whaddaya know? It’s free over on Prime Gaming right this second. If, like me, you have at some point signed an infernal contract with Jeff Bezos that you’ve just let run, you can pick up the unequivocally greatest Star Wars game (and one of the greatest RPGs of all time) for absolutely nothing. If you don’t count all those monthly subscription fees you’ve paid up to now, anyway. If you do, then it may technically cost several thousand dollars.
The catch is that it’s on the gaming platform that time forgot: The Amazon Games App. Remember that? It’s the company’s delivery system for freebies like this one when it doesn’t just give you a GOG/EA/Ubisoft key, and you almost certainly haven’t opened it since the last time some article like this reminded you it exists.
Honestly, that’s a shame. In PCG’s ranking of our platform’s many game launchers, the Amazon Games App put in a surprisingly strong showing: It’s bloat-free, easy to use, and relatively unobtrusive. Sure, I’d probably still rather have a GOG key, but given how wretched some other clients are, the crime of just being a bit forgettable isn’t so bad.
Anyway, KOTOR 2. Obsidian’s follow-up to BioWare’s KOTOR 1 is both one of my favourite videogames ever made and also a total mess. It’s a dark, moody take on Star Wars (and also kind of a stealth sequel to Planescape: Torment) that takes a lot of pleasure in laying waste to the setting’s fundamental axioms. Also, Obsidian had to make it under a strict deadline, which means it, ah, doesn’t have a real ending.
Even with that being true, though, it’s one of my favourite games of all time, but the good news is that you can (mostly) fix it these days. The dedicated fans over at The Sith Lords Restoration Project have created an easy way to shove the missing content from Obsidian’s cutting room floor back into the game. Barring one or two minor quibbles—I think it sometimes puts things back that were cut for a reason besides time—it’s absolutely the best way to play, and means the ending sort of makes sense now. What a time to be alive.
