The Most Ambitious Star Wars Games Ever Made

Star Wars is one of the most beloved and iconic franchises in modern pop culture, and it has remained as such for multiple decades. Across the years, several fantastic games have been developed, expanding on the canon established in the movies. While some of these are no longer considered canon, (thanks to Disney purchasing Star Wars from George Lucas in 2012), they did take massive risks with the Star Wars franchise at the time they were released.

The vast and varied world of Star Wars has always been constructed upon certain pillars that everything else is built around. Elements like the Force, the Skywalker bloodline, and the perpetual struggle between the Jedi and Sith are essential to any great Star Wars story. However, even these precious elements have not always been safe in some of the franchise's video game adaptations; whether that means Darth Vader having a secret apprentice, or Anakin winning the battle of Mustafar.

10 Star Wars: Battlefront II

Telling a Star Wars Story From the Empire's Perspective

Star Wars Battlefront II has had a fascinating life cycle. Almost ten years since its release, most Star Wars fans now view this game with great fondness, citing the authenticity that DICE brought to massive battles taking place in iconic locations from across the franchise. That wasn’t always the case though. When Battlefront II first launched, its online component was littered with loot boxes and excessive grinding. However, the one component at launch that was worthwhile was the campaign.

The narrative placed players in the shoes of an Imperial commander called Iden Versio. For years up to this point, the vast majority of Star Wars stories told things from the “hero’s” perspective. Battlefront II chose to flip that and tell a story from the Empire’s perspective. While Iden Versio does eventually defect to the other side, seeing the Empire from the inside post Return of the Jedi was fascinating and allowed us to see the mentality of the “bad guys” following their greatest loss.

9 Star Wars: Squadrons/Episode I: Racer

No Lightsabers Here

It isn’t always the narrative element that brings the risk when developing a Star Wars game. Sometimes the risk lies in the gameplay loop the developers choose to focus on. Star Wars: Squadrons centered entirely on first-person space combat, placing players into the role of a pilot for either the Galactic Empire or the New Republic.

Rather than trying to cast a wide net, it committed to one specific facet of Star Wars. The same thing applies to Star Wars Episode I: Racer, which focused entirely on podracing, which was a relatively minor part of The Phantom Menace movie.

8 Star Wars: Bounty Hunter

Expanding on the Legacy of a Morally Grey Protagonist

After witnessing his underwhelming end at the hands of Mace Windu in Attack of the Clones, it is easy to wonder why Jango Fett was chosen by Count Dooku as the genetic template for the Clone Army. Star Wars: Bounty Hunter answered that question by showing off his capability in the heat of battle and depicting the reputation which that prowess earned him among the criminal underworld as one of the most feared mercenaries in the galaxy.

Choosing to create a game based on a morally grey figure and expand on his character was a bold move by the developers and, sadly, Star Wars Bounty Hunter is a game that simply would not exist in the modern gaming landscape.

7 Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Dew It!

Order 66 is one of the most brutal and ruthless events ever depicted in Star Wars. Choosing to depict a genocide against the Jedi in a video game is inherently risky, but Respawn Entertainment did not shy away from showing the trauma that Order 66 caused within the minds of the fractured handful of Jedi who survived the planned attack.

We have seen Order 66 portrayed before, but Jedi: Fallen Order chooses to take a different approach by shifting the focus away from the genocide itself and instead examining what took place immediately after. Rather than portraying Jedi as powerful defenders of the galaxy, this game presents them as scattered survivors stripped of their former authority and forced into hiding.

6 Star Wars: Dark Forces

Giving Andor a Run For His Money

Rogue One famously depicts the Rebel Alliance carrying out a plot to obtain the Death Star plans, leading directly into the events of A New Hope. Long before Gareth Edwards brought that story into Disney’s Star Wars canon, Star Wars: Dark Forces was the definitive onscreen version of the Rebels’ acquisition of the Death Star plans.

Kyle Katarn was a former Imperial officer who assisted the Rebels in getting one up on the Empire’s plans and went on to become an icon within the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Depicting the catalyst event that directly led to everything we saw in the original trilogy was a risky move; thankfully, it was one that paid off, with Dark Forces cementing itself as a significant piece of Star Wars lore in video game form.

5 Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy

It Was Said That You Would Destroy the Sith, Not Join Them

Jedi Academy lets players live out the fantasy of training as a Jedi under the legendary Luke Skywalker. On paper, it sounds like a pretty conventional story that sees Jaden Korr go from apprentice to Jedi Knight, but thankfully there is more depth to it than that.

If the player chooses, they can reject everything that Luke and the Jedi Order represent, instead embracing the Dark Side. If you choose to, you can abandon the Jedi path entirely and bring the game’s plot to an extremely different end.

4 Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

Ahead of Its Time

Shadows of the Empire is an often overlooked Star Wars game that attempts something truly ambitious. It is set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and follows Dash Rendar, a smuggler who ends up fighting against the criminal organization known as Black Sun, led by Prince Xizor.

Shadows of the Empire proved that Star Wars games can introduce original characters into the established Star Wars timeline, without it feeling forced, or taking anything away from the movies.

3 Star Wars: KOTOR II

Use the Force... Or Don't

Knights of the Old Republic is one of the most iconic Star Wars video games for a reason, but its sequel challenged the franchise's core ideas more aggressively than any Star Wars game that we had seen up to that point. KOTOR II questioned whether the Force was an unquestionably positive thing in the universe, or simply a cosmic power manipulating the destinies of the galaxy’s inhabitants.

It suggested that the Jedi and Sith are little more than willing participants in an endless cycle of conflict and encouraged players to question everything they thought they knew about Star Wars. Even in the years since KOTOR II’s release, few Star Wars titles have dared to examine the philosophical foundations of the franchise itself in the way this game did.

2 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

This Game Needs a Remake

The Force Unleashed took place between episodes 3 and 4 and told the story of Starkiller, who was Darth Vader's secret apprentice. The events of the game saw Starkiller play a crucial role in the formation of the Rebel Alliance, causing him to interact with major franchise characters like Bail Organa, Mon Mothma, and Emperor Palpatine.

Some hardcore fans actually took umbrage with The Force Unleashed when it first released, arguing that it took too many liberties with how the Force had been established in previous Star Wars canon. That backlash alone goes to show just how far the game was willing to go in order to tell a bombastic, memorable Star Wars story.

1 Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

The High Ground Won't Save You Now

The majority of movie tie-in games follow their source material pretty closely, usually only ever adding in some extra combat between story beats to keep players engaged. This is why Revenge of the Sith's alternate ending is so noteworthy. During the iconic final duel on Mustafar, players can play as Anakin and defeat Obi-Wan Kenobi. This leads to Anakin never suffering the injuries that canonically transform him into Darth Vader.

If that wasn’t diabolical enough, the alternate ending then sees Anakin return to Coruscant to report his victory to Palpatine, before swiftly killing the Emperor and taking his place. The fact that the game allowed players to rewrite one of the most important turning points in Star Wars canon is still utterly mind-blowing, as it completely alters the future of the saga.