SWTOR: Legacy of the Sith Review – Quite the Disturbance

Star Wars The Old Republic: Legacy of the Sith on PC

Back in July 2021, BioWare unveiled Star Wars The Old Republic: Legacy of the Sith – a brand new expansion that celebrates the first 10 years of the MMORPG while also getting fans ready for the next decade worth of content. Alongside a new story, the DLC promised plenty of new mechanics, features, and quality-of-life updates.

As a big fan of SWTOR back when it was released, this news immediately caught my attention, prompting me to hop back into the game in order to prepare for the “massive” new expansion. Unfortunately, while I enjoyed all of the prep time I spent getting back into the game, Star Wars The Old Republic: Legacy of the Sith expansion was a massive disappointment.

Honestly, it’s a bit generous to even call Legacy of the Sith an expansion. Instead, it’s more of an epilogue to Onslaught than it is a full-fledged DLC, as the plot picks up right after the events of that expansion.

Regardless of what side you’re on, Empire or Republic, players must uncover the ultimate plan of Darth Malgus, the notorious renegade Sith. This sends your character to Manaan, a beautiful underwater city that is now under siege by the Empire.

This aquatic setting and intriguing premise sets the stage for a great adventure, right? Well, yeah, for maybe about an hour, at most, story-wise.

That’s right; you thought Onslaught only having six hours worth of story content was bad? Legacy of the Sith has somehow managed to lower that bar even more.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the story that is there is great as usual. I’ll never tire of playing as a Sith Inquisitor that is actually a good guy, choosing light side actions despite being embezzled in Sith nonsense, as it’s such an interesting kind of story that I rarely get to experience in Star Wars media. Most of the time, it’s always about Light vs Dark. The reality is that stories that explore the gray are far more interesting, and that is always what SWTOR does best.

Returning characters like Lana Beniko, Vette, and Darth Malgus shined once again, featuring well-written dialogue that continues to evolve their stories. Newcomers like Colonel Gallo and Darth Norok also added plenty of enjoyment to the narrative, providing the unique perspective of a no-nonsense Selkath leader and a logistics-loving Sith, respectively.

The problem is that the journey is over before it even begins, as the gameplay elements don’t expand the experience much longer. In total, Star Wars The Old Republic: Legacy of the Sith takes about four hours, at most, to beat. Heck, it only took me about an hour to reach the new level cap of 80, which was very confusing, until I realized I was somehow almost done with the story.

On top of all of this, the changes that have been made to classes to suit the ability overhaul is a mess, too. While I like the ability to start as one class and add on another down the line, I hate that it comes at the cost of messing up core combos that I’ve used for years in favor of a new skill tree that is far more neutered.

This issue of combining old with new also gets messy when it comes to the UI, as stuff has either been completely replaced or moved to nonsensical locations. It took me forever to realize that the only way I can change my Combat Style is by using the Loadout tab instead of the Combat Style tab.

Other small changes like the decision to place mounts and pets under a dropdown menu instead of just keeping them on the top left make no sense either. These are just a few examples of the overall changes that were made to the UI as a means of trying to make things more minimalistic that end up being far more frustrating than necessary.

It really is a shame how this turned out. I know how talented the crew behind Star Wars The Old Republic can be, as I’ve loved the product for over a decade now. In its current state, though, the game simply isn’t living up to its potential.

The choice to try and simplify things with combat styles and UI updates for newer players only made things messier overall. Change is obviously always scary, but if this is what they had in mind, they definitely should have left things the same.

Couple all of this with the poor effort of only having three hours’ worth of content upon release, and you can see why so many people are disappointed with Star Wars The Old Republic: Legacy of the Sith.

Hopefully, Bioware can right the ship and add in some more detailed content and quality of life features that balance things out soon. If not, this new 10-year journey is going to go the way of Mandalore in no time.