Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast is a 2002 first and third-person shooter video game developed by Raven Software for Windows and Mac OS. Westlake Interactive ported the game to Mac OS X, while the Xbox and GameCube versions were ported by Vicarious Visions; most versions were published by Activision and LucasArts, with only the Mac OS version published by Aspyr. The game is a sequel to 1997's Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, and the third main installment in the Star Wars: Jedi Knight series. The single-player campaign, set in the fictional Star Wars expanded universe two years after the Mysteries of the Sith expansion for Dark Forces II, follows returning protagonist Kyle Katarn, a mercenary working for the New Republic and former Jedi who cut his connection to the Force. Katarn must return to his Jedi ways to stop a branch of the Imperial Remnant led by the Dark Jedi Desann from empowering their army with the Force.
Jedi Outcast was developed using a more powerful game engine, id Tech 3. The hack and slash combat introduced in Dark Forces II was heavily reworked, becoming the main focus of the gameplay instead of the shooter elements, which are prominent only during the first few missions of the game. Players may wield blasters, lightsabers, and Force powers to engage enemies, with the latter being recommended in later stages of the game, as numerous lightsaber-wielding enemies are introduced. Jedi Outcast also features a multiplayer mode that allows players to compete in several different game modes online or over a local area network.
Upon release, the game received universal acclaim from critics, with its story and lightsaber combat being the main praised elements. A sequel and the final installment in the Jedi Knight series, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, was released in 2003. In September 2009, the game was re-released onto Steam and Direct2Drive alongside the rest of the Jedi Knight series. A Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 port with no multiplayer mode was released in September 2019. In 2021, Jedi Outcast was made backwards compatible on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
Gameplay
Jedi Outcast allows the player to wield a variety of firearms from the Star Wars franchise, as well as lightsabers and Force powers. The player can choose whether to use first or third-person perspective for each weapon, including the lightsaber. Combat is standard for the shooter genre, offering players an array of energy and projectile weapons, plus a variety of explosives. Players have health and shield meters, each of which is replenished separately.
Jedi Outcast places a strong emphasis on lightsaber combat. As in the films, lightsabers can be used to deflect shots from blasters. The game offers three lightsaber styles; fast, medium and strong, with each style differing from the others in terms of the speed of attacks and damage dealt. There are also a number of combos, many of which are unique to the selected saber style.
Force powers (such as Push, Jump, and Lightning) are available in both single-player and multiplayer modes, but more powers can be used in the latter. The use of powers is restricted by a "Force Meter", which depletes with each use and gradually refills over time. The "level" of a Force power determines the strength of that power and the amount depleted from the Force meter during its use. The multiplayer mode divides players into Light Siders and Dark Siders, pitting each side against the other in team battles. Each side has access to both shared "Neutral" Force powers, which are mostly focused on increasing speed and athletic ability. There are also numerous powers unique to both Light and Dark sides. As in the previous games, Light Side powers are mainly focused around protection and healing, while Dark Side powers are openly aggressive. Unlike previous games, however, Kyle does not exclusively select Light or Dark powers in the single-player, instead receiving a selection of both.
Single-player The single-player campaign follows Kyle Katarn as he moves through the levels in a linear manner, meeting friendly and hostile non-player characters (NPCs). Friendly NPCs will occasionally assist the player in combat. In addition to combat, the campaign features a variety of puzzles.
When the game starts, Kyle has forsaken The Force after the events of the previous game, and as such, the player has no access to a lightsaber or any Force powers. However, after the first two missions, Kyle regains his Force abilities. As the game progresses the number of powers available, and their strength, increase. Progression of Force abilities is fixed, and cannot be customized. Having previously fallen to the Dark Side, Kyle has access to both Light Side powers (such as Force Heal and Jedi Mind Trick) and Dark Side powers (such as Force Lightning and Force Grip), along with neutral ones (such as Force Speed, Force Jump, Force Pull and Force Push).
Multiplayer
Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast offers a variety of multiplayer modes that differ slightly across platforms. On PC and Macintosh, multiplayer matches can be played over a local area network (LAN) or the Internet, allowing for larger, more dynamic battles. Console versions, however, limit multiplayer combat to two players.
In multiplayer, players can join community-hosted dedicated servers found via the in-game server list. These servers allow hosts to customize gameplay by adding mods, maps, and character models. Standard multiplayer modes, including "Free-for-All," "Team Deathmatch," and "Capture the Flag," can be played with other players, AI-controlled bots, or a combination of both. Server hosts can also create unique, custom game modes tailored to their preferred gameplay experiences.
Players can choose a playable avatar from nearly every character in the game, as well as certain characters from the Star Wars films not seen in the single-player mode. Players can also personalize their lightsaber color. Servers can also support custom-imported avatar models, lightsaber colors, and animations.
Before each match, the server specifies game rules, including the "Force ranking" system, which allocates points that players can assign to different Force powers, allowing them to build a character suited to their playstyle. Servers can also restrict matches to lightsabers only, removing traditional weapons for a more immersive Jedi combat experience.
Synopsis Setting and characters The single-player story is set in 12 ABY, eight years after the events of Return of the Jedi and around two years after Mysteries of the Sith. As with the previous installments in the series, the player controls Kyle Katarn (voiced by Jeff Bennett), a former Jedi who has cut his links with the Force after almost succumbing to the Dark Side. At the start of the game he is a mercenary working for the New Republic.
Over the course of the game, Kyle is joined by several characters that assist him in varying measures, including his mercenary partner and love interest Jan Ors (Vanessa Marshall); the sophisticated administrator of Cloud City, Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams); and Jedi Grandmaster and leader of the Jedi Academy on Yavin IV, Luke Skywalker (Bob Bergen). The player also receives help from other Jedi and New Republic soldiers, while Mon Mothma (Carolyn Seymour), Chief-of-State of the New Republic, assigns Kyle and Jan missions during the early stages of the game.
The story features four major antagonists and bosses: Desann (Mark Klastorin), a former student of the Jedi Academy, who turned to the Dark Side after killing a fellow student and leaving the Order; Tavion (Kath Soucie), Desann's apprentice; Galak Fyyar (Steve Blum), an admiral in the Imperial Remnant and Desann's second-in-command; and Reelo Baruk (Kevin Michael Richardson), a crime lord with ties to the Imperial Remnant who poses as a "respectable garbage collector" on Nar Shaddaa. Throughout the game, players fight different types of enemies, including mercenaries and Imperial stormtroopers. Halfway through the story, lightsaber-wielding enemies are introduced, namely the Reborn (thugs and soldiers who have been artificially infused with the Force), and Shadowtroopers (who sport lightsaber-resistant cortosis armor that also allows them to briefly turn invisible).
Plot As the game begins, Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors are investigating a supposedly abandoned Imperial outpost on Kejim, finding it to be crawling with Imperial forces. They fight their way through the base, discovering a research center studying crystals similar to those used to power lightsabers. Tracing the crystals' origin, Kyle and Jan travel to Artus Prime, a mining colony turned into an Imperial stronghold, where the miners have been enslaved and experimented upon. Katarn thwarts the Imperial operation, but Jan is captured by the Dark Jedi Desann and his apprentice Tavion. Kyle tries to rescue her, but he is easily defeated by Desann, who orders Tavion to kill Jan before they leave.
An enraged Kyle travels to the Valley of the Jedi (a place teeming with Force energy, featured in Dark Forces II) to regain his Force powers, and then on to the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 to reclaim his lightsaber, which he had left with Luke Skywalker. Luke reveals Desann's origins as a former Academy student to Kyle, and senses his anger through the Force, so he requests that Kyle complete a series of trials to prove he will not succumb to the Dark Side again. Kyle passes the tests and obtains his lightsaber. On Luke's suggestion, Kyle travels to Nar Shaddaa to seek out Reelo Baruk, a Rodian gangster who is rumored to be working with Desann. While searching for Reelo, Kyle runs into Lando Calrissian, who has been imprisoned in Reelo's dungeons. Lando reveals that Reelo is part of a cortosis smuggling operation in Cloud City, which has been taken over by the Empire and Reelo's men. After Kyle frees Lando, the pair make their escape in the latter's ship, the Lady Luck, killing Reelo when he tries to stop them.
On Bespin, Lando drops Kyle off at the bottom of Cloud City. While making his way up the city structure, Kyle has his first encounters with the Reborn, Desann's Force-wielding soldiers. After helping Lando's men reclaim control of the city, Kyle finds and defeats Tavion, who, fearing for her life, reveals that Jan is alive and onboard Imperial Admiral Galak Fyyar's Star Destroyer, the Doomgiver: Jan's death had been faked as a ploy to trick Kyle into going to the Valley of the Jedi, which allowed Desann to follow him there and tap the Valley's power. Kyle spares Tavion and takes her ship to infiltrate the Doomgiver, which is docked at the Cairn Installation, an Imperial base hidden on an asteroid in the Lenico Belt.
At the base, Kyle runs into Luke, who informs him that Desann has used the Valley's energy to empower an army of Reborn which could number in the thousands. After fighting several Reborn together, Kyle and Luke split up to find the Doomgiver: along the way, Kyle has his first encounter with an armored version of the Reborn called the Shadowtrooper, and discovers that the base is actually an assault ship construction facility, which is preparing for a full-scale planetary assault. As Kyle boards the Doomgiver, he sees Luke fighting Desann outside the ship, but can't intervene: the Star Destroyer jumps into hyperspace with Kyle and Desann aboard, leaving Luke behind. Kyle uses the ship's communications array to contact Rogue Squadron, and finds Jan in the detention block, who reveals that Desann was interrogating her for information about the Jedi Academy, which he is invading. After killing Fyyar and destroying the Doomgivers shield generator, which leaves the ship open for attack, Kyle escapes with Jan in a safe pod moments before Rogue Squadron destroy the Doomgiver.