10 Star Wars: Squadrons (2020)
The unlikeliest project to emerge from Electronic Arts’s decade-long oversight of the Star Wars video game franchise, Squadrons is a spiritual successor to the much-loved X-Wing series of space combat simulators. Squadrons offers a decent facsimile of X-Wing’s granular space battles, from its carefully crafted missions to its hallmark power-shunting mechanic, which lets you divert your ship’s power to different systems for a tactical advantage. What earns Squadrons a place on this list, however, is its VR functionality. Plugging a VR headset into this game transforms it from a glossy throwback into an essential experience, bringing Star Wars’ space dogfighting to life like nothing else. If you want to know just how massive a Star Destroyer is when you see it up close with your own eyes, this is the game to play.
9 Star Wars: Republic Commando (2005)
The best prequel-era Star Wars game (not that there’s much competition), Republic Commando puts you in the chrome-plated boots of one of the Republic’s clone soldiers, commanding a team of identical warriors as they battle across the galaxy. As a shooter, Republic Commando is a little creaky these days, but its value lies in its distinctive perspective and streamlined squad commands, letting players efficiently issue orders to their AI teammates. It also does an impressive job of building a sense of camaraderie between your squad, deployed to great effect in its tale of galactic-scale conflict.
8 Star Wars: Empire at War (2006)
Star Wars and strategy gaming might seem like natural bedfellows, but almost every attempt to make a Star Wars strategy game has resulted either in mediocrity or outright failure. Star Wars: Empire at War is the one shining exception. Released in 2006, Empire at War allowed players to command the armies of both the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire, seizing control of the galaxy planet-by-planet. Featuring space battles, planetary skirmishes and a simulated galaxy map, Empire at War was incredibly ambitious for its day, and has lost little of its lustre in the last 17 years.
7 Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (2007)
While the more recent Skywalker Saga has a bigger budget and a much broader scope, it loses some of the charm that made the original Lego Star Wars games such a surprising treat. First bundled together in 2007, these games retold the stories of the original and prequel trilogies, but with worlds and characters made of Lego blocks and its tongue firmly in its cheek. They couple this silliness with a light yet engaging mixture of platforming, combat, and puzzles, in levels that take the films’ most iconic scenes and stuffs them with secrets and collectibles. Also the best Star Wars game for kids.
6 Star Wars: Dark Forces (1995)
It’s a close call between Dark Forces and its sequel Jedi Knight for a spot on this list, but Kyle Katarn’s original adventure is just a little bit more accessible today. The game sees you blasting through imperial bases, mining complexes, and gangster-filled cities as you pursue the secret behind a mysterious new Imperial weapon, the formidable Dark Trooper. Like Jedi Knight, the game is hard to play on modern PCs due to lack of support, but a group of modders recently reverse-engineered the game’s engine and made it more compatible, helping reinvigorate this PC gaming classic.
5 Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011)
Perhaps the most comprehensive Star Wars game on this list, the Old Republic allows players to fulfil any number of Star Wars fantasies. Take on the role of a Jedi, a sith, a bounty hunter, a smuggler, and many more in a massively-multiplayer game built around flexible, cinematic narratives. Each available character class has their own specific quest, alongside a party of companions who accompany them on their adventure. The result is a game with hundreds of hours of Star Wars tales to explore, one that’s been consistently updated and supported by developer BioWare for over a decade.
4 Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (2023)
Respawn Entertainment’s Jedi: Fallen Order had the bones of a decent game, but ultimately proved a muddled experience. Jedi: Survivor fixes everything that was wrong about Fallen Order, and then some. Its combat lets you use a full array of force abilities from the start, and only becomes more involved from there, while Respawn’s love of movement is expressed through the game’s vastly improved platforming. The central act also features some of the best action set-pieces since Uncharted 4, wildly imaginative and colossal in scale. Other Star Wars games might fulfil more specific fantasies better, but as an all-encompassing action adventure, Jedi Survivor is a riot.
3 Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (2002)
Although technically a first-person shooter, Jedi Knight II’s strength lies in its groundbreaking lightsaber combat. The game combines acrobatic movement with a continuously active blade, meaning you can poke a hole in a stormtrooper’s helmet simply by walking up to them with the blade drawn. When you clash with the game’s “Reborn” sith warriors, it produces duels that remain spectacular 20 years on, but more importantly are endlessly replayable. Its sequel, Jedi Academy, adds a few more layers to this combat. But Outcast has the better story, charting lapsed Jedi Kyle Katarn’s return to the Force as he plots vengeance upon a sith warrior named Desann.
2 Star Wars: TIE Fighter (1994)
The sequel to 1993’s X-Wing pulls you out of the cockpit of the iconic rebel spaceship, and has you don the uniform of one of the many Imperial pilots who serve as ion-cannon fodder for the Empire. And it’s precisely this that makes TIE fighter such an enduring classic. Far from being a hero in TIE Fighter, your existence is barely worthy of the Empire’s notice. The game’s story is all about proving your value in a system that doesn’t especially care if you live or die, rising through the ranks as you embark on seven tours of duty. Across the game’s meticulously crafted missions, you’ll fight your fair share of rebel scum, but you’ll also battle space pirates, intervene in civil wars, and quash traitorous revolts. As a portrayal of a specific vocation within the Star Wars universe, no game has done it better.
1 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003)
BioWare’s landmark RPG tells not only the best video game Star Wars story, but one of the best stories to emerge from the entire franchise. Set millennia before the events of the original film, this sci-fi epic charts your character’s journey from Republic foot-soldier to powerful Jedi as they seek the fabled Star Forge, a superweapon in the hands of the sith lord Darth Malak. More than any other game on this list, Kotor is about the characters you journey with and the relationships you develop with them, from your stern yet devoted Jedi master Bastila Shan, to the murderous assassin droid HK-47. It also has the best twist in a Star Wars tale since Vader’s revelation at the end of Empire. A stone-cold masterpiece.
