7 Times Star Wars Games Predicted the Future of the Franchise

The close, symbiotic relationship between the Star Wars franchise and video games is well-documented. Both of them were there at the height of burgeoning 3D advancements and the advent of new, exciting technology. And both of them took full advantage, often creating the very techniques that shape how we consume movies, TV shows, and video games today.

Sometimes, though, Star Wars video games have influenced and even outright predicted the direction of projects within the larger franchise. During the pre-Disney era, George Lucas treated what is now the Legends canon as a bit of a fallback. If he liked it, he would use it in his own way. If he didn't, it still existed and was relegated to its own world.

Following the Disney acquisition, Star Wars operates in a similar way, though now in the control of Dave Filoni. Star Wars video games continue to influence the direction of the franchise even today, as the two will remain forever linked by their ambition and passion for technology.

7 Star Wars: Rebel Assault

High-Quality CG

Computer generated imagery was in its infancy during the 1990s, but the slow, steady progress it was making would play a major part in George Lucas' vision for the prequel trilogy. Star Wars: Rebel Assault, as well as its sequel, The Hidden Empire, would create a production workflow that had some pretty keen influence on what kind of approach Lucas would take.

The high-quality of the CG work in Rebel Assault was a mere test run for what Lucasfilm would later do. The level of detail in the environments, ships and planets in Rebel Assault was truly astounding.

The prequel trilogy would go to great lengths to produce state-of-the-art CGI for its time, and the work that LucasArts did on both Rebel Assault games was massively influential. Rebel Assault saw the future, as many of Star Wars' future projects would utilize similar methods of CG creation and the influx of blue screen technology to put actors in enormous environments.

6 Star Wars: Republic Commando

The Clones Are Alright

When Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi first discussed the Clone Wars, the concept of what that conflict would be didn't become a reality until 2002's Attack of the Clones. That film also saw the introduction of the Clone Troopers, which in turn would lead to the creation of Republic Commando as a tie-in to 2005's Revenge of the Sith.

Prior to Republic Commando, the Clone Troopers were pretty much just a plot device designed to push the war story forward. After they received a brief mention at the end of Attack of the Clones, Republic Commando formally introduced Delta Squad, a team of Clone Troopers with a distinct range of personalities and motivations. It was a far cry from Attack of the Clones, and the critical success of Republic Commando would have the foresight to see where Star Wars was headed with these characters.

The evolution of the Clone Troopers from faceless pawns of the emerging Galactic Empire was a foundation of Republic Commando. These were strong, complex characters with their own stories to tell. Shows like The Clone Wars and especially The Bad Batch owe quite a bit to the efforts put forth by Republic Commando, which was recognized when Delta Squad was reintroduced into the new canon through those shows.

5 Star Wars: Dark Forces

Rebellions Are Built on Hope

New additions to the world of Star Wars were happening rather rapidly in the 1990s. Novels, comic books, and video games were an immeasurable source of joy for fans at the time, and a key contributor to that was Star Wars: Dark Forces.

Dark Forces' first mission would showcase just how important this era of the Star Wars timeline would be to Disney. This part of Star Wars has been examined and reimagined multiple times in Disney canon, as the theft of the Death Star plans would form the basis of Rogue One and the Disney+ TV show Andor.

The time between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope has been fertile ground for both Lucas and Disney. Dark Forces was one of the first pieces of media to explore that, and the importance it placed on the nascent stages of the galactic conflict was something that future creators were happy to take part in.

4 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

The Complicated Origins of the Force

Prior to the release of George Lucas' prequel trilogy, the Force and the Jedi Order were seen in a much broader, simplified way. The Jedi were the good guys who used the Force selflessly, while the Sith were evil and used it for ill will.

It worked for the time, but Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords would tell a surreal story that seemingly predicted the end of the prequel trilogy and the future of Star Wars. In The Sith Lords, the Force and the Jedi aren't the perfect heroes that the original trilogy attempted to paint them as.

The hubris of attempting to control something as grand and beautiful as the Force was dispelled with great passion in The Sith Lords. Revenge of the Sith portrayed the entire downfall of the Jedi Order as arrogance and believing they were smarter than the Force, while The Last Jedi would take this to its natural conclusion.

3 Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

Welcome to the Underworld

The ongoing conflict between the Jedi and the Sith formed the entirety of George Lucas' original Star Wars trilogy. There was clearly a larger world at work beyond the confines of the Skywalker saga, but no project would predict how enormously popular the darker side of Star Wars would become more than Shadows of the Empire.

First released on the N64 in 1996, Shadows of the Empire was part of a larger multimedia project that shared the same name. The underworld of Star Wars had been hinted at, but Shadows of the Empire buried itself in the dark, hidden world of spies, mercenaries, and bounty hunters.

As a Star Wars game, it was also groundbreaking in predicting how future titles would operate. It exists as a movie without a movie, a novel concept that future Star Wars games would attempt to emulate. Shadows of the Empire was fundamental in creating a foundation that future Star Wars games would draw from.

2 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Darth Vader's Hidden History and The Inquisitors

When Darth Vader first started terrifying movie audiences in May 1977, the truth about his origins would not be entirely revealed until George Lucas' prequel trilogy. Starting with The Phantom Menace in 1999, Vader's rise from a young Tatooine slave boy to a mechanical monster was chronicled through three movies.

What was even more mysterious, however, was exactly what Darth Vader was up to between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed attempted to answer some of those questions, giving Vader a secret apprentice known as Starkiller. Though The Force Unleashed was made part of the non-canon Legends universe, it had some major impact on the Disney canon.

The prospect of a hidden apprentice or some sort of warrior trained by Vader to hunt down Jedi would lead to the creation of the Inquisitors for Star Wars Rebels. In fact, Rebels showrunner Dave Filoni nearly brought Sam Witwer back as Starkiller during early meetings for the show, but instead created an entirely new character. The Inquisitors have become a major part of the Disney canon over the years.

1 Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II

Mirroring an Entire Film Trilogy Pipeline

George Lucas' Star Wars prequel films have had a complicated road, but these days, they're finally getting the due they genuinely deserve. The kids who grew up with them, myself included, have fond memories of their unique worlds and unusual quirks. The very skeleton of the prequels and their production, however, was predicted years earlier by Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II.

Hiring real-life, flesh-and-blood actors, then replacing the blue and green screen behind them with a digital, all-CGI environment was bold. That's exactly what George Lucas would do, however, when it came time to bring the prequels to life. It was an industry-changing moment, paving the way for future blockbusters.

This oddball style of production wasn't just reflected in the prequels, of course. Decades later, The Mandalorian would be filmed on state-of-the-art sound stages that projected highly detailed CG environments around them. Dark Forces II was right on the money when it came to how live-action Star Wars projects would evolve over the years.