Update: A great game ruined by a broken promise.
Update June 5, 2023: When we first published this review on June 8th, 2022, publisher Aspyr announced that Knights of the Old Republic 2 would be followed by a free DLC called “Sith Lord Restoration Content” months after its launch. Announced that an update will be added. About a year later, Aspyr announced that there would be no further DLC updates for him. Knights of the Old Republic 2 is still a great game, but the hopeful language used in the initial review was one of optimism that this could be the definitive official release with restored content. bottom. Without the free DLC, this means that one company announced an exciting bonus for his Switch release and then didn’t say anything about it for a year afterward, shamefully continuing to say that it wouldn’t happen. It’s a far inferior package if you don’t take the facts into account. As such, I’m lowering his score in the original review for broken promises that affect the perception and quality of this release as a whole. His 8/10 review originally posted on June 8, 2022 is still below. Just know that the DLC packs mentioned throughout were a marketing ploy that the publisher never delivered.
Knights of the Old Republic 2 is the famous Star Wars RPG, incredibly deep and fun, but barely held together by the toothpick and duct tape equivalent of development. Legend has it that original developer Obsidian Entertainment took him just over a year to make a sprawling sequel to Bioware’s Knights of the Old Republic. The fact that this game, subtitled Lord of the Sith, is good despite its rushed development says a lot about the strength of the concept and the skill of the people who made it. Knights of the Old Republic 2 is streamlined enough to make the adventure a little more approachable, and is an excellent follow-up to his one of my personal favorite Star Wars games.
This doesn’t take into account the potential silver bullet for this 2022 Switch release. Due to the hasty development, much was left on the editing room floor, and fans over the years re-added this content by modding the game on PC. For the first time in an official release, Sith Lord restoration content will be added to his Switch version as free DLC post-launch. It’s unclear exactly what will be included, but the publisher’s Aspyr says it will include “new crew dialogue and interactions, bonus missions starring HK-47, and a newly revamped ending.” says deaf. It was a rushed development, so the cut content stands out. For example, regarding the revamped ending referenced, in the original release most of the party disappears once the endgame is reached. This content solves it if you like fan mods.
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That makes this Switch release an odd prospect from day one. Mechanically, Sith Lords is a strong game. The visuals are a little dated, but the D&D-inspired gameplay, well-crafted story, and unique take on Star Wars are fun. If you’re not familiar with the world of Baldur’s Gates, it can be difficult to grasp, but a good tutorial and flexible difficulty levels make it easy to learn the tricks of the tabletop-heavy system. A large part of the game is technically fighting enemies in turn-based combat while exploring ships and planets, looking for loot, quests, and puzzle solutions. Strictly speaking, combat takes place in real time, but hits and misses are determined by behind-the-scenes dice rolls rather than precise aiming. In a way, it can be seen as a predecessor to modern titles like Xenoblade Chronicles, but much simpler and with less real-time elements.
The ever-expanding party is made up of a diverse cast of villains, droids, bounty hunters and more, all of whom are common in the Star Wars universe. The Custom Protagonist is an exiled Jedi who has lost his memory and continues his adventure to avoid being taken prisoner by a titular Sith Lord while searching for the last few Jedi Masters to restore his connection to the Force. While indirectly following the first game, the story is set thousands of years before the film and is strong enough to drive the adventure forward, with well-written characters, events, Plot intrigue abounds and takes the player along. If I had to compare the 2nd game to his 1st, I think the 1st would still be more shocking and memorable, but the Sith Lord is more even and consistent.
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The light side and dark side pulls in character placement are grayer than they were in the first Knights of the Old Republic. To perform optimally, it’s best to choose one side and stick to it, but it’s not a broad, overarching right-or-wrong decision, it’s how you treat yourself in a conversation. is important. Are you cruel and cynical? Start strangling fools with the power of the dark side. Will you kindly accept me? Then a warm hug on the light side. Harnessing these powers in combat can be really fun, especially as your weapon grows.
The main mix of exploration and combat is nicely blended, but the various mini-games that pop up were perfect for me. It’s refreshing, but it’s always been a chore to fire a solid turret to fend off enemies. The swoop race is cute but unsophisticated. Card games are fun but temporary. It also didn’t help that the most common game-breaking bug I’ve encountered occurred during the turret sequence. I was stuck in an infinite loop between these segments, but thankfully I was able to get out of the loop after loading the last autosave. I didn’t run into too many nasty bugs along the way, but due to rushed development, the original version of the game has a lot of bugs, big and small. We won’t know until the Restored Content DLC is released how much has been fixed.
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Even before the release of the free Restored Content DLC, Knights of the Old Republic 2 is still a great game despite its missing content and technical issues. I look forward to revisiting the game to see what has been added, tweaked, and fixed when the DLC is added. If that add-on works, the Switch version will likely be the definitive version of this 2004 Xbox classic. Until then, this is a good way to play a good game, but there are some caveats. I hope these caveats are a thing of the past, but time will tell.