Games That Allow Players to Explore Parts of the Star Wars Galaxy the Films Never Will

In every Star Wars film, audiences are brought to several alien worlds throughout the galaxy far, far away, with some resembling locations in real life and others being completely alien and unlike anything seen on Earth today, such as the fungal swamps of Nal Hutta seen in The Mandalorian and Grogu.

Oftentimes, the protagonists in each SW film only stay at certain locations for a brief period of time before traveling to another planet or space station, giving theater audiences only a small glimpse of the alien locals, architecture, and inhabitants of these extraterrestrial worlds.

However, there are several SW video games that allow fans to explore these alien planets and space stations in ways the live-action films never could due to budget constraints, traditional SW film directions, and the simple lack of time for movies to properly display these locations in-depth.

10 Star Wars: Battlefront II

The Many Fronts of the Clone Wars and Galactic Civil War

Pandemic Studios' Star Wars: Battlefront II is well-regarded as one of the best Star Wars games ever made, and while it does recreate most of the battles seen in the original six films, it does so in a rather unique way by being primarily from the perspective of common soldiers.

In Battlefront II's campaign, players embody a Clone Trooper of the 501st Legion as they take part in numerous battles during the Clone Wars before taking part in Order 66 and later transitioning into an Imperial Stormtrooper before and during the Galactic Civil War.

While Clones and Stormtroopers have been featured in SW films, they've never been the focus of any movie and Disney likely wouldn't approve of a film solely following the career of Clones or Stromtroopers, given how violent and expensive it would be to recreate several alien planets and capital ships using physical sets or CGI.

9 Star Wars Outlaws

Exploring Star Wars' Criminal Underworld

Ubisoft's Star Wars Outlaws is the first proper open-world SW game, and as such, it was able to explore the criminal underworld of several famous and lesser-known SW planets in far more depth than the films ever could.

Here, players are able to explore the planets of Cantonica, Akiva, Kijimi, Tatooine, and Toshara as the aspiring young criminal Kay Vess as she strives to form dangerous but potentially rewarding relationships with the Pyke Syndicate, the Hutt Cartel, Crimson Dawn, and the Ashiga Clan.

Most of these planets have been featured in SW movies before but never to the degree shown in Outlaws, and it's likely they'll never be shown that way in a film ever again, unless a movie is made that only takes place on Cantonica, Akiva, Kijimi, Tatooine, or Toshara, allowing set designers to dedicate all of their time to fleshing out one world.

8 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Rampaging Through Rebel and Imperial Worlds

Compared to the level of destruction shown in Star Wars games, the way things are depicted being destroyed in SW films can be considered relatively reserved, especially when looking at Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

Using the Ronin game engine, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed allowed players to rampage through Kashyyyk, Raxus Prime, Felucia, Bespin, a TIE Fighter construction facility, and the Death Star as Starkiller who can practically throw and destroy every object, vehicle, and enemy in the game.

What makes The Force Unleashed's areas fun to explore in ways that films never could is how large they are and how they change throughout the story, such as Felucia going from a lush, colorful jungle world to one that's dying from Imperial industrialization and corruption from the dark side.

7 Star Wars: Bounty Hunter

Flying Through Crowded Alien Skylines

Mandalorians have been increasingly appearing in Star Wars films ever since Boba Fett made his theatrical debut in 1980, but they never show off their skills and abilities for long in the movies due to how difficult it is to recreate people flying with jetpacks, for one example.

This is why it would be especially difficult for filmmakers to recreate the exploration seen in Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, as, after a brief tutorial section, Jango Fett can fly around crowded city skylines and jungles seamlessly with his trusty jetpack.

In a way, Bounty Hunter is probably the most Blade Runner-like SW will ever be, as most of the game is set in crowded metropolises, with Jango Fett being able to hunt down and capture bounties on practically every being he encounters.

6 LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars

The Lesser-Known Battles of the Clone Wars

There are many events in the Star Wars universe that are often too complex or too niche to be recreated in theatrical films, and one game that allows fans to take part in these events in fun ways is LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars.

Based on the 3D animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars film and the first two seasons of The Clone Wars show, LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars has people play as Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, and other heroes and villains of the era in comical recreations of the show's arcs.

For instance, several levels of the game take place during the Second Battle of Geonosis, including Skywalker and Kenobi's encounter with the Geonosian Queen and zombie-like brain worms, while other levels follow the aforementioned trio during the Battle of Ryloth in space and on the ground.

5 Star Wars: Republic Commando

Star Wars at its Most Brutal

While most SW films are rated PG-13 these days, SW is still generally considered to be a rather PG franchise. But if players ever wanted to explore the more brutal side of the galaxy far, far away, they'd have to check out Star Wars: Republic Commando.

Set during the Clone Wars, Republic Commando has players embody the Clone Commando Boss as he leads Delta Squad in some of the war's most dangerous missions in the underground hives and droid factories of Geonosis, a Trandoshan hijacked republic Cruiser, and the invaded forests of Kashyyyk.

It's unlikely that a new SW film would ever explore the inner workings of a Republic Cruiser, let alone one that's filled with Clone Trooper corpses, or a Geonosian hive filled with eggs and rather gross Geonosian hatchlings, unless Disney and Lucasfilm ever greenlight an R-rated SW movie.

4 Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series

The Horrors of Mustafar

While Mustafar made its notable hell-like debut in Revenge of the Sith, the films have only scratched the surface of how rich and complex the lava and ash-covered planet truly is, with one game that delves deeper into Mustafar's history and world being Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series.

Here, players embody a smuggler who inadvertently gets captured by the Empire near Mustafar, only to be discovered to be Force-sensitive by Darth Vader, as the two race to locate the powerful Mustafarian artifact known as the Bright Star.

In Vader Immortal, players will be able to explore Vader's Castle, other Imperial Mustafarian facilities, and ancient Mustafarian ruins in far more detail than the movies ever have and likely ever will, as only a few rooms of Vader's Castle and a brief snippet of Mustafar's landscape have been shown in the Disney films.

3 Star Wars: The Old Republic

Ancient Alien Worlds

One of the most difficult SW eras to recreate in live-action movies is, without a doubt, the Old Republic era, due to how vast, complicated, and architecturally daunting the galaxy was at that time, at least in the Legends continuity, with many of the worlds thousands of years ago featuring their own unique metropolises, ruins, and starships.

However, if players wanted to explore this era of the galaxy, a perfect game to do so would be the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic, which allows players to journey to over 30 planets caught up in a massive war between the Galactic Republic and the resurgent Sith Empire.

While Lucasfilm's Dawn of the Jedi film may explore a similar time period thousands of years before the Skywalker Saga, it's unlikely that it would look anything like The Old Republic, especially given the architectural designs of early Jedi structures seen on Ahch-To and The Mandalorian's Tython.

2 Star Wars: Beyond Victory

Star Wars From a Mixed Reality Point of View

One way SW games allow people to explore parts of the galaxy in methods movies never could is simply by their gameplay presentation, as it's unlikely that a SW movie would ever be produced entirely in first-person, let alone from a mixed reality perspective, as seen in Star Wars: Beyond Victory - A Mixed Reality Playset.

Unlike Vader Immortal, which is played entirely from a traditional first-person virtual reality point of view, Star Wars: Beyond Victory utilizes both first-person and top-down third-person VR gameplay, with cutscenes and mechanic gameplay in Adventure Mode being in first person and podracing in Arcade Mode being in third-person.

While this kind of perspective is great for a VR game, it will likely never be used in a theatrical SW film, given how polarizing movies filmed entirely in first-person are, not to mention how polarizing podracing is to SW fans in general.

1 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Galactic Worlds in their Truest Forms

The best Star Wars game that lets people explore parts of the galaxy that the live-action movies never could is the greatest SW game of all time, the RPG Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.

Set roughly 4,000 years before The Phantom Menace and 300 years before Star Wars: The Old Republic, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic has players embody an amnesiac human during the Jedi Civil War as they travel to seven planets and several space stations to attempt to stop the evil Darth Malak.

Aside from KOTOR being set thousands of years in the past, it would be difficult to recreate KOTOR on film due to the wide variety of locations explored in the game, from the rundown, rakghoul-infested depths of Taris to the leviathan-filled oceans of Manaan.