A few years before the events of KOTOR 2, the Mandalorians invaded the Republic in hopes of testing their strength. To understand KOTOR 2 you first have to understand the fictional history that informs the events of the game. It is Star Wars at its most philosophical, an attempt to carve some real-world meaning out of a world of laser swords and space muppets. It is messy, unfinished, and deeply ambitious.

The game, now approaching its 15th anniversary, is often considered the best Star Wars game released to date and Obsidian and BioWare’s best work. Star Wars Knight of The Old Republic II: The Sith Lords is a very good video game about Jedi and Sith and all the other very Star Wars things that there are. A stranger, fresh off her ship, draws a line of light across the beast’s chest and leaves its body in the sand. The violence in the air becomes manifest in torn metal and broken bone as a jaw snaps shut and the soldier watches paralyzed with fear. His job is to keep the peace at the ports, let visitors know the power of their visas, make sure no one leaves. He’s never been a political man, he lies to himself, all this talk of blockades and coups is above his pay grade. A nervous soldier watches from a distance, unconsciously fingering the trigger of his blaster. Men stand alongside those cages, some dreaming of a home outside the walls. In the walled city of Iziz the caged beasts howl songs about their own matted fur into air that tastes like violence.

Knighs of the force