We admit it – this one hasn’t just taken us by surprise, but literally had us on the edge of our seats, being the huge Star Wars geeks we are. The Fate of the Old Republic trailer is short, sweet, and doesn’t convey much in terms of actual gameplay – but it’s already doing more lore-heavy lifting than some full seasons of TV in recent times.
When we first heard about the announcement, we were sure this was going to be an update for the long-lost Knights of the Old Republic remake, but getting a whole new game, marketed as the spiritual successor to said RPG? We never would’ve thought, and the internet is pretty much up in arms – and speculation – about the new trailer (you can watch that just below).
Who could the force user in the pale robes be? What was the stormy planet all about? And of course, the final shot…was that the ship we all think it is? So let’s break down what we know, what’s in the trailer, and where Fate of the Old Republic might slot in next to KOTOR 1 and 2.
First Things First – When Does Fate of the Old Republic Take Place?
This question is hotly debated on the Reddit at this very moment, but there’s actually a pretty clear anchor for it: Lucasfilm describes the game as set “at the end of the Old Republic” and calls it an all-new story with new characters. It’s a single-player, narrative-driven action RPG where you play a Force user in a galaxy “on the edge of rebirth.” Interesting!
That pretty much rules out the return of most of our favorite characters like Revan, Bastila, and even most characters from KOTOR II, but we shouldn’t look at it this way anyway. Lucasfilm has explicitly said that this game is not a direct sequel or continuation of KOTOR, which, in our books. This means that writers aren’t locked into any specific ending for Revan or the Exile, so no need to tweak the canon – we hope.
The phrasing “end of the Old Republic” gives the writers a lot of wiggle room, where it could mean either that it’s set directly after KOTOR 2, or a moment closer to the decline of the Old Republic as an era within the Star Wars universe, which also sounds pretty exciting.
Either way, the trailer leads us to believe that the spiritual successor comment was meant seriously, and it felt more like archeology time at the end of an age everyone forgot, rather than fresh off the Ebon Hawk. But – and there is a but – what about the ship at the end of the trailer?
Is That The Leviathan In The Fate of the Old Republic Trailer?
Let’s talk about the big tease in the moody trailer: the crashed spacecraft.
The last shot before the trio enters said ship shows an ancient warship rammed into the landscape, half-buried and torn open, lightning flickering around it. If you’re a die-hard KOTOR fan like we are, you’d recognize this ship immediately, and other fans were pretty quick to point out that its silhouette matches the Interdictor-class cruiser design used for the Leviathan in KOTOR 1 – Darth Malak’s infamous flagship.
Several outlets and fan breakdowns have already flat-out called it the Leviathan, rather than another ship in the same class. Officially, Lucasfilm only labels the image as an “ancient starship in the storm,” which is as non-committal as we’re used to from early Lucasfilm announcements. It could very well be the Leviathan itself, but we never saw it crash or get destroyed in the game itself, even with its Admiral, Saul Karath, being defeated.
If it is truly the Leviathan, that immediately tells you a few things about the timeline. In KOTOR 1, the ship is very much intact; we escape it, but we never see it destroyed on screen. Parking its wreck in the Fate of the Old Republic would imply that at least years, probably decades, have passed since Revan and Malak’s war. Long enough for the ship to fall, be reclaimed by nature, and turn into the kind of mythic ruin your player character would naturally explore – but it didn’t look that old to us, truly – we’d still happily be wrong about that.
Our guess is that it’s another ship of the same class, used as a visual nod to emphasize that this game will be set in the era of the Old Republic. Even if it’s just a sister ship, the message is the same: this is a galaxy literally walking among the bones of the KOTOR era. Those wars are over. The hardware is wrecked. Your character is stepping into the aftermath. By the Sith, does it feel like we’re excited at all?
The Fate of The Old Republic Is A Spiritual Successor To KOTOR and KOTOR 2
We’d love to pretend otherwise, but the spiritual successor label of Fate of the Old Republic isn’t just mere marketing and PR babble. In the StarWars.com interview, we’ve seen it first hand – they lean on that doctrine, and hard. Casey Hudson (yes, he’s back!) talks about wanting a “contemporary vision of a definitive Star Wars experience”, built on player agency, cinematic storytelling, and meaningful choices – especially the latter will be something KOTOR fans love to hear.
Both Hudson and Lucasfilm’s Douglas Riley make the same point here: this is a story with all-new characters, a new story, and decidedly not a direct continuation of KOTOR’s plot. That in turn could be a blessing in disguise, since it gives the story room to give nods to Revan and Malak’s conflict, the Exile and the Mandalorian wars as history and legend – not something to actively draw from. This could create some mystique, but we’re still a little cautious.
They could effectively still reuse factions, ship designs, and the obligatory political tensions of the Old Republic, without being tangled up in the continuity from the MMO or the older two games, let’s say. As well as being able to reimagine a lot of the things we saw in the three games we’ve got in this era so far, the rebuilding of the classic light vs. dark side choice structure might be a bit easier now, since it doesn’t have to precisely line up cleanly with old saves from 20 years ago. Hear that, Mass Effect? That’s how it’s done.
In practice, that probably means you’re more like Ezra Bridger than Luke Skywalker here, a new Force user getting pulled into the mess of a much older conflict. This sounds fantastic, if it is so, because you’re effectively uncovering secrets and getting answers to questions the galaxy has half-forgotten already. This is part of the reason why Han Solo not believing in the Force or the Jedi in A New Hope was so cool, and we hope Fate of the Old Republic can tap into that same mysterious vibe.
What Does The Trailer Hint About The Story and Tone of The Fate Of The Old Republic?
Sadly – but expectedly, given the early days of development – actual gameplay was nowhere to be seen, so we’re pretty much reading tea leaves at this point. What we can comment on is the mood of the trailer, and some minor details we’ve picked up with our laser brains. What did we actually see in the trailer?
- A small crew (or at least, more than one person) leaving their ship on a rain-soaked, hostile world.
- A central figure in pale, almost High-Republic-looking robes, walking into danger with quiet determination.
- The reveal shot of that wrecked warship, dwarfed by storm clouds and cliffs.
- A close-up of our protagonist igniting a lightsaber, framed less like an action beat and more like a character moment. The left side is drenched in blue, while the right side of her face is left in darkness – we’ve seen this kind of shadowplay before.
For us, the vibe feels less like a power fantasy like the Force Unleashed, and more like an archeological road trip with high stakes, so the mood fits that classic KOTOR video of walking onto a new planet, getting tangled in the politics, and finding something ancient and most likely terrifying beneath it – we’re definitely here for it!
Combine that with the official promise of heart-pounding combat and a choice-driven journey with light/dark side choices, our safest bet is a story-first, third-person action RPG in the spirit of KOTOR – but with an overhauled combat system that most likely won’t be turn-based. Imagine deeper dialogue and decisions than say Fallen Order, but more immediate combat than the old KOTOR games – that sounds delicious, if you ask us. Just please, please – do not pull a Veilguard on us. We don’t think our hearts could take it.
Where Does Fate Of The Old Republic Fit Into The KOTOR Universe?
Right now, the answer to that question is a bit sobering, to say the least. The honest truth i,s we don’t know, but from the trailer and the official statements, this new game is probably going to be KOTOR-adjacent, but not attached. Officially, this isn’t KOTOR 3, and it is decidedly set at the tail end of the Old Republic era, not like Cal Kestis’ final chapter in Jedi 3, for example.
Think of it as a game made by people who know exactly what made the original two games great, including the darker tone, and existential questions about the nature of the Force raised by characters like Kreia. They’re also very aware that trying to satisfy every possible KOTOR 3 headcannon is a dumb idea, so it appears that at least the foundation is very much set to create something special.
If – IF – Fate of the Old Republic can thread that needle – new heroes, new conflicts, old ghosts in the background, and the occasional Leviathan sticking out of a cliff to make the fans happy- it doesn’t need to be a direct continuation to feel like it belongs on the same shelf, it just needs to capture the spirit, modernize it in the right places and not forget where its roots were to begin with.
And frankly, if Casey Hudson (WHO IS BACK BY THE WAY, did we mention that?) and company manage to deliver something that hits even halfway between KOTOR’s sense of discovery and Mass Effect’s character work, most of us will happily debate the exact timeline placement later – just be sure to bring some popcorn, this is going to be entertaining.
