The rumors circulating about a potential Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake were confirmed when the title made its debut appearance during Sony's PlayStation Showcase 2021. Viewers only got to see a short snippet of Revan igniting his lightsaber, but it was enough to send fans into a frenzy. With Knights of the Old Republic being remade, is it too far of a stretch to hope the same treatment gets extended to its sequel?
Knights of the Old Republic II was by no means a perfect launch. The game was the result of a rushed production schedule, which saw it released in a buggy, unfinished state and missing chunks of content, notably pertaining to the game's ending. Still, the game holds a special place in players' hearts. After KOTOR, Aspyr should finish KOTOR II and give it the proper release it always deserved through a remake.
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords would become infamous for its development. After BioWare moved on to create their own IPs, Obsidian Entertainment took the helm for KOTOR's sequel. Obsidian was expected to produce the sequel in 14-16 months despite the new team's inexperience with the project. What followed was the typical result of most rushed games; missing content, narrative gaps and loads of bugs. Though Aspyr never worked on either title's initial release, they actually have more experience with Star Wars than Obsidian did.
Aspyr, however, has a long history of porting and working on Star Wars titles, including the recent Republic Commando, Jedi Knight and Jedi Academy ports. They've also worked with KOTOR before, specifically, releasing ports across several platforms and even going as far as to offer some minor touch-ups to The Sith Lords. Though the addition of higher widescreen resolutions and Steam Workshop compatibility isn't the same as finishing entire in-game areas and quest lines, fans have come to know Aspyr always approaches Star Wars projects with respect.
In fact, Aspyr played a large part in players finally getting to see some form of the content cut from KOTOR II. Fans released a "Restored Content" mod for Aspyr's Steam release that salvages a large portion of the game's missing pieces to recreate as much lost content as possible. The mod is a wonderful opportunity for players to see the game as it was meant to be, but it's still imperfect. It's fan-made, so while attention to detail was as good as it could be, the restored content would shine so much brighter if it were built into the game from the start -- not something cobbled together by players.
With a handful of ports and some minor tweaks under their belt, Aspyr would be the best team to revive KOTOR II. They have more hands-on experience with the game, and the franchise as a whole, than Obsidian Entertainment ever did; plus, Aspyr knows how to get a KOTOR title performing the way it should on current-gen hardware while keeping the experience intact. Aspyr has the expertise and attention to detail that a team would need to resurrect KOTOR II. The undertaking would be more than just a simple remake; they'd have to finish the game first. Fans have already helped pave the way forward. Aspyr can use that to give Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords a proper release.