What's Next After ‘KOTOR’ Remake? ‘KOTOR 2’ Remake Or Sequel?
In the grand list of best Star Wars video games of all time, there is one game that seems to top the list every time: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR). Released in 2003, the game and characters were so popular with fans that Disney actually made Darth Revan canon even after wiping out the vast majority of the rest of the extended universe. The characters, gameplay and storyline have stood the test of time. With the success of the first one, it was only natural that a second game would follow, and in 2004, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (KOTOR 2) was released to largely positive reviews, though not quite as high as the first.
In 2018, a fan remake was stomped out by the suits at Lucasfilm. Its creators had spent three years on codes and materials that would have updated the game with state-of-the-art graphics, new missions, and even new worlds. There is always the risk of fan content like that being shut down, but throwing away three years of work on a passion project for one of the most beloved video games of all time stings quite a bit. A more ideal situation would have been for Lucasfilm to take over the project or sort of meet them halfway on it. Destroying three years of work is cruel. Everybody loves the game, and they could have released an improved version while doing almost none of the work!
Or something like that. It would have been neat.
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Well, as it turns out, we just needed to wait a few more years for something official to come along. In 2021 a version was released for the Nintendo Switch, and, more importantly, a full update to the game was announced for PlayStation 5 and PC at launch with later releases to Xbox One and Switch to come at a later date. Unfortunately for now, it appears that we will not be playing the game until 2024 at the earliest with a 2025 release date being more likely.
While the game is a long way away (didn't have to be if they had just used what had been made by fans, but that is neither here nor there), we can speculate on what will come next. It is logical to assume that KOTOR 2 will also be getting a remake because the first one did. However, we also have the added intrigue of whether we will finally be getting a finished KOTOR 2 game.
KOTOR 2 was not actually finished when it was first released. Its development was rushed to meet a Christmas release, and as such, large portions of the game were not included in the final product. This included interactions, character fates, and even entire missions, among other things. Today, we can play a portion of what was lost on Steam thanks to the help of the Restored Content Mod, but even that does not encompass everything that was supposed to be in the game. This is blatantly obvious at times, most notably the droid planet mission. It is where you were going to find Master Vash alive and well as opposed to seeing her body in the Sith Academy. It is very clearly unfinished, and is easily the worst mission in both KOTOR games.
If the first game gets updated, it stands to reason that the market is there to finally get a finished version of KOTOR 2 as it was always meant to be played. The Restored Content Mod is great, but it is just a tantalizing glimpse on exactly what could have been. If we had gotten the full game, it might have been as good if not better than the original.
There is an even bigger disappointment than the fractured KOTOR 2, which is the fact that KOTOR 3 was canceled. At least we got to play the second game, and what we got was fantastic for the most part. KOTOR 3 is just an example of what might have been. With the success of the first two, a trilogy would have been a perfect way to cap off the games, and it could be seen as one of the greatest video game trilogies of all time alongside The Witcher, Mass Effect, and Half Li--
Uh... maybe not that last one.
In any case, we do have an indication of what the third game could have been. In an interview with VG24/7, former Obsidian developer Chris Avellone said:
"The third game involved you, as a player character, following where Revan went and then taking the battle to the really ancient Sith lords who are far more terrifying than the Darths that show up. These guys would just be monsters. These would have a level of power that was considerable, but at the same time you’d be able to dig more into their psychologies, and their personalities, their history, and even how they dealt with the player, how they talk with the player, the different powers they cultivated and developed, and for some of them like—they’re the ancients, so they’re not just ruling a solar system, [but] swathes of the galaxy."
That. Sounds. Awesome. But we did not get to see it because of problems with the developers.
Now that we are seeing an update to the first game, albeit one we will not see for quite a while, the door is wide open to make the KOTOR trilogy what it was always meant to be. Polish the first one. Finish the second one. Make the third one. Give us a series of perfect Star Wars games. The question will be, of course, which one should come first, the finished second one or the created third one? I think that finishing the second one would be the better first option. It would hit the nostalgia for a pretty good game, thereby getting everybody more pumped for the third one, and giving us plenty of time to replay the first two games.
For that matter, the success of the first two would be the only faint hope of getting the third game. Game developers love money, and if the remakes of the first two made lots and lots of it, then talks might open back up for the long-awaited third KOTOR game.
All things considered, though, we have to wait and see how the KOTOR remake does before any further plans are made. Although, heck, in a perfect world, we would get a KOTOR trilogy with the Mass Effect mechanic where your choices carried over into the next game. That would rock! Just dreaming, though.