New STAR WARS official timeline seems to formally confirm that the OLD REPUBLIC era is no longer canon

Disney has released a new timeline for the Star Wars universe, with a list of the material they regard as canon. The list seemingly confirms that the extremely popular "Old Republic Era," the only era from the pre-Disney period whose canonical status was still in some doubt, is definitely no longer canon.

The timeline divides the Star Wars timeline into six distinct eras:

• The High Republic (c. 400-200 Before the Battle of Yavin): a period extending from roughly 400 to 200 years before the events of The Phantom Menace, during which time the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order are at the height of their power. The era includes the High Republic line of comics and novels, and the forthcoming TV series The Acolyte.

• Fall of the Jedi (32-19 BBY): This period depicts the fall of the Old Republic and the Jedi Order over a period of more than a decade. This period includes the Prequel Trilogy (The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith) as well as the Clone Wars animated series.

• Reign of the Empire (19-5 BBY): This period depicts the Galactic Empire at the height of its power, with Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader in unquestioned command of the galaxy. This period includes the forthcoming animated series The Bad Batch, the film Solo: A Star Wars Story and the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi.

• Age of Rebellion (5 BBY-4 After Battle of Yavin): This period depicts the Galactic Civil War between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance, culminating in the Battle of Endor. The Original Trilogy (Star Wars, aka A New Hope; The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) takes place in this era, along with the spin-off film Rogue One, the live-action show Andor and the animated series Rebels.

• The New Republic (4 ABY-29 ABY): This period depicts the reorganisation of the Rebel Alliance into the New Republic and its attempts to bring peace and order to the galaxy. The Mandalorian and forthcoming spin-off shows The Book of Boba Fett, Rangers of the New Republic and presumably Ahsoka take place in this time period.

• Rise of the First Order (29-35 ABY): This period depicts the conflict between the First Order, a successor-state to the Empire, and the New Republic and, after the Republic's at least partial collapse following the Starkiller Incident, the Resistance. This period concludes with the Battle of Exegol. The Sequel Trilogy (The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker) take place in this era, along with the animated series Resistance.

The new timeline leaves off a number of projects whose time frames have not yet been confirmed, including the Lando TV series and and the Rogue Squadron film.

Notably missing from the timeline is the "Old Republic" era. This era ranges from 3956 BBY to 3630 BBY and depicts a vast, complex struggle between the Galactic Republic and various opponents, including several "Sith Empires," at a time when the Sith were numerous and not restricted by their later Rule of Two. The era was popularised by the popular video game Knights of the Old Republic (2003) and expanded by Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (2004) and multiplayer game The Old Republic (2011).

Technically, as these games predate the takeover of Lucasfilm by Disney, it was believed that they were non-canon and automatically relegated to "Legends" status. However, the situation became confused because The Old Republic has remained an ongoing concern in the Disney era and the Star Wars Story Group, the body charged with maintaining the new canon, has been vetting and approving Old Republic story material since 2012. With the events of both older games integral to The Old Republic and all three games referring to comic books set in the same time period, this left the possibility that the entire era would remain in canon, especially given its separation from the rest of the Star Wars universe by more than three and a half thousand years.

Adding to the confusion is the fact that Darth Revan, a major character from this era, was brought into canon by being referenced in official material accompanying the release of The Rise of Skywalker (he was also slated to appear as a vision in an episode of The Clone Wars, but this was cut at the last minute).

Of course, Disney may be simply hedging their bets by not featuring the Old Republic era on this timeline, but it does seem they are finally committing to the events of The Old Republic era not being canonical, which is an interesting choice for a game they are still charging money for (albeit not as much as they once did).

Intriguingly, there were rumours between a year and two years ago that Lucasfilm was considering both a new Knights of the Old Republic video game set in the era (possibly a ground-up reworking of the original game) and a film, with Laeta Kalogridis tapped to write. Nothing has come of those rumours since then.

KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC II gets a new update...ten years after release

Knights of the Old Republic II has, somewhat bizarrely, gotten a major Steam update today. Given that the game was originally released for Windows XP back in February 2005, this feels a bit late in the day. However, given the game's legendarily broken status on release, it is a bit of a special case.

The original Knights of the Old Republic, created by BioWare and released in 2003 for the original X-Box, is one of the greatest CRPGs ever made and one of the greatest instalments of Star Wars - in any medium - ever released. It's a character-focused adventure which channels the pulp sci-fi feel of the original Star Wars movie and nails it absolutely right. It's downright brilliant and you should certainly play it if you haven't already. It's also a bit of a prototype for BioWare's later Mass Effect games, although for my money Knights of the Old Republic is comfortably superior. It's been recently updated to run on modern PCs from GoG and is well worth a look.

Knights of the Old Republic II, developed by the then-newly-formed Obsidian Entertainment, is every bit the Empire Strikes Back to the original game. It's darker, more brooding, more morally dubious and has a bit of a massive downer ending (although not a cliffhanger). It presents a far more cynical view of the Star Wars universe, one of shades of grey where the very simplistic notion of a "Light" and "Dark" side of the Force seems laughable. It's far more conceptually original and interesting than the original game. It should have been even better, but for LucasArts rushing the game out before it was ready, in a buggy and not-entirely-complete state.

A couple of post-release patches did help correct the more general and grievous technical problems the game was suffering from, but the missing content could not be fixed without a massive update which LucasArts were curiously unwilling to let Obsidian undertake.

Fortunately, Obsidian were canny enough to include some of the assets and code for the missing content on the actual game CD, allowing modders to extract them and start looking at ways of filling in the gaps themselves. And after a decade they've done what is by all accounts a bang-up job, via the Restored Content Mod. This completes a couple of incomplete storylines in the original game, puts some more closure in the ending (previously a rushed voiceover explained the fate of many of the characters) and, most critically, adds an entire new location to the game: a droid production facility which comes complete with attendant quests and characters and much focus on the beloved, homicidal assassin droid HK-47.

The new update officially incorporates the Restored Content Mod and also adds native controller support as well as blasting the resolution up to 5K for absolutely no good reason other than they can. It's great to see this older, underrated game being updated and brought to a new audience as a result.

GoG's journey to the awesome side is (nearly) complete

GoG.com has released an additional six Star Wars games to its library. X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, X-Wing Alliance, Galactic Battlegrounds, Dark Forces, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords and Battlefront II are the new additions.

A non-optimum situation.

All are worthwhile purchases. Battlefront II is a multiplayer-focused shoot 'em up, with somewhat dated visuals but still fun gameplay. Knights of the Old Republic II is the far more conceptually interesting (but also far more broken) sequel to one of the greatest RPGs ever made. Incomplete on release, mods have repaired a lot of the damage and allowed the game to flourish. Dark Forces is Doom with a Star Wars skin, but still awesome. Galactic Battlegrounds is Age of Empires II with a Star Wars skin, but still pretty good.

The two X-Wing games are probably going to be the key draw here. X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter is multiplayer-focused and the multiplayer is a bit flaky on the GoG version of the game at the moment. However, the single-player Balance of Power campaign is included and is very worthwhile. More impressive is X-Wing Alliance, the final game in the series. Released in 1999, the game is the most epic in the series and the largest, featuring a lengthy campaign culminating in the full-scale assault on the second Death Star at the Battle of Endor. It's the most visually impressive of the four games (and also the easiest to update to modern standards through mods), although hardcore fans will argue only the second-best, behind the more morally ambiguous TIE Fighter.

Apparently more Star Wars games are still to come, likely to comprise some or all of the remaining Dark Forces series (Jedi Knight, Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy), possibly the well-regarded Republic Commando or the more acquired taste of Supremacy (aka Rebellion). We may also get to see the flawed-but-ambitious Force Commander, with Rebel Assault also an outside possibility. Beyond that we are likely to see some more serious scraping of the barrel. It's also possible we will see some of the newer games, like the Empire at War strategy title or the two Force Unleashed titles.

It looks like between these old games, the release of Battlefront III later this year and of course the arrival of Episode VII: The Force Awakens in December, it's a good time to be a Star Wars fan.

Chris Avellone on RPG design, PROJECT ETERNITY and too many great games to count

At the Rezzed gaming conference this weekened, Obsidian developer Chris Avellone did a presentation on CRPG design. You can check it out here.

Avellone has a CV that is interesting. At Black Isle back in the day he was the project lead on Fallout 2 and Planescape: Torment (probably the greatest Western CRPG of all time) as well as working on Icewind Dale and its sequel. At Obsidian he was the lead designer on Knights of the Old Republic II, Fallout: New Vegas - Old World Blues and Alpha Protocol. He also worked on Neverwinter Nights II and its expansion Mask of the Betrayer as well as the main game of Fallout: New Vegas. He has also been hired out to inXile to assist on the upcoming Wasteland 2 and Torment: Tides of Numenera. Avellone is a noted proponent of player choice and including more complex thematic, and philosophical elements than is normally found in games, not to mention more complex characterisation.

Some of those things are discussed in the interview, along with progress on Project: Eternity, some interesting info on how they made Planescape: Torment and Fallout: New Vegas, and on the merits of Kickstarter as a business model. He also namechecks Brandon Sanderson and Patrick Rothfuss in a discussion of magic systems, though he doesn't mentioned Obsidian's planned Wheel of Time CRPG (which is still on hold until Red Eagle raise the funding for it).

WHEEL OF TIME game not dead at Obsidian, KotOR 3 a possibility

I missed this when it went up over a month ago, but Kotaku have published a thorough interview with the founder and CEO of Obsidian Entertainment, Feargus Urquhart. The interview is extremely informative and revealing.

First up is the surprising news that the Wheel of Time RPG is not entirely dead. Previously Obsidian had signed a deal with Red Eagle to make a game based on the setting, but then all news on the project dried up. The article reveals that, despite no forwards movement on the project for almost three years, the game is actually still viable, provided that Red Eagle finds a publisher and provides funding. I'm not holding my breath on this realistically ever happening, but it's good to know that Obsidian are still ready to go with the project if it does ever become a reality.

Secondly, Urquhart talks about the success of their Project Eternity Kickstarter appeal, and how it has opened other doors. He reveals that he has been talking to companies like Ubisoft, Bethesda and LucasArts about future projects. Based on comments elsewhere in the article and some things that have happened since, it sounds like Obsidian have - very tentatively - been talking about doing a Might and Magic game with Ubisoft (although that possibly might have been related to Ubisoft picking up the South Park RPG Stick of Truth, which has indeed just happened); to Bethesda about a potential Fallout: New Vegas 2 (or even an Elder Scrolls game); and to LucasArts about a Knights of the Old Republic III for next gen consoles and PC. None of these things are 'go' projects or particularly likely to happen, but they're all potentially mouthwatering prospects.

Finally, Urquhart talks at length about their highest-profile failures, particularly the incomplete Knights of the Old Republic II and the furore surrounding Alpha Protocol. What is particularly intriguing is the fact that Alpha Protocol has been selling very well over a long period of time, enough that Obsidian have hopes of being able to revisit the idea of a sequel with Sega a couple of years down the line (although given the summary cancellation of Obsidian's Aliens RPG - also mentioned in the interview - that may be more wishful thinking than anything else).

Overall, a very interesting look at what might just be my favourite game developers around at the moment.

Wertzone Classics: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords

It is a time of great turmoil in the Galaxy. A decade ago, two powerful Jedi warriors, Revan and Malak, rejected the decision of the Jedi High Council that the Order would remain neutral in the war between the Mandalorians and the Republic. Siding with the Republic, Revan, Malak and their followers eventually defeated the Mandalorians in a bloody battle at Malachor V, leaving that world shattered and millions dead. After that battle Revan and Malak turned to the Dark Side of the Force, forging a new Sith Empire. Revan was usurped by Malak, who in turn was defeated by the forces of the Republic in an epic battle above a remote planet called Rakata Prime.


The death of Malak did not end the chaos in the Galaxy. New Sith lords have arisen and Sith assassins have continued to strike, targeting the few Jedi who had survived the Mandalorian conflict and the Jedi Civil War that came after. The Jedi Order disbanded, its few surviving members disappearing, leaving the war-ravaged Republic vulnerable.

Unexpectedly, one of the Jedi warriors who followed Revan into battle at Malachor has resurfaced, stripped of her connection to the Force. Rescued from certain death by a ship called the Ebon Hawk and taken to a hospital facility on Peragus, this warrior now has to find out what has happened, who tried to kill her and why she can no longer use the Force. To this end she accumulates a band of allies, learns the fate of the other Jedi and is brought to a new understanding of the Force by a very enigmatic mentor...

Knights of the Old Republic II is to its predecessor what The Empire Strikes Back is to A New Hope: the grittier, more brooding and more philosophical sequel with a dark, ambiguous conclusion. However, it doesn't match Empire's primary achievement - of being a sequel superior to the original - for various reasons.

Knights of the Old Republic II's biggest problem is the incredible vagueness of the story at the start of the game. KotOR I put you in a big city with lots of options and quests to do right off the bat and plenty of characters and politics to interact with. KotOR II instead has you exploring a space station pressing buttons for what feels like ages (it's actually about an hour and a half of fairly tedious running around) and you're not really given a reason for doing so. Your character is also curiously unwilling to ask questions of the strange old woman, Kreia, who has appeared out of nowhere to mentor you. It's about halfway through the game before you can even ask if she's a Jedi, which is the question I wanted to ask about two minutes after meeting her.

Once the oddball opening sequence is dispensed with, you find yourself on Citadel Station orbiting Telos, and the more familiar playing style of the first game kicks in. From here you have lots of quests and sub-quests to pursue, different factions to ally with or play off against one another and several characters you can recruit to your party. The relationship between your character and Kreia also develops impressively, as Kreia has adopted a philosophical relationship with the Force which is fairly unusual and complex, going beyond the simplistic Light Side = Good, Dark Side = Bad notions of George Lucas and some of the less thoughtful other Star Wars writers. This gives rise to some fascinating conversations and some excellent dialogue. The game's main designer, Chris Avellone, was also the creator of possibly the greatest computer roleplaying game ever made, Planescape: Torment, and KotOR II covers some of the same ground as that earlier game. Avellone has a good claim to being the best writer of dialogue for computer RPGs around at the moment, and examples of that can be found throughout KotOR II.

It's an interesting approach and KotOR II does have a unique atmosphere and feel to it. Lightsabres and the Force aside, its dark story about challenging moral simplicity and questioning identity feels like it's come from some other universe altogether. This is also possibly the game's key weakness: Empire Strikes Back may have been an altogether more sophisticated take on Star Wars than the first movie but it still retained the core humour and warmth of the character relationships and still 'felt' like Star Wars. Matt Stover's novel Traitor, often heralded as another successful 'dark' take on Star Wars, also succeeds in retaining that core identity despite going to places George Lucas would be very uncomfortable with. KotOR II often fails to uphold that identity, and its coldness and lack of humour sometimes makes it hard going, especially compared to the manner in which KotOR I nailed those elements so successfully.

A major success of KotOR II is how it handles your party. In the first game it was possible to simply keep picking the first two NPCs you meet at the start of the game and take them through the whole game, missing out on the storylines of the other members of party. Whilst it is broadly possible to do this in the sequel, there are several quests which take place simultaneously, so you have to pick a second party from your character pool and have them doing stuff at the same time as your 'star party' is on a mission, which is an interesting and refreshing approach that gets as much of the plot as possible on screen and really gets into the characters across in a more interesting manner.

Unfortunately, this is slightly problematic as the NPCs in the second game are not quite as interesting as those in the first. They are fairly low-key in personality and the fact that they are a depressed and brooding bunch who have often committed horrible crimes makes empathising with them hard. The writing is excellent and eventually these characters' motivations are made clear, but they lack the vital personalities of characters such as Zaalbar, Mission and Bastila from the first game (although there is a brilliant inversion of the 'cute' Zaalbar/Mission, tough Wookie/smartass sidekick dynamic from the first game).

"If you seek to aid everyone that suffers in the galaxy, you will only weaken yourself… and weaken them. It is the internal struggles, when fought and won on their own, that yield the strongest rewards. You stole that struggle from them, cheapened it. If you care for others, then dispense with pity and sacrifice and recognize the value in letting them fight their own battles. And when they triumph, they will be even stronger for the victory."
- The Dark Lords of the Sith, apprently followers of Ayn Rand

Nevertheless, the game's story unfolds in a consistently intriguing manner, with enough mystery and plot development to drag you through its bumps. The game skirts against true masterpiece status a few times towards the end of the game through an impressively-executed plot twist (although not on the level of the central twist in the first game), but then things start falling apart again towards the end of the game. This time the problems have a far more straightforward explanation: LucasArts wanted the game released for Christmas 2004 no matter what, and denied Obsidian Entertainment the extra time needed to finish the game off properly. The result is that the game is incomplete. The designers managed to do enough to tie off the primary storyline at least, so that tracks coherently, but several quests are simply not solvable and most of your NPC allies' individual character arcs are left hanging in mid-air, with a cheesy dialogue exchange at the end of the game explaining the fates of the other characters. Two characters are left in a life-or-death situation that is simply never resolved, and another character's solo quest is not implemented in the game at all. This means the end of the game is extremely abrupt with many loose ends left dangling. Obsidian made a heroic effort to solve some of these problems through post-release patches, but LucasArts denied them the funding to actually finish the game through a content expansion.

As a result, what could have been (despite its slow opening) a five-star game and another classic is left wounded and broken. It's actually a tribute to the team at Obsidian that the game remains playable and compelling despite this significant problem. A mod team have been working for some time on restoring and completing the abandoned content (made possible thanks to Obsidian cheekily putting all the half-finished stuff on the game CD-ROMs for this specific purpose) which could immensely improve the game, but no release date has been set for this so far, and since it is now five years after release it is arguable if there is much point to it any more.

Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (****) is a fascinating, compelling and altogether different take on Star Wars. It is intelligent, philosophical and refreshingly well-written for a computer game, although it doesn't skimp on the action and combat sequences either. However, a dull opening sequence and the incomplete content does leave the game feeling distinctly unfulfilling, especially compared to its near-flawlessly-executed forebear. The game is available now on the PC** (UK, USA) and X-Box (UK, USA) and a sequel, The Old Republic, is currently in development by BioWare.

* Although you can determine your character's gender, race and abilities, Lucasfilm has decreed that for canon purposes the main character in Knights of the Old Republic was male and your character in Knights of the Old Republic II was female.

** I would very, very strongly advise that those planning to purchase the game on PC download the two post-release patches, which are necessary to stabilise the game and eliminate its numerous bugs (once this is done the game is actually much smoother and easier to play on modern PCs than KotOR I) and also download the movie and music patches, which replace the horrible low-res movies and music from the original release. There's also an additional patch to run the game under Windows Vista as well.