Rank 2 – Star Wars: The Old Republic – Almost KotOR 3!
Release: December 20, 2011| Platforms: PC | Payment model: Buy2Play | Website of Star Wars: The Old Republic
What is SWTOR? Star Wars: The Old Republic from Bioware began as a gameplay not particularly original “World of Warcraft in space.” However, what distracts from the dull tab-targeting gameplay are the occasionally grand stories that the game tells.
Every little quest is fully voiced and staged coherently. Especially in the story and character missions, it became evident at launch that Bioware could still tell really good stories at the time.
Each of the eight heroes (four for each Empire and Old Republic) has a detailed story that you could follow throughout the always same main story.
No matter if as a grim bounty hunter (whom you could also play nice and honorable) or a noble Jedi (who could also fall to the dark side): SWTOR offered top-notch storytelling right from the base game, which you could and should play solo without any problems. Because other players actually disturb you more.
SWTOR – Focus on storytelling
This is the highlight of SWTOR: Numerous companions can be befriended, each having their own quests and tasks. Those who knew the legendary solo role-playing game Knights of the Old Republic (also by Bioware) would quickly feel right at home in the story missions.
The story of Star Wars: The Old Republic continued with each addon and update. The conflict shifted away from the battle between Empire and Republic towards common enemies. These include the greedy Hutts (Rise of the Hutt Cartel), the renegade Sith dreadlords (Oricon update), up to the epic “Shadow of Revan”, where the former KotOR character Revan himself causes trouble.
Star Wars: The Old Republic – More solo content, less MMO
This is how SWTOR has developed: With Shadow of Revan and the following updates, the foundation for the addons Knights of the Fallen Empire and Knights of the Eternal Throne was established.
These expansions ultimately made SWTOR a solo MMO, as the missions of the expansions could only be played alone and offered, in contrast to the rather dull gameplay challenge, a maximum of cool Bioware Star Wars storytelling. At times, players even complain when multiplayer content is added.
During this phase, Imperials and Republicans shared the same story, as both empires were overrun by a new enemy, the Zakuul Imperium, and the hero must fight against the tyrannical empire and build their own alliance after five years of captivity.
SWTOR – The Endless Story
This is how the story continues: The individual chapters of Fallen Empire and the subsequent expansion Knights of the Eternal Throne offer (mostly) high-quality stories that can now also be played in small groups again at a higher difficulty.
And even with the end of the current addon, the story of your hero is not over yet and will continue to be woven in regular updates. In February 2022, the big update ‘Legacy of the Sith’ was released, which continues the story of Darth Malgus.
The latest update is patch 7.6, which provided a long-awaited graphics update for various worlds and characters in December 2024. Currently, the developers are working on patch 7.7, which is expected to have more info in early May 2025.
Conclusion: Solo players with a penchant for epic stories and Star Wars fans should definitely check out SWTOR. The game is free2play, but to enjoy the advantages of the story expansions, you need to subscribe for at least a month for €12.99. However, after that, you can play all content without additional charges. You can now even play SWTOR via Steam.
