HiGame

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is considered one of the best Star Wars game ever built. Its sequel, Knights Of the Old Republic II, on the other hand, suffered from a rushed release, cut content, and a crippling number of bugs. Obsidian released several patches for the game, but stopped development in 2005. Four years later, a team of modders released The Sith Lords Restored Content Mod, which added a number of missing areas and solved old bugs. Now, without any fanfare, Obsidian has developed its first patch for the game in a decade and released it on Steam.

The new patch contains the following features (quoted from Steam):
• 37 achievements to be earned through gameplay
• Steam Cloud saves
• Native widescreen resolution support
• Resolution support up to 4K and 5K
• Support for controllers, including Xbox 360, Xbox One, Playstation 3, and Playstation 4, along with several others (check the system requirements for details)
• Steam Workshop support! We proudly worked with the Restored Content Mod Team to have their famous TSLRCM up on launch day
This is a huge update for a once-popular game and, combined with immediate access to the Sith Lords Restored Content Mod, means that playing KOTOR II today can be a much richer experience than it was back in 2005. This mod adds the M478 “Droid Planet” missions and a number of other changes, major and minor. The goal of the TSLRCM was to restore cut content and reintegrate scenes, dialog, and quests that had previously been slashed. Right now, most of the content available in the Steam workshop is tied to his mod, though other projects may soon move over.



The restored Droid planet.

The game is currently on sale for $7.49, and this patch likely clears up a number of issues with the game’s resolution support. I recently replayed KOTOR and had significant problems with cut-scenes, to the point that I had to disable them altogether. Resolution settings and mouse issues were a common problem, and while KOTOR I is two years older than KOTOR II, the games used the same engine and likely had some of the same weaknesses.

If you never played KOTOR II, I’d highly recommend it, particularly with the TSLRCM available. The game’s planned storyline was as good or better than KOTOR’s originally — Obsidian was forced to build the game in a tiny window and simply wasn’t able to complete their vision of what the game should’ve been. With those assets restored, KOTOR II is generally thought to rank as high as the original, particularly if you enjoy a game that dabbles more in shades of gray than its predecessor. Just remember that this is still fundamentally a title from 2005 running on a vintage engine — even with content mods and texture packs, it’s never going to look like a modern game.

In unrelated-but-awesome Star Wars news, a fan project has created a Star Wars VR demo using Unreal Engine 4 and Oculus Rift support. The full trailer, , looks amazing.

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