Star Wars: KOTOR II’s decade-late official Steam update

After almost 10 years, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II has received an official update on Steam.

Fans and players of the classic Star Wars game who have already installed the software will notice that the dusty old game has received a 175 MB patch in their download tabs. While it would seem strange that the game would get an official patch so late in its life cycle (is it the afterlife cycle at this point?) the patch is more than welcome. 

The patch – which allows for Linux and Mac installation – also includes 6 major changes to the game, and a few surprises:

• 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
• Oh… and we added a “Force Speed Effects” option in the menu 😉

While this update is seemingly out of the blue, it is completely well-received. The changes have not only improved the game beyond the limitations of the original release, but have also resurrected an almost dead Star Wars community from the grave. Many players have jokingly said that the TSLRCM mod needs to be installed for the game to be “playable”, while others are begging for Bioware to do the same for the original KOTOR.

While I would be hesitant to say that the game is “unplayable” without the restored content mod, I will agree that the game is much better while it is installed. If given the choice to have over 1000 lines of removed dialogue, options, and so forth from a game all about your decisions was presented to you – free of charge – what would you do? Steam Workshop support only makes improving the classic title all the easier.

For those who have never played KOTOR II (or the original KOTOR) and interested to learn more about it you can find my Rewind Review on the first game here. I would dedicate my time to a second review on The Sith Lords, but it is honestly more of the same with a new story, new characters, and updated visuals. Trust me, “more of the same” when it comes to Knights of the Old Republic is never a bad thing. In fact, it’s when you don’t do “more of the same” with KOTOR that you get bad results… *cough* Star Wars: The Old Republic *cough*.

Why do you think this update is dropping now? Will this update be enough to bring you back to this classic? Leave your answers and opinions in the comments below!