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5 video games to play after you’ve watched the Star Wars show Andor

While the oversaturation of content on Disney+ is beginning to affect quality — Star Wars included — Andor is making an impressive effort to revitalize the IP. Its down to earth and gritty scope is a breath of fresh air, and it’s making familiar ground feel worth revisiting. As the show spurs renewed excitement over Star Wars, the video game medium offers some great experiences for fans looking to chase that Andor hype.

We’ve yet to get a similarly grounded, stealth third-person shooting game in this universe for the modern age. Perhaps the canceled Star Wars 1313 might have scratched that itch to some degree, but games like Fallen Order and Battlefront II can touch on related thematic points.

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Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order art featuring a collage of the main cast.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

One of Andor‘s most impressive feats is how it delivers a genuinely compelling Rebellion-era Star Wars story without concerning itself with the Skywalkers, Jedi, Sith, or even the Force. That might make Respawn Entertainment’s Jedi: Fallen Order a jarring choice on the surface, but Cal Kestis and company’s post-Revenge of the Sith and pre-A New Hope journey is among the more welcome tales since Disney’s acquisition of the franchise.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order sees Cal, a Jedi Padawan in hiding, get roped into a game of cat and mouse against the Empire and its Inquisitors — as well as taking the fight to them. This action-adventure game incorporates Metroidvania and Souls-like progression mechanics in terms of exploration and combat, making for an engaging gameplay experience and Rebellion story.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is available now for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. A sequel, Jedi: Survivor, is set for a 2023 release.

Star Wars Battlefront II

Promo art for Battlefront II featuring Rey, and Imperial Trooper, and Maul.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Star Wars Battlefront II is simultaneously known for one of gaming’s most disastrous launches and one of its biggest comeback stories. When EA and Dice initially launched the game, it was marred with controversies from bare-bones content to a mess of microtransactions, however, admirably dedicated post-launch support turned it into a genuinely solid game.

Battlefront II is now packed with substantive single-player and multiplayer content, as well as several character classes. While the flashy “hero” class characters like Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan, Darth Vader, and more certainly are highlights of the game, players can just as well take part in exciting boots-to-ground firefights with soldier classes — including Rebellion-themed maps and characters.

Star Wars Battlefront II is available now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Star Wars: Squadrons

EA

Similar to how Dice’s Battlefront games were spiritual successors to the original games of the same names, Motive Studios’ Star Wars: Squadrons owed much to the beloved Rogue Squadron games that started on the Nintendo 64. The game managed to be another critical success for EA following Fallen Order and Battlefront II‘s second lease on life, this time focusing on space dogfights rather than lightsaber combat or third-person shooting.

Andor might revolve around a character whot’s more covert and grounded, but part of his skills lie in being a talented pilot when necessary, and Squadrons provides a nice focus on this side of the Star Wars universe with a story set during the age of the New Republic. The gameplay was well-received for its level of immersion, as well as the execution of multiplayer.

Star Wars: Squadrons is available now for PS4, Xbox, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic/Knights of the Old Republic II

Split image of KotOR and KotOR II cover art.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

In terms of both Star Wars games and RPGs in general, BioWare’s Knights of the Old Republic and Obsidian Entertainment’s Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords are landmark games in the industry. Both games were critically acclaimed for their deep role-playing mechanics that allowed players to shape their character, party, and the trajectory of the galaxy’s fate through customization and dialogue-driven gameplay.

Neither game has the same intimate, espionage-themed scope as Andor, but what they loosely have in common is how both Knights of the Old Republic games feature gripping narratives that tackle the darker, more thought-provoking themes of the Star Wars universe.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords are both available on modern systems through Xbox One and Series X|S backward compatibility, as well as Nintendo Switch, PC, and mobile. A PS5 remake is currently in development.

Lucasfilm’s Andor season 1 is available to stream now on Disney+.

Guillermo Kurten
Freelance Writer, Entertainment
A University of Houston graduate in Print Media Journalism, Guillermo has covered sports entertainment and practically all…
Did Andor ruin Ahsoka, and maybe the entire Star Wars franchise, by being too good?
Ahsoka Tano holds one of her lightsabers in Ahsoka episode 4.

Disney+’s Ahsoka is a lot of things: A quasi-sequel to Star Wars Rebels, a spinoff of The Mandalorian, a rollicking space adventure. Above all else, though, Ahsoka is a show made by and for Star Wars fans. Created by George Lucas’ chosen protégé, Dave Filoni, the series is overflowing with details, Easter eggs, and characters from past Star Wars films and TV shows — namely, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Rebels. These various references have all been collected in a story that seems designed to serve as the bridge between the Rebels finale and Filoni’s now-announced Star Wars crossover film, which will purportedly close out the New Republic story first introduced in The Mandalorian.

At the center of said story is the villainous Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) and the Imperial Remnant’s quest to bring him back into the fold. That mission is the driving narrative force of Ahsoka, which pits the show’s heroes against those who wish to find Thrawn and rescue him from his years-long exile in a foreign galaxy. The series is, in other words, a lot less about Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) and her personal journey than its title would lead you to believe. In fact, of all of its concerns, Ahsoka’s characters feel increasingly less like its top priority.

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Want to enjoy the Star Wars TV shows more? Watch the cartoons, already!
Ahsoka Tano prepares for battle in an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars

I’m pretty nerdy about a lot of things: turntables, vinyl records, barbecue, Game of Thrones, and yes, Star Wars. To a fault, I can be hard to shut up once my string is pulled, and lately, much of my blathering has been focused around a couple of Star Wars TV series -- The Mandalorian and the upcoming Ahsoka, the latter of which I am super-excited for. But I’ve had a few conversations about these shows with friends recently that have been driving me nuts. The latest involved me gushing over a live-action cameo of the animated Star Wars: Rebels series character Zeb Orrelios in season 3, episode 5 of The Mandalorian. My friend exclaimed that he had no idea who Zeb was and that he'd never watched "that cartoon," and here we are.
But a couple of notes before I continue: First, I know that Star Wars: Rebels and its precursor, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, are “cartoons.” Second, I’m aware that I’m a grown man. The point is, I’m often amazed to learn that, for those and other reasons, many people have avoided these excellent animated Star Wars series -- and this is a mistake. Much of what happens in The Clone Wars and Rebels has direct ties to shows such as The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Book of Boba Fett, and especially Ahsoka, as they introduce incredible characters and crucial backstories. Do you need to watch them to know what's going on? No. You don't even need to watch every episode to get a better understanding of the live-action shows: We have great essential episode guides for Clone Wars and Rebels to set you up. But time and again I’ve been rewarded with excitement, a better understanding of characters and plotlines, and a more satisfying cathartic payoff because of watching these "cartoons." Plus, they’re just really good.
And whether you’ve just started watching The Mandalorian or are, like me, waiting eagerly for Ahsoka in August, here are a few good reasons you should take the next few months and get caught up on some of the best cartoons you’ll ever see.
Note: There are Mandalorian spoilers ahead.
Ahsoka Tano gets her due

Making her live-action debut in season 2 of The Mandalorian, Ahsoka Tano began her journey as Anakin Skywalker's tenacious young Padawan, and her adventures throughout seven seasons of the animated Clone Wars made her one of the most exciting and loved Jedi characters in the Star Wars universe. Not only does she endure betrayal through Anakin's transformation into Darth Vader, but her arc connects her to the warrior Mandalorians when she helps Bo-Katan Kryze liberate the planet Mandalore from occupation. The series concludes when Darth Sidious issues Order 66, which triggered the betrayal and extermination of the Jedi, aligning the show with the film Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith.

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Why Star Wars Jedi: Survivor’s Cal Kestis needs his own Disney+ show
Cal wielding his blue lightsaber and walking with BD-1 in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor key art.

As Lucasfilm finally seems to be getting the ball rolling again for Star Wars on the theatrical front, the video game space has been showing the franchise's continued narrative strength. The latest example is Respawn Entertainment's Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. The sequel to 2019's successful Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order fleshes out the journey of Cal Kestis (voiced by Gotham and Shameless actor Cameron Monaghan), with his story feeling every bit as worthy of a live-action series.

Shows like Dave Filoni's Ahsoka look promising given Rosario Dawson's pitch-perfect performance in season 2 of The Mandalorian and Filoni's passion for the franchise. Should Lucasfilm want more Jedi-centric storytelling on Disney+, the Star Wars Jedi games have rich characters (all hail Turgle!) and intriguing storylines that could be an ideal fit for the episodic format that made Obi-Wan Kenobi and Andor so compelling.

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