Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords [Review]

Before the flood of games that I'm interested to play in the coming months, I've decided to play some older titles that were in my backlog since forever. I've started this with the first Knights of the Old Republic, then with Persona 2: Innocent Sin. Both of these have sequels, but KOTOR 1 didn't really end in a way that begged for it, as the story is pretty much done by the end of that first game.

And because of the finality of the previous entry, it was clear right ahead that the story of The Sith Lords was somewhat bound to have lots of exposition early on to address every little detail of the previous game progression and consequences. Conversations right away will ask the gender and actions of the previous game's protagonist in an experience that can be quite alienating for both new players and people that played the first game.

I played as the Exiled, someone that was expelled from the Jedi Order because of their choice to participate in the Mandalorian Wars against the will of the order. The aftermath of this war was really relevant on the previous game as well. Unlike many Jedi, though, the Exiled returned to have his trial, and faced his consequences diligently: a harsh exile and being severed from the force. I thought that this was an interesting way to give me a backstory that could easily be light or dark-side, nothing felt predetermined from the start.

Undeniably, the first stage of this game is a bit too much. Because KOTOR II: TSL tries to be both a sequel and an entry point, it juggles between tutorials, expositions, game defying choices and character introductions in a terribly paced and underwhelming introduction. Still, I didn't hate this beginning, but some hours in, I was already with a feeling that this game was going to be a bit on the shadows of its predecessor.

My two favorite character were introduced here, though: Atton Rand, someone that's shaky about sharing his past but seems eager to help and is charismatic to a fault, and Kreia, a mysterious and presumed dead Jedi that returned to life because of a eerie connection with the Exiled. Other characters also appear on this introduction as the supporting cast, like one of the villains and Carth Onasi from the previous game, now a republic general. Both of them are after the Exiled, touted to be the Last Jedi.

Famously enough, KOTOR 2: TSL wasn't complete at launch, and lots of content were cut from the final game. Unfinished files were found, though, and a fan effort started to restore this content to the game. I've played it with both the TSL Restored Content Mod 1.8.6 (TSLRCM) and the M4-78 Enhancement Project 1.5, the two biggest mods regarding this missing content.

Not much after these trials and tribulations, I was already at the Ebon Hawk, the same ship from the previous game, and also with some new party members – even if one of them is turned off: two droids from the previous game. Still, the mysterious connection I had with Kreia was enough for the story to continue. See, in KOTOR, it is possible to see the each party member alignment (light side, dark side) when the character enters the group. Atton was somewhat good, the droid T3-M4 was very good, but Kreia... Is very on the middle. A total equilibrium between light and dark side.

It is clear early on that the Exile is a very good and inspiring leader. My choices throughout the game influence the alignment of the other party members, but not Kreia, always on the middle. This was the most interesting character in the game by far, and made me imagine that The Sith Lords would have as much difficult and conflicting choices as the first game. In many ways, the world here on the sequel is even more black and white than the first game, unfortunately, with very clear good and bad people on every planet, and not much of a grey area, a third path. I was a bit disappointed because the game led me to believe that was going to be the case.

Although it was released, like, one year after its predecessor, KOTOR 2 indeed felt a bit more responsive to play, and it is prettier than the previous game as well – but definitely it isn't as complex, with several mechanics not being used and a lesser reliance on dialogues and more on combat, that is greatly improved here, with a better equipment and crafting. So I won some, lost some, and it makes sense giving the circumstances of release.

It is difficult to not circle back to the story, but as the game progress, I actually noticed that the party is too much available to the main character, and some party members were way more developed than others. While Kreia is making valid critiques and delivering interesting point of views for the Force and Star Wars as whole, almost every other character was one sided, maybe because of the mechanic of making them "aligned" with me. There weren't interesting side character quests like the previous game, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes when yet another party member from the previous game joins the group in the third act.

Every plot point culminates in one of the worst endings that I've ever seen in videogames, with an unbelievably simple final boss fight that ends the game as abruptly as it can. I think that for every good part of Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords there's a bad counterpart. It is a game with interesting concepts and a nice character here and there, but the rush to be released made this one a rather dull sequel, that couldn't really outshine what it came before, in my opinion.

Maybe what made the first game so incredible to me was how unpredictable and revolutionary the characters and choices were, with actually compelling villains that have a story to tell. Both of the main antagonists were terrible here, and while there's something to like on the ending story wise, it is rushed, dialogue heavy and so, so abrupt.

Eventually I started to notice that the better quests on each planet were from the TSLRCM, and that the best parts of this game were about the characters and events of the previous one. I left underwhelmed, but still happy to have played it – I just can't stop imagining what would this game be if Obsidian Entertainment also had the time and resources that Bioware had for the first game. What I played, though, is just a mediocre version of the greatness that came before.

6.5/10