10 Best Star Wars Games To Play In 2026

Back in early 2019, whereas I used to be protecting the Star Wars Celebration conference in Chicago, Variety requested me to rank the 10 best Star Wars video games ever made. And, within the years since, I’ve sometimes discovered myself excited about how completely different that record would look if I wrote it right now. Especially whenever you think about issues like availability or compatibility with fashionable controllers, Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox and PlayStation, Windows 11, and so forth.

With new Star Wars video games like Zero Company, Galactic Racerand Fate of the Old Republic coming down the pipeline, there’s by no means a good time to write down a listing like this, however quite a bit has actually modified since I wrote that authentic Variety characteristic years in the past. Where that earlier article was about naming the all-time nice Star Wars video games all through historical past, that is extra me recommending superior video games you may obtain and revel in on present {hardware}, with minimal headache. So, of my private favorites, these are the highest 10 which might be straightforward to advocate proper now.

10. Star Wars: Battlefront (2004)

This one is offered in two actually nice packages: the 2024 Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collectionwhich you will get on just about any main platform, or as a part of GOG’s Good Old Game Preservation Program. (GOG curates a number of basic titles and ensures they run effectively on fashionable PCs, typically with a third-party configuration device or fan-favorite quality-of-life mod.) I wrote an op-ed about the older battlefrontyes for IGN a pair years again, when the Classic Collection launched, and I praised the primary one particularly for spotlighting the unsung heroes of the riot—the troopers within the trenches, whom we see within the movies however be taught little about. If you wish to play one thing that appears and feels a bit old-school, however presents loads of authenticity Star Wars thrills with areas like Endor, Hoth, and Tatooine, the unique battlefront It is a must-play.

9. LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga (2022)

Look, there are many nice Lego video games; I grew up taking part in lego island over at a buddy’s home within the nineties. But the latest lego star wars title is completely jam-packed with planets, automobiles, characters from each film and present, and epic sequences. While Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga was a implausible recreation that allow you to play by means of the primary six episodes in Lego type, I’m an enormous fan of the sequel trilogy, too, so I really like that The Skywalker Saga provides you full variations of The Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker. Some gamers aren’t thrilled that the newer video games characteristic voice-over, amongst different complaints, however the devs knocked this one out of the park. It’s certain to rekindle anybody’s love of the galaxy far, far-off.

8. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2008)

The Force Unleashed is available in just a few completely different kinds, relying on whether or not you are shopping for the Nintendo Switch port, the Xbox back-compat model, or the Ultimate Sith Edition on PC. But it is an excellent motion recreation from the 360 ​​period, starring Sam Witwer—Maul the Shadow Lord himself—and full of nice authentic characters from the Legends period, unforgettable set items, colourful worlds from each the prequels and the basic trilogy, and stellar storytelling. Like the animated collection Star Wars Rebelsthis recreation takes place within the years earlier than the Battle of Yavin, with the participant taking up the function of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, codenamed Starkiller (a reputation that is been handed round from George Lucas’s mid-’70s tough draft and on all the way down to the First Order’s short-lived superweapon). It’s a disgrace this trilogy by no means acquired completed, however I nonetheless love the primary recreation quite a bit, and the sequel’s undoubtedly acquired some memorable moments as effectively.

7. Star Wars Episode I: Racer (1999)

There are just a few nice Star Wars arcade video games nonetheless kicking round, however this one is my private favourite. you handle to trace down the arcade model in individual someplace or Whether merely play it in your platform of selection—it is on each console lately, plus GOG and Steam—that is probably the most enduring recreation from the Phantom Menace It was for good purpose. Its targeted gameplay loop nonetheless appears like a Nintendo 64 racing recreation, nevertheless it’s acquired a number of attraction, and having such a singular give attention to the movie’s podrace sequence allowed the builders to shine this factor to a critical shine. Pick your favourite racer from the movie, tackle programs from a wide range of numerous alien worlds, and turn out to be a legend of the game.

6. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Let’s cross our fingers that this one will get a contemporary port from Aspyr or Nightdive sooner fairly than later, as a result of it undoubtedly deserves one. Movie tie-ins was once the norm again within the day, though lately they’re fairly uncommon. They tended to be made on a decent turnaround, with formulaic design and mediocre manufacturing worth, and so they hardly ever stood the take a look at of time. Every every now and then, although, you’d get a gem like Treyarch’s Spider-Man 2 or the Collective’s Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. If you personal an Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S console, the good information is you could purchase and play this one proper now on the Xbox Backward Compatibility catalog. Otherwise, monitoring it down is likely to be just a little bit harder, nevertheless it’s really particular, with a few of the greatest lightsaber fight in any recreation, a memorable alternate “dark side” ending, and strong voice performing—together with James Arnold Taylor from The Clone Wars as Obi-Wan Kenobi. It will not be as extensively out there as a lot of the different choices on this record, nevertheless it’s shut and pricey to my coronary heart, and any Star Wars fan with an Xbox ought to give it a shot.

5. Star Wars: Squadrons (2020)

This one comes from the staff at EA Motive, who labored on the story marketing campaign for the 2017 Battlefront IIand there is nothing else fairly prefer it. It’s acquired the type of big-picture storytelling you count on from a extremely consequential Star Wars narrative, nevertheless it’s additionally a pure evolution of the basic Star Wars flight sims, like TIE Fighter and the remainder of the X-Wing collection. After the opening prologue, you play as two primary pilots: one for the Empire and one from the New Republic. And a number of the enjoyable right here comes from all of the other ways you get to make the expertise your individual, from adorning your cockpit with varied little knicknacks to honing your most well-liked loadout and making an attempt completely different starfighters. Like Episode I: Racerthis can be a recreation that gives one very polished expertise, fairly than aiming for mass-market enchantment. You can play it in VR, if that is your factor, nevertheless it would not really feel like a VR recreation, and I’ve by no means performed it that method. It’s a masterpiece.

4. Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011)

If you are searching for a multiplayer Jedi recreation you may simply spend tons of of hours into, this basic MMO is a superb choice for PC gamers who do not thoughts mouse-and-keyboard controls. Its varied expansions are organized neatly right into a chronological timeline, so you can begin all the best way again at the start of the bigger story or skip forward to the brand new stuff—whichever you favor. And each character class has its personal distinctive story marketing campaign, every of which is in regards to the size of a blockbuster online game. So for those who’re searching for one thing you may actually sink your tooth into, maybe with a pal, The Old Republic is a really huge journey by means of the Star Wars universe.

3. Star Wars Battlefront II (2017)

This recreation’s loot-box controversy gave all the business a brand new cautionary story, however the devs have been fast to patch that stuff out, and its multi-era story marketing campaign stays one in every of my private favorites. Members of the Empire’s particular Inferno Squad have run-ins with acquainted faces like Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo, Lando Calrissian. You get to expertise the autumn of the Empire, first at Endor after which Jakku, and finally witness the rise of the First Order after a major time leap. The Luke scenes are a few of the character’s greatest moments, frankly, and there is additionally an eye-opening Kylo Ren set piece that reveals the total depths of his mind-reading powers. But that is all earlier than you get to the multiplayer choices. You can staff up with a buddy to blast bots in an off-the-cuff arcade “Co-op” mode—or take the struggle to all the galaxy in on-line matchmaking. There’s Starfighter Assault, the place you may fly your favourite fighters and even a few of your favourite hero starships (just like the Millennium Falcon); There’s the full-scale Supremacy mode, the place you struggle on the bottom after which board enemy warships. And then there are novelty playlists like Heroes vs. Villains and Ewok Hunt, which allow you to play out smaller eventualities with all of your favourite “action figures,” so to talk.

2. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor (2023)

When I wrote that top-10 record for Variety in 2019, Jedi: Fallen Order had simply been unveiled with an early story trailer. Seven years later, I am unable to say Fallen Order is a favourite of mine—the heavy Soulslike really feel and the shortage of quick journey made it exhausting for me to revisit the best way I normally do with good Star Wars video games. But its 2023 sequel, Jedi: Survivorcould be the most effective Star Wars recreation ever made. It’s a testomony to the capabilities of all of the sensible artists, designers, and builders at Respawn Entertainment; it options excellent writing and performances; and it tells one of many nice Star Wars tales of the Disney period, on par with Rebels, The Last Jedi, Andorand the most effective of the latest books and comics. It’s nonetheless my 2023 recreation of the yr.

1. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II—The Sith Lords (2004)

I spent years of my life researching and writing a book all about BioWare’s authentic Knights of the Old Republichowever that additionally means there’s little or no left for me to find in that recreation: I’ve been there and accomplished that. Its PC model is fairly tough, too, missing help for contemporary show resolutions and simply typically not operating in addition to you’d count on for such an vital recreation.

Obsidian’s 2004 sequel, in the meantime, runs fantastically on fashionable PCs, with Steam Workshop integration to make modding a breeze, loads of help for widescreen and ultrawide screens, and all the varied quality-of-life upgrades that Obsidian baked into the unique design, constructing on BioWare’s basis whereas additionally bettering on it.

Not the entire writing right here has aged effectively, regardless of the hyperbole you run into on-line. But, the place the primary KotOR felt like a film, with the three movies of the unique Star Wars trilogy as a blueprint for its personal three-act construction, KotOR II performs extra like a novel or TV miniseries. It’s a quieter story, and it takes battle significantly as a darkish, troubling topic. If you solely play one older Star Wars recreation, make it this one.

Follow me on instagram, Twitchand YouTube.