Star Wars video games are alive and well in the Disney era, with LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga progressing, a sequel to Jedi: Fallen Order feeling very likely, and the unnamed Ubisoft Star Wars game coming along in the background. Even Lucasfilm Games has returned to serve as a brand overseeing all Star Wars and Indiana Jones games. It’s a good time to be a Star Wars gamer.
However, it feels like there’s a tonal hole in all the projects going on right now. There are plenty of Star Wars games where players can take control of a Jedi, but a game that focuses on the elusive Sith is nowhere to be found. Sure, Sith show up in droves for crossover games like Star Wars Battlefront and LEGO Star Wars, and Jedi: Fallen Order has more than its fair share of new Sith-like characters. It seems like Disney is uninterested in greenlighting a project that truly explores Star Wars from a Sith’s point of view, though.
Fear Leads to Anger
It seems Disney wants the Star Wars property to remain ideologically simple and open to anyone. Beneath its gaze, Star Wars should stay a simple, classical story of good vs. evil, with the sides clearly defined and the stakes high. This is seen to an overwhelming degree during the climax of The Last Jedi: the main villain is dead, a prejudiced Luke has been left behind, and Rey and Kylo Ren are finally able to discuss their plans for the future. Kylo proposes striking out on their own as a sort of neutral Force faction, using the remnants of The First Order to bring peace to the galaxy. In the moment, Kylo felt like a “good” Sith, the most moral the archetype could possibly be, still hoarding power while also pursuing an external goal and leaving their Sith status behind.
Unfortunately, this story hook was not to be. As Star Wars fans are no doubt aware, Rey violently declines this lifestyle, Kylo is humiliated again by an astral projection of Luke, and by the end of the next movie, he has joined Rey on the Light Side of the Force. Many felt that he couldn't, or at least shouldn't be redeemed, but they were instead left with the good prevails storytelling.
Disney has made its stance on the matter clear: Star Wars should have simple morals, and good, widely-appealing heroes. If even the unscrupulous figure of Mara Jade, a former Sith assassin and Luke’s wife in the non-canon Legends universe, cannot exist in modern Star Wars, what chance does a fully Sith protagonist have?
Sith Deal In Absolutes
There's likely a number of reasons for why Disney is shying away from a Sith video game, and a large part of it is how the Sith essentially worship evil ambition and the reckless pursuit of power. Disney, it seems, generally prefers to keep the Star Wars brand simple, and to serve that interest it focuses on the good guys of the Star Wars universe: the aforementioned Jedi. A Sith is, by nature, an extreme personality and probably an awful person. A true Sith game, not just one that allows players to dip into both the Light and Dark sides of the Force, would probably involve exercising one’s dark side powers and Sith weaponry on a lot of people, sometimes for no good reason.
That being said, a Sith game does not need to sport a story and gameplay formula similar to Grand Theft Auto, even if that would make for a swell time. A Sith point of view is ripe for the opportunity to examine the Jedi-Sith conflict from an outsider’s point of view, similarly to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2. While that game’s Sith path is tragically unfinished, the seeds of an atypical Star Wars work are still there. Characters frequently question the rationale of Force-user infighting, and the KOTOR Jedi are portrayed in a much less sympathetic light than a modern Star Wars fan are used to. A Sith title that re-opens those discussions would be fascinating, but isn’t likely.
Revenge of the Sith
Still, despite Disney’s unwillingness, there are still open paths towards a Sith video game. The next major era of Star Wars films is supposed to be set during the High Republic, an where the Jedi are at the height of their respective powers. This is an ideal setting to do just about anything a writer could want with the Sith, yet keep the story restrained due to the Jedi's prominence. Once again, the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games are a great source for inspiration here, as they delve into the social and political mechanics of the various force-using cultures, and let players follow the path of the Dark Side if they wish. A return to this would be great, but it isn’t the only avenue a Star Wars video game could use to depict a Sith protagonist.
Sure, a game showing Emperor Palpatine’s initial rise to power would be interesting, but everyone knows how that ends. Much more interesting would be Darth Maul’s long and complicated story, both before and after his defeat at Obi-Wan’s hands. While this has been chronicled in the various Disney-era expanded universe shows, fans would still jump at the chance to play as Maul. His tale is an unusual one, as he pulls out of the conflict between the Sith and the Jedi almost entirely.
Maul disowns the Sith, preferring to use his training to secure a foothold in the world of crime. He never quite lets go of his old rivalries, which prove to be his end in canon as it stands, but he accomplishes a lot in the meantime. Fulfilling the ambitions of a Sith on the sidelines of the Star Wars universe would be a satisfying experience for many fans, even if Disney may not approve.