While most Star Wars games get a lot of attention at release and will continue to be spoken about as time goes on, there was one that did not receive this treatment. Star Wars: The Old Republic, also known as SWTOR got better as time went on, but is seen as just an MMO. I’ve played this a lot, and it’s more like a single-player game with MMO features.

The Old Republic Was the KOTOR Sequel You Needed

While Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (KOTOR 2) tried to build on the ideas of the original Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR), it didn’t fully succeed because it was rushed out the door and made to a smaller scale. Star Wars: The Old Republic, on the other hand, delivers a great experience.

A big difference is that KOTOR 2 felt unfinished and had a confusing plot at times. On the other hand, SWTOR has a huge, carefully crafted story that stands next to BioWare’s best single-player RPGs. Sure, KOTOR is one of the most long-awaited remasters, but this is good while we wait.

One of SWTOR’s biggest strengths is how much it lets players shape their own experience. While KOTOR 2 had some choices, they often didn’t feel very impactful. However, SWTOR makes major moral decisions that change players’ personal stories.

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Each of the eight unique class stories, four for the Republic and four for the Empire, lets players follow different paths that are unique for a long period. This level of character development goes far beyond what KOTOR 2 offered, where the main character’s story felt less defined and personal.

SWTOR’s companions also add to this, playing big roles in the story and reacting to the player’s choices in real ways, forming real friendships or rivalries based on what the player does. This kind of companion interaction is much deeper than in KOTOR 2, where the companions were interesting but didn’t have as much influence on the overall story.

SWTOR captures the spirit of the original KOTOR while going even further with its themes. KOTOR had a clear split between the Jedi and Sith, but SWTOR digs into the more complicated sides of the Force. It does everything you hoped KOTOR 2 would have done.

This Doesn’t Have to Be an MMO Experience

Star Wars: The Old Republic is often labeled as a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. This type of game is usually known for requiring group play and repetitive grinding. While this is true, this idea misses a key part of SWTOR’s design.

SWTOR has an incredibly strong single-player experience. While the game does include popular MMO features like raids and player-versus-player combat, the heart of SWTOR is its engaging storytelling and vast amount of solo content that feels like a single-player game. This makes it an ideal choice for players who want a single-player RPG with a deep Star Wars story.

Each class has its own fully voiced, branching story that takes dozens of hours if you speedrun it. While some are simple side quests, they are still well-written adventures where player choices actually matter. It affects relationships with companions and can even decide how each storyline ends.

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These companions make it feel more single-player focused because they add even more depth to the solo experience. Each has personality, background, and romance options, which you normally don’t get in MMOs. Their approval levels change based on the player’s decisions, making these relationships feel dynamic and rewarding, much like in BioWare’s famous single-player RPGs.

SWTOR offers other solo activities beyond the main story and quests, such as crafting, gathering, decorating personal strongholds, and hunting for achievements. These provide long-term goals and extra ways to customize the experience without joining a group.

It’s Free to Play Today

Star Wars: The Old Republic provides a surprisingly generous free-to-play option. This lets players dive deep into the game’s detailed storylines without spending money. There is no paywall; it’s more like a temporary limitation. I would argue this is one game every Star Wars fan should play at least once.

So you basically play the storyline with no problem, but the speed boosts and faster vehicles are not unlocked when they should be. If you want a speeder, you have to wait 10 more levels. So the game is a little slower, but that’s fine.

Aside from the speed, one major limitation is the credit cap, which prevents free accounts from holding more than 1,000,000 credits in the game. This makes it harder to buy gear and other items from shops or the auction house, especially at higher levels, slowing down progress.

Free accounts also face gear restrictions. While they can get decent gear to complete the main stories and early content, higher-tier gear, especially purple “Artifact” gear, is much harder to obtain. Other limits include fewer space missions, chat restrictions, and lower rewards in PvP seasons.

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Even with these restrictions, it’s a great choice for new players and a worthwhile return for longtime fans who may be unsure about paying for an MMORPG. The free version offers much more content than many other MMORPGs, giving players hundreds of hours of gameplay before they ever need to consider a subscription.

The heart of the free experience is the story content. All eight original class stories are fully available, each with its own unique plot that spans multiple planets and offers dozens of hours of playtime.

Beyond the class stories, free players also get access to the first two expansions, Rise of the Hutt Cartel and Shadow of Revan, which add even more story content and conclude the storyline made in the original KOTOR.

I’ve played both the paid and free versions, and the main difference I noticed is that it takes a lot longer to travel between areas in the free version. Other than that, you can enjoy most of the game before you really feel any of the limitations, and they weren’t significant enough to make me want to stop playing.

The Future of SWTOR Is Pretty Uncertain

The recent move of development duties from BioWare to Broadsword Online Games has created uncertainty about the future of Star Wars: The Old Republic. While the game has had an impressively long run, lasting over ten years with regular updates, this transition makes me question how long it can keep going.

Broadsword has maintained other older MMORPGs like Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot, so they have experience keeping aging games alive. However, this could mean Broadsword will prioritize keeping the game running rather than adding new content.

Content droughts are a common problem in MMORPGs where updates dry up. Players have already been frustrated with how slowly major story expansions have been released recently, with long waits between big updates. It seems like this will continue to be the case.

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The move also happened because BioWare decided to focus more on single-player games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect, which suggests that fewer resources might be going to SWTOR, no matter which studio is in charge. SWTOR still has a respectable number of monthly players according to MMO-population, but that’s much smaller than the most popular MMORPGs.

This great Star Wars video game tends to get overlooked because it’s an MMO. If you’ve been looking for a great RPG experience that you haven’t tried yet, Star Wars: The Old Republic might be what you’ve been waiting for.