Star Wars video games have been around nearly as long as the iconic Star Wars movies have, letting players journey to a galaxy far, far away for decades. Some have tried to recreate the movies, others have offered new stories set somewhere in the canon of the Skywalker Saga, and others still have carved out their own corners of the galaxy.
There’s certainly no shortage of games to choose from, but we’ve tapped into the Force and whittled down the list to what we consider the 10 best Star Wars games of all time now that Star Wars: Jedi Survivor has arrived.
These entries stretch across console generations, genres, and stories, but they’ve all captivated us in their own way.
Read this list, you should.
When you think of '90s first-person shooters, Doom and Quake are often the most recognizable ones, for obvious reasons. Yet Star Wars: Dark Forces is another first-person shooter among the best to come out during that decade.
While it lacked a multiplayer feature, Dark Forces more than made up for it with solid graphics for the time and superb level design that provided a good challenge throughout. It also introduced Star Wars fans to Kyle Katarn, a major character in Star Wars video games for years to come.
2005’s Star Wars: Battlefront II took the foundations of the first Battlefront—specifically the Battlefield-inspired multiplayer -and added an engaging single-player story mode on top of that solid bedrock. It’s something the budding franchise didn’t need, yet still pulled off surprisingly well.
Its story is told from the perspective of a clone trooper (voiced by Jango Fett himself, Temura Morrison) fighting in the Republic’s 501st Legion against Seperatist forces. Battlefront II’s matches have the same feature set as the first Battlefront, but with a few notable additions:
- Playable Heroes like Darth Vader and Prequel-era Obi-Wan, and Space Assault, arguably the best of the multiplayer modes.
- In Space Assault, two teams assault the opposing faction’s capital ship via starfighters until key systems are knocked out. It’s similar to Battlefield 2142’s Titan mode, but with Star Wars ships. And it’s a lot of fun.
Knights of the Old Republic 2 is in so many ways about Obsidian as much as it's about Star Wars. It's undeniably unfinished, with the final release being riddled with bugs. Still, it retains a hold over its fans, who have lovingly restored much of its cut content while addressing its flaws. Its story is what makes it worth it, featuring a darker take on BioWare's approach to KOTOR, its main character being the "Jedi Exile." Its twisting narrative is very much in keeping with the Obsidian tradition, and it's what still has fans talking about KOTOR 2 today. If you haven't played it, it's very much worth grabbing KOTOR 2 off Steam, installing the mods, and diving into one of the best Star Wars games ever.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is one of the best single-player Star Wars games to come out in recent memory. Set five years after the events of Revenge of the Sith, players control Padawan Cal Kestis, one of the last surviving Jedi following Order 66, as he traverses across the galaxy attempting to complete his training and rebuild the Jedi Order.
While the Soulsborne-esque combat can be challenging, it’s a rewarding system to master with the energetic and fast-paced lightsaber and Force combat.
There’s also clearly a Metroidvania influence at work, but it’s put to great effect in allowing you to explore a host of planets, unlock customization options for Cal, your lightsaber, and one of the sweetest droids around, BD-1.
Rogue Leader was a showcase for the Gamecube at release, and it’s easy to see why. More than its visuals, however, the second Rogue Squadron boasted one of the finest renditions of the famous Trench Run ever to be featured in a video game.
Compared to its more complicated cousin TIE Fighter, Rogue Leader is an unrepentant arcade game, pitting you against waves of TIEs in a variety of familiar Star Wars settings in a robust package that also included bonus ships and missions, allowing you to fly everything from the Millennium Falcon to the Naboo N-1 Fighter.
It's a complete Star Wars nerd experience, serving as both one of the best Star Wars games ever and one of the best GameCube games. We’d love a proper re-release now, thank you.
While Star Wars: Dark Forces introduced us to the scrappy antihero Kyle Katarn, and Jedi Knight saw him embrace the Force, Jedi Outcast is where Katarn really shined.
Jedi Outcast still gave you a plethora of weapons to wield and sprawling levels to explore that the series had come to be known for, but nothing quite compared to its lightsaber combat at the time, thanks to its inclusion of many Force-infused Sith determined to stop you on your quest.
Chaining together force powers with three different lightsabers stances made every single encounter feel intense - and nothing was quite as satisfying as seeing the slowed down 360 degree camera spin after cutting an opponent’s arm off.
Even facing off against regular stormtroopers never got old, thanks to the ability to freely force choke and fling enemy troopers off a cliff on a whim.
Come back Kyle Katarn, we miss you!
As the latest entry and a return to form for the LEGO Star Wars series, The Skywalker Saga should be (and in some ways is) the premiere Star Wars video game. It’s the only game where you can play as almost any character in the Star Wars universe and play through all nine of the mainline movies’ stories. In some instances, there are even slight changes to the story that can add context or bridge the gaps between episodes. The reinvented combat mechanics and addition of voice acting are jarring at first if you’re an old-school Lego Star Wars fan, but a welcome change to the formula that makes things feel fresh. And the updated graphics on next-gen hardware looks amazing, while keeping the lovely Lego art style and comedy. It's one of the best LEGO games you can play right now.
TIE Fighter is still the best game about the Empire ever made. The sequel to X-wing, it casts you as a TIE pilot who has to navigate Imperial intrigue while shooting down many, many X-wings, Y-wings, and Z-95 Headhunters.
Boasting a surprisingly strong story spanning much of the original trilogy, few flight simulators do a better job of mixing complex mechanics with accessible arcade gameplay as TIE Fighter does. More importantly, it gave us the TIE Defender -- the hot rod of the TIE lineup.
So many Star Wars games cast you in the role of the Empire only to cop out and let your character see the light. TIE Fighter embraces the Empire for the nefarious villains they are, and it's better for it.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor picks up where Fallen Order left off, reuniting players with one of Star Wars’ best protagonists in the modern era, Cal Kestis. As the old adage goes, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, Jedi: Survivor retains the same satisfying exploration and combat Fallen Order introduced, but with refinements to make these elements even better. It certainly is the best-playing Star Wars game in a long time, and the best way to experience true Jedi powers this side of the galaxy.
Furthermore, with the story and characters already established, Survivor is able to integrate Cal and his friends deeper into the larger Star Wars mythology. It really feels like a matter of time before we see Cal make the jump to a Star Wars show or movie.
And of course, no list of the best Star Wars games could be complete without mentioning Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Set thousands of years before the events of the movies, Knights of the Old Republic was something extraordinary as it provided fans of the franchise a completely different look at the Star Wars universe.
While other games on the list certainly added depth to the Star Wars lore, Knights of the Old Republic fully immerses you in this fictional universe with rich additions to what we knew of the galaxy at the time.
Nothing has quite delivered on the promise of being a Jedi traversing the galaxy going on an epic space adventure that is filled to the brim with memorable locations, quests, and interesting characters quite like KOTOR.
And that is why, nearly 20 years later, Knights of the Old Republic is remembered not only as a gold standard for the RPG genre, but also as a highpoint in Star Wars video games.
Agree with the picks on our list, or are some of your favorites missing? Well, you can share your own top Star Wars games lists with us via IGN Playlist, our brand new tool that allows you to keep track of your gaming library, create lists and even rank them, discover what some of your favorite creators are playing, and more. Head over to https://www.ign.com/playlist to find out more, and start creating your own lists to share with us.
Continue reading...
There’s certainly no shortage of games to choose from, but we’ve tapped into the Force and whittled down the list to what we consider the 10 best Star Wars games of all time now that Star Wars: Jedi Survivor has arrived.
These entries stretch across console generations, genres, and stories, but they’ve all captivated us in their own way.
Read this list, you should.
10. Star Wars Dark Forces (1995, MS-DOS, MAC)
When you think of '90s first-person shooters, Doom and Quake are often the most recognizable ones, for obvious reasons. Yet Star Wars: Dark Forces is another first-person shooter among the best to come out during that decade.
While it lacked a multiplayer feature, Dark Forces more than made up for it with solid graphics for the time and superb level design that provided a good challenge throughout. It also introduced Star Wars fans to Kyle Katarn, a major character in Star Wars video games for years to come.
9. Star Wars: Battlefront II (2005, PS2, Xbox, PC, PSP)
2005’s Star Wars: Battlefront II took the foundations of the first Battlefront—specifically the Battlefield-inspired multiplayer -and added an engaging single-player story mode on top of that solid bedrock. It’s something the budding franchise didn’t need, yet still pulled off surprisingly well.
Its story is told from the perspective of a clone trooper (voiced by Jango Fett himself, Temura Morrison) fighting in the Republic’s 501st Legion against Seperatist forces. Battlefront II’s matches have the same feature set as the first Battlefront, but with a few notable additions:
- Playable Heroes like Darth Vader and Prequel-era Obi-Wan, and Space Assault, arguably the best of the multiplayer modes.
- In Space Assault, two teams assault the opposing faction’s capital ship via starfighters until key systems are knocked out. It’s similar to Battlefield 2142’s Titan mode, but with Star Wars ships. And it’s a lot of fun.
8. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2 (2004, Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox, PS4)
Knights of the Old Republic 2 is in so many ways about Obsidian as much as it's about Star Wars. It's undeniably unfinished, with the final release being riddled with bugs. Still, it retains a hold over its fans, who have lovingly restored much of its cut content while addressing its flaws. Its story is what makes it worth it, featuring a darker take on BioWare's approach to KOTOR, its main character being the "Jedi Exile." Its twisting narrative is very much in keeping with the Obsidian tradition, and it's what still has fans talking about KOTOR 2 today. If you haven't played it, it's very much worth grabbing KOTOR 2 off Steam, installing the mods, and diving into one of the best Star Wars games ever.
7. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order (2019, PC, PS4, Xbox One)
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is one of the best single-player Star Wars games to come out in recent memory. Set five years after the events of Revenge of the Sith, players control Padawan Cal Kestis, one of the last surviving Jedi following Order 66, as he traverses across the galaxy attempting to complete his training and rebuild the Jedi Order.
While the Soulsborne-esque combat can be challenging, it’s a rewarding system to master with the energetic and fast-paced lightsaber and Force combat.
There’s also clearly a Metroidvania influence at work, but it’s put to great effect in allowing you to explore a host of planets, unlock customization options for Cal, your lightsaber, and one of the sweetest droids around, BD-1.
6. Star Wars Rogue Squadron 2: Rogue Leader (GameCube)
Rogue Leader was a showcase for the Gamecube at release, and it’s easy to see why. More than its visuals, however, the second Rogue Squadron boasted one of the finest renditions of the famous Trench Run ever to be featured in a video game.
Compared to its more complicated cousin TIE Fighter, Rogue Leader is an unrepentant arcade game, pitting you against waves of TIEs in a variety of familiar Star Wars settings in a robust package that also included bonus ships and missions, allowing you to fly everything from the Millennium Falcon to the Naboo N-1 Fighter.
It's a complete Star Wars nerd experience, serving as both one of the best Star Wars games ever and one of the best GameCube games. We’d love a proper re-release now, thank you.
5. Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast (2002, PC, OS X, GameCube, Xbox)
While Star Wars: Dark Forces introduced us to the scrappy antihero Kyle Katarn, and Jedi Knight saw him embrace the Force, Jedi Outcast is where Katarn really shined.
Jedi Outcast still gave you a plethora of weapons to wield and sprawling levels to explore that the series had come to be known for, but nothing quite compared to its lightsaber combat at the time, thanks to its inclusion of many Force-infused Sith determined to stop you on your quest.
Chaining together force powers with three different lightsabers stances made every single encounter feel intense - and nothing was quite as satisfying as seeing the slowed down 360 degree camera spin after cutting an opponent’s arm off.
Even facing off against regular stormtroopers never got old, thanks to the ability to freely force choke and fling enemy troopers off a cliff on a whim.
Come back Kyle Katarn, we miss you!
4. Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (2022, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch)
As the latest entry and a return to form for the LEGO Star Wars series, The Skywalker Saga should be (and in some ways is) the premiere Star Wars video game. It’s the only game where you can play as almost any character in the Star Wars universe and play through all nine of the mainline movies’ stories. In some instances, there are even slight changes to the story that can add context or bridge the gaps between episodes. The reinvented combat mechanics and addition of voice acting are jarring at first if you’re an old-school Lego Star Wars fan, but a welcome change to the formula that makes things feel fresh. And the updated graphics on next-gen hardware looks amazing, while keeping the lovely Lego art style and comedy. It's one of the best LEGO games you can play right now.
3. Star Wars: TIE Fighter (1994, Microsoft Windows, DOS, Macintosh, Classic Mac OS)
TIE Fighter is still the best game about the Empire ever made. The sequel to X-wing, it casts you as a TIE pilot who has to navigate Imperial intrigue while shooting down many, many X-wings, Y-wings, and Z-95 Headhunters.
Boasting a surprisingly strong story spanning much of the original trilogy, few flight simulators do a better job of mixing complex mechanics with accessible arcade gameplay as TIE Fighter does. More importantly, it gave us the TIE Defender -- the hot rod of the TIE lineup.
So many Star Wars games cast you in the role of the Empire only to cop out and let your character see the light. TIE Fighter embraces the Empire for the nefarious villains they are, and it's better for it.
2. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (2023, PC, Xbox, PlayStation)
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor picks up where Fallen Order left off, reuniting players with one of Star Wars’ best protagonists in the modern era, Cal Kestis. As the old adage goes, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, Jedi: Survivor retains the same satisfying exploration and combat Fallen Order introduced, but with refinements to make these elements even better. It certainly is the best-playing Star Wars game in a long time, and the best way to experience true Jedi powers this side of the galaxy.
Furthermore, with the story and characters already established, Survivor is able to integrate Cal and his friends deeper into the larger Star Wars mythology. It really feels like a matter of time before we see Cal make the jump to a Star Wars show or movie.
1. Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic (2003, Xbox, PC)
And of course, no list of the best Star Wars games could be complete without mentioning Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Set thousands of years before the events of the movies, Knights of the Old Republic was something extraordinary as it provided fans of the franchise a completely different look at the Star Wars universe.
While other games on the list certainly added depth to the Star Wars lore, Knights of the Old Republic fully immerses you in this fictional universe with rich additions to what we knew of the galaxy at the time.
Nothing has quite delivered on the promise of being a Jedi traversing the galaxy going on an epic space adventure that is filled to the brim with memorable locations, quests, and interesting characters quite like KOTOR.
And that is why, nearly 20 years later, Knights of the Old Republic is remembered not only as a gold standard for the RPG genre, but also as a highpoint in Star Wars video games.
Agree with the picks on our list, or are some of your favorites missing? Well, you can share your own top Star Wars games lists with us via IGN Playlist, our brand new tool that allows you to keep track of your gaming library, create lists and even rank them, discover what some of your favorite creators are playing, and more. Head over to https://www.ign.com/playlist to find out more, and start creating your own lists to share with us.
Continue reading...
