Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II or Kotor 2 for Short is a Star Wars RPG, Its a Sequel to Kotor 1 and was released in 2004 for Xbox Original and 2005 for PC, Set 5 years after the Events of Kotor 1 you play as The Exile, a Broken Jedi who soon Discovers they may be the only Jedi remaining in the Whole Galaxy, The Jedi Order is disbanded and all Jedi have been killed by The Sith as The Republic is trying to rebuild The Galaxy and not fall to Pieces, Most Planets have lots of Poverty, Crime is rampent and there is a Depressive or unhappy vibe in The Galaxy. You have to decide how your path will go, You can fall to the Dark Side, Pave a way to the Light, Help suffering people, Rebuild the Order and more, Your Choices will effect The Galaxy.

Gameplay is quite identical to Kotor 1 in which Combat is real time, you can pause it and order your team to do particular attacks, Throw grenades, Use force powers, Heal themselves or an ally and more. However you do have more Variety in Powers and Feats you can choose for yourself and your Companions, you can also change a Companions Combat Style, you can limit them to Ranged combat, Aggressive combat or Grenadier, you can unlock Jedi/Sith Styles as well for Jedi/Sith Companions. There are a lot of New weapons, armours, shields and more. I like how you can get items referencing the events in kotor 1 or characters from it, Such as the Onasi Blaster.

Graphics are the same as Kotor 1 as well with almost no differences, they aren't amazing but aren't terrible, also there is more model variety as well so you will see less Duplicated models, Textures are practically the same.

Just like Kotor 1 you eventually get your own Ship called The Ebon Hawk and you use it to Travel to different planets to progress The Story, get new gear, Recruit new companions and more, There are 4 new planets you can Travel to; They are Dxun/Onderon, Nar Shaddaa, Telo's and Malachor V, Dantooine and Korriban return and are quite different than they were in Kotor 1, there is good variety and you could easily spend more than 4 hours on each planet if you do every side quest and explore.

Music is just as good as Kotor 1's and in my opinion is even better, The Soundtrack does have the occasional Mediocre or "Meh" song but the majority of it is Fantastic, The Main Menu Theme, Ebon Hawk theme and Atris Theme are some of my Favourites, each piece of the Soundtrack also sounds perfect for the places they play in, Korriban has a Creepy unsettling soundtrack, Dantooine has a Depressive soundtrack etc, it is well worth playing this game with Music on, do not turn it off!

The Companions in this game are all very memorable well written characters, unlike in Kotor 1 your actions and words you choose to say can negatively or positively effect your Influence with them, your alignment can also do this as well, this forces you to pay attention and think before doing actions so you don't upset a Companion you like and want to know more about, one thing i like is that if you are smart and manipulative enough as a Dark Character you can twist their alignment and they will fall to the Dark Side just like you. Each Companion is well voice acted and are interesting to speak to and learn more about, i don't want to spoil anything as you really should play this game for yourself and find out their backstory, beliefs, opinions and personality for yourselves. I will say this however; Kreia is easily one of the greatest written companions and hell Characters in any game ever. Also Companion A.I won't get stuck as much or stand still then run to random locations like they did in Kotor 1.

Alignment Meter returns as well which adjusts depending on your Actions and Dialogue choices, The Choices you make really feel like you have made an Impact, An Example of this is on Nar Shaddaa there is a Man who is falling into Debt and is hopelessly looking for his Wife who is a Refugee, you can help him, ignore him or even outright say you will murder him in his own room "Yeah? well you just picked the Wrong Room to Die in." Ontop of this you can Never tell his wife that his Husband is alive and where he is, Reunite them or even get her killed by The Guards by lying that you killed them! Kotor 1 had some Dark Choices for sure but this Game has some of the Darkest in any RPG game. Giving you a lot more freedom on making The Exile a Jedi, A Sith, or somewhere Inbetween.

Easily the best thing about this game is The Story, it is just so well written and engaging that you will be hooked from the start, You will want to know more about why Your Character was Exiled from the Jedi Order, what happened to The Jedi, More about The Sith Hunting you and their Terrifying Masters, More about Revan's disappearance and so much more. There is a lot of jaw dropping unexpected moments in the Story. You truly need to do 3 Playthroughs, 1 as a Pure Evil Character, 1 as a Pure Good Character and 1 with The Restored Content mod, which i will now speak about.

Sadly as this game was rushed Obsidian had to cut corners and the result was still an amazing game however Kotor 2 without the Restored Content Patch is buggy, has several voice line glitches, model glitches and has several events and cutscenes missing, bugged or rushed. Even without the Patch the game is still freaking amazing, however i do recommend your 3rd or even your 1st playthrough you should have The Patch, it is in the Steam Workshop, Nexus Mods, Moddb and has always been the most popular mod on any site. I've played through this game so many times on the Xbox Original and also more on the PC with the Patch, The Replay value is fantastic with this game.

My Only real Criticism is that with The Patch or Not the game was never truly Finished as a Kotor 3 was not made (I mean i guess if you want SWTOR can be Kotor 3???) and this is a real shame, hopefully one day we get a Kotor 3 and its not a Rushed Early Access Lootbox infested piece of ♥♥♥♥♥.

If you also did not like The Combat from Kotor 1 you may be less than pleased that it isn't changed as much in Kotor 2, but as it was pretty fine in Kotor 1 and only had positive tweaks and additions with styles, more force powers etc its not that bad.

The Feel of this game is also not as Positive, Many people are suffering, There is general unrest and The Republic is really Struggling, your choices can effect if The Galaxy can recover or if it Suffers and collapses, While its True Malak was Defeated, did The Republic truly win in the End? This game has a lot of Dark and Unsettling moments and they are all fantastic, i love it.

With an Incredible Story, Fantastic Writing and a huge difference in Tone compared to Kotor 1, Kotor 2 is an incredible Sequel and is easily one of the best Star Wars games ever made, Restored Content Patch or Not, the game is fantastic. If you are a Star Wars fan or Fan of Kotor 1 you should 100% pick this up even if its not on Sale, even RPG Fans will enjoy this game. This is considered by Some such as Myself to be even better than Kotor 1, Kotor 1 is an awesome RPG Star Wars game no doubt about it, However Kotor 2 is a Superior Sequel, slap some headphones and get immersed into the Galaxy, 4000 years before the Phantom Menace, a Galaxy that is Recovering from 2 terrible wars. Choose your Path and Save or Cripple The Galaxy, As Jedi or a Sith.

Pure Pazaak - Atton Rand.