SWTOR Legacy Of The Sith Review: An Expansion (And Galaxy) Divided

Star Wars: The Old Republic, developed by BioWare and published by EA, recently released its tenth-anniversary expansion: Legacy of the Sith. Despite consistent advertisement from BioWare, the latest addition to the Star Wars MMORPG is unimpressive and sabotages some of the game’s greatest strengths. The final product also suffers from lingering bugs and glitches that hamper overall enjoyment and undermine its narrative potential for both Republic and Imperial players.

Unlike other expansions from Star Wars: The Old Republic, Legacy of the Sith explores a more traditional Star Wars story by pitting its protagonists (player characters) against a renegade Sith lord. The story begins on Manaan, with each faction leading a military operation to defend or conquer the aquatic planet to control its medical production. However, the narrative quickly reorients itself to confront Darth Malgus, a Sith villain that appeared in previous SWTOR Flashpoints and missions. Like Valkorian from Knights of the Eternal Empire, Darth Malgus disagrees with the Jedi and Sith’s ideologies and seeks to create his own universal order. Unfortunately, Legacy of the Sith’s brevity sabotages its story potential and prevents Malgus from developing into a more unique character.

SWTOR mainly utilizes third-person combat, with players able to choose between eight unique classes. The most significant differences appear between Force Sensitives (Jedi and Sith) and non-Force Sensitives (Bounty Hunters, Imperial Agents, Smugglers, and Troopers). Each class is categorized into DPS, Support, or Tank combat roles, but Legacy of the Sith’s 7.0 update added new combat styles that unlocked new powers for both player allegiances. This allows players to utilize abilities with their Light Side or Dark Side counterparts and opens new ways to experience the game, but it comes at a hefty price. The sheer amount of abilities BioWare reworked during the 7.0 update has completely decimated popular character builds. While new players won’t be too inconvenienced, this is a serious oversight in the game’s combat mechanics that leaves veteran players disappointed and stressed as they rebuild and reorganize their loadouts.

BioWare excels at creating riveting RPGs with meaningful player choices, but SWTOR has recently railroaded players into linear storylines. Light Side and Dark Side choices still impact the player character’s ratings, but the story doesn’t provide enough meaningful changes to make the protagonist’s choices matter. While the story is phenomenal and provides players with more thrilling Star Wars tales, players are constantly bombarded with glitches and bugs that hamper gameplay. Vanishing enemies, automatically resetting loadouts, disappearing artifact slots, and cosmetics are all likely to appear at inopportune times. Combined with only five to six hours of gameplay and cutscenes, these drawbacks inevitably leave players wanting more. Thankfully, Legacy of the Sith provides a unique adventure to Republic and Imperial players, a significant improvement from shared expansions like Knights of the Eternal Empire.

As a ten-year-old game, Star Wars: The Old Republic isn’t the prettiest MMORPG, and Legacy of the Sith fails to change that. Players wanting hyper-realistic graphics would be better served playing MMOs like Lost Ark, Black Desert Online, or New World. However, SWTOR’s Legacy of the Sith did introduce revamped icons for its images, unfortunately resulting in disappointing and confusing player inventories changes. Veteran players will find themselves scrambling to familiarize themselves with these changes that make using simple items a headache.

Unfortunately, BioWare has some work to do to bring Star Wars: The Old Republic’s Legacy of the Sith expansion to the same quality level as previous expansions. The product’s delay failed to address many glitches and bugs, and developers appeared to ignore community feedback throughout PTS servers and beta testing. As a result, the story’s short length is underwhelming for an expansion celebrating the game’s tenth anniversary, but hopefully future updates will fix existing bugs as time goes on. Players who enjoy SWTOR’s core gameplay and stories may be satisfied with Legacy of the Sith but shouldn’t expect to receive as much content for their money as previous expansions offered.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Legacy of the Sithis available now for active subscribers. Screen Rant was provided with a digital download code for the purpose of this review.

About The Author

Natalie Lindner
(501 Articles Published)

Natalie Lindner is a Game Features Writer for Screen Rant, creating content on the past, present, and future of games in the industry. Prior to this, she worked out of a writing consultancy in Rhode Island from 2018 to 2021, where she helped college students improve their writing abilities. Natalie has contributed her video game writing to several smaller websites and projects since 2018 and is eager to continue that journey with Screen Rant.

Working out of New Hampshire, Natalie spends the time she isn’t writing about games outside; hiking or biking. On those rainy days, she can be found striving for action on the latest FPS or perusing the latest comic books.

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