Star Wars: The Old Republic
BioWare Austin · RPG, MMO
Overview
Step in to the center of your own Star Wars story as you choose your path down the light or dark side of the Force. Your choices have impact not only on your story but on those who join you along the way. Each choice you make can change how your story unfolds including unexpected story twists or devastating consequences that impact you and your Companions. Play as one of 8 legendary Star Wars classes include Jedi, Sith, Smuggler, Trooper and more – this is your story and you decide how you want to build your reputation and influence across the galaxy as you join in epic adventures and challenging missions on the ground and in space!
THE GAMEQ VERDICT9,998 reviews analyzed
What players are actually saying
1. Summary
The eight class stories are the reason reviewers give most often for playing The Old Republic. Half of the longer reviews (51%) talk about the story, the voice acting, the companions or the light and dark choices, and 9% bring up the Knights of the Old Republic games, some of them calling this the closest thing to a sequel. Reviewers like that they can play almost all of it alone, that the base game's class stories are free, and that one month of subscription unlocks the older expansions for good.
The free-to-play rules come up in 32% of longer reviews: some call the free offer generous, others list the credit cap, reduced experience, locked gear and paid helmet hiding as reasons to leave. Account and login problems (failed Steam links, verification emails that never arrive, locked accounts, Steam subscriptions that charge without activating) appear in 6% of longer reviews, and about a third of the reviews describing failed logins come from people with under two hours on record. Veterans add an old engine with long-standing bugs, slow walking between quests, a recent character update some of them disliked, and expansion stories and endgame content they felt thinned out after Knights of the Eternal Throne.
2. What keeps coming up
What players praise
Class stories, voice acting and choicesHigh
51% of longer reviews discuss the story side of the game, mostly as praise. Players single out eight separate class campaigns, full voice acting, companions with their own arcs, romances and dialogue choices with consequences. "Better story than half the movies." one reviewer wrote, and another said "Even if you're not a huge Star Wars fan, I can honestly say that the Imperial Agent storyline is a masterpiece." Favourites named in the reviews include the Imperial Agent, Sith Warrior and Sith Inquisitor. Some reviewers call the Republic stories weaker, and a few find the writing cheesy or the dialogue options misleading. A few negative reviews call the stories the only reason to play.
The Old Republic era and the KOTOR connectionMedium
19% of longer reviews mention the setting, the lore or the KOTOR games. Fans like a Star Wars era set thousands of years before the films, with Legends-style lore, and some came looking for a KOTOR sequel. Reviews range from "kotor on roids" to players who say the MMO structure buries what they loved about KOTOR.
Playable as a solo RPGMedium
15% of longer reviews bring up solo or single-player play. Players say the class stories, side quests and most planets need no group, and several treat the game as a single-player RPG with other people around. "Don't be afraid to give this game a try, even if you aren't into MMOs." one wrote. Another, who recommends it, wished it went further: "I would pay $60 for an offline version of this game. Phenomenal solo experience, but not easy to recommend as an MMO."
Outfits, housing and customizationMedium
7% of longer reviews praise outfit fashion ("space barbie"), dyes, strongholds, guild ships and the Legacy system. Some long-time players say these keep them logging in after the stories end.
Runs on modest hardwareLow
A few reviewers note the game runs on older PCs and on Steam Deck or Linux with some setup. "you dont need the latest PC to run it." one wrote.
Where players are split
Free-to-play limits and the subscriptionHigh
The free-to-play model comes up in 32% of longer reviews, and opinion divides. Players on the generous side point out that every class story and the early expansions are free, and that subscribing once leaves you with Preferred status and the expansions you unlocked: "Unlock and keep expansions after 1 month of subscription". On the other side, 7.5% of longer reviews list specific restrictions: the credit cap that keeps free players out of the auction economy, reduced experience after the early levels, locked epic gear, extra quickbars, hiding the helmet, limited chat and species. "Credit caps make participation in the player economy nearly impossible, especially with inflation driving prices into the millions." one reviewer wrote. Reviewers also note that subscribers who stop paying keep their unlocked stories but lose conveniences. Others shrug: "There are some limitations for free-to-play players but a lot of them just require free-to-play players to reach a certain level for something."
Endgame, grind and PvPMedium
15% of longer reviews talk about the endgame: operations, flashpoints, gearing, conquest and PvP. Players who enjoy it describe busy group finders and solid warzones. Long-time players complain about gear grinds, repeated operations and rare new raids, with one writing about "the same old Operations you'll continue to spam over and over agian". A smaller group blames the 7.0 class changes for slower levelling and fewer abilities. Most of the reviews that discuss endgame come from players with 100 or more hours logged on Steam.
Graphics and the character updateMedium
Graphics come up in 14% of longer reviews. Some call the look dated, others say the stylized art has aged well and later planets look good. The recent character "modernization" drew angry reviews from a handful of veterans, who said faces aged, gained wrinkles and broke on some species: one wrote that characters "(both player and NPCs!) now look generally older by about 10-20 years". At least one long-time player defended it: "I personally thing they did a great job at bringing some life back into an old game."
CombatMedium
13% of longer reviews discuss combat. Fans enjoy classic tab-target fighting with distinct classes: "The tab target combat pretty fun, matching good animations that making things feel satisfying." Critics find it slow, clunky and full of damage-sponge enemies and stuns: "You spend more time watching your ability bar ticking with cooldowns than you spend watching the fight happening." Several also say most content is too easy, with companions able to carry a player through.
Community and chatMedium
12% of longer reviews mention the community or guilds. Reviewers describe helpful players and guilds that welcome newcomers ("it a fun game and players are very helpful"). A smaller group (2% of longer reviews) calls fleet and general chat toxic, or complains about players rushing group content and skipping cutscenes. One reviewer called the Imperial Fleet chat "a Runescape-esque hive of scum and villainy if there ever was one!"
The Cartel MarketMedium
11% of longer reviews mention the cash shop, cosmetics or Cartel Coins. Defenders stress that it sells appearance items and conveniences: "Yeah, the only thing they actually sell is truly cosmetic." Critics object to prices for single-use dyes, outfits and mounts, unlocks that are tied to one character, and a UI they say keeps pushing the store and the subscription. One reviewer complained about a higher subscription price, and another wrote that the monthly Cartel Coins for keeping a security key on the account now depend on logging in at least once a month.
Expansions after the class stories and the pace of updatesMedium
9% of longer reviews discuss the later expansions or how often new content arrives. Knights of the Fallen Empire and Knights of the Eternal Throne get praise, but some feel the stories after them, merged into one shared plot, lost the class flavour: "not much unique, fun content after KOTFE/KOTET". On updates, some reviewers say the game is "somehow still kicking and getting dev attention", while others describe long waits for new story and raids. Players with long play histories write most of these reviews.
PopulationMedium
6% of longer reviews talk about how many people are playing. Some say the game is busy, especially on the largest US server. Others find the Republic side, PvP queues or smaller servers quiet. One Australian player welcomed the return of a local server but noted "the server is low population between leagues and pvp seems to be dead".
What frustrates players
Old engine, crashes and long-standing bugsMedium
Technical problems come up in 9% of longer reviews. Reported issues include freezes on launch, crashes when changing resolution or window mode, a broken first launch on some high-end PCs, no proper ultrawide support ("Cannot play on ultrawide monitor without a fix that potentially ruins other games."), frame drops in large group fights, disconnects, and quest bugs that players say date back to launch. One reviewer wrote that "the game freezes every time I start it up (high end computer)".
Account, login and Steam purchase problemsMedium
Account trouble appears in 6% of longer reviews, and about 70 reviews in the slice say they could not log in at all. Players describe the Steam link error "We can't log you in, Please double-check you're using the Steam account you usually play on and try again.", verification emails that never arrive, security-key lockouts, and old accounts they can no longer recover: "Account recovery through an email is impossible, only way to contact support is through a phone call in few countries". About a third of the reviews describing failed logins came from people with under two hours on record, and several say they never got into the game. Others report Steam subscription purchases that took money without activating ("Tried to subscribe via steam and it took my money without giving subscription."), auto-renewal they didn't expect, unhelpful support, and having to accept the EULA on every Steam launch. Some reviewers advise subscribing through the official website instead.
Slow travel and empty planetsMedium
6% of longer reviews complain about getting around: large planets, long walks between objectives, trash mobs that interrupt travel, and back-and-forth side quests. One reviewer summed up the loop as "enter large, empty, and convoluted map, face endless waves of spongy enemies, complete busywork side-quests, repeat". Another wrote "Post base game content feels like mountains of busy work, often feeling redundant."
Interface, controls and the learning curveMedium
5% of longer reviews mention the UI or onboarding. Players call the interface cluttered, the tutorials thin, the gearing and currencies confusing, and the camera controls dated. "For new players with no experience with MMO's like this, I imagine the learning curve is a bit brutal." one reviewer wrote. A handful ask for native controller support, though one says "Running the game using a controller is feasible with steam input."
3. The player conversation
The tone is warm. Short reviews are mostly plain affection for Star Wars and the stories, while the detailed complaints sit in the long ones. Many of the account and login complaints come from newcomers and returning players who never got past the launcher. Players with long histories, often noting that their Steam hours leave out years on the old launcher, write most of the reviews about the endgame, the later expansions, the 7.0 class changes and the character update, and a few say they changed their recommendation in later edits. Free-to-play rules divide both groups, while the class stories get praise from both.
4. What the developers could do
- Fix Steam account linking and login recovery. About 70 reviews say they could not log in at all, describing the Steam account error, missing verification emails and lockouts that kept them from ever playing.
- Make Steam subscriptions activate reliably and honour refunds. Players report being charged through Steam without receiving the subscription and support that would not help, and several now warn others to subscribe only on the official site.
- Ease the harshest free-to-play limits. Reviewers who complain about restrictions name the credit cap, locked gear and paid helmet hiding.
- Repair long-standing engine and launcher bugs. Reviewers ask for ultrawide support, stable resolution and window mode changes, no repeated EULA prompt, and fixes for launch freezes and quest bugs they say have existed for years.
- Speed up travel on the big planets. Players complain about long walks and trash mobs that interrupt travel between story objectives.
- Give new story content more of the class flavour. Veterans praise the original class stories and Knights of the Eternal Throne, and some say the merged plot after it lost what made each class feel personal.
- Offer an option for the older character look. The recent character update turned some long-time players negative, and one asked for it to be rolled back.
- Clean up the interface and onboarding. New players describe a cluttered UI, confusing gearing and currencies, and a steep learning curve, and a few ask for native controller support.
