Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic offers an array of familiar locations for longtime Star Wars fans to dive into alongside several new planets to explore. The game's planets transcend your standard Star Wars setting, plunging you into living, breathing worlds that make KOTOR one of the best games in the franchise.
From the rolling fields of Dantooine to the bustling cityscape of Taris, these locales are as diverse as they are immersive, especially considering KOTOR is approaching 20 years of age. Whether you enjoy helping rural farmers settle disputes or you prefer getting lost in a city's dark underbelly, KOTOR has a planet for you.
13 Peragus II - Leave It In The Dust
KOTOR 2's tutorial planet is infamous as one of the least enjoyable in the series. While Obsidian was careful to make the spacesuit walking section faster than its KOTOR counterpart, this first section drags on for a while.
Several expository cutscenes slow progress, and the similar-looking areas and smattering of annoying droids elongate this area. While certain revelations, like Jedi being hunted, set an eerie tone, the dull context of Peragus' facility feels inconsequential once it is destroyed during your escape.
12 Dantooine - A Home Where Padawans Roam
Dantooine's initial appearance is welcoming and serene, painting it as a quiet world of farmers living alongside the Jedi Academy. During KOTOR 1, Dantooine is a safe haven for you to return, recuperate, trade, and discuss progress with the Jedi.
However, Dantooine's second appearance in KOTOR 2 is far more drab, as the Jedi Academy lies in ruins, and the planet is overrun by looters and mercenaries. A makeshift government keeps a semblance of order on this decaying planet with little to offer save for wild beasts and remnants of Jedi who once protected Khoonda.
11 Manaan, Stare At The Ocean One Last Time
One of the most scenic planets, Manaan's surface is covered with sparkling seas adorned with pearly-white floating cities. Manaan's quests consist of detective work and an ensuing court case where you lawyer-up and defend Sunry, a Republic veteran, accused of murder by the Sith.
Despite Manaan's beauty and intrigue, it bears the dubious distinction of being the only planet where you can be exiled. In addition, Manaan's underwater spacesuit section is notoriously slow, as your movement is reduced to agonizing speeds.
10 Telos IV - A Planet On The Brink Of Survival
Teetering on the edge of destruction after the Mandalorian Wars, Telos was the first planet in the Republic's post-war restoration project. You arrive at the space station floating above Telos, but later escape to the surface: a beautiful wasteland of grasslands, glittering bodies of water, and majestic snowy mountains.
Sadly, your return to Telos near the endgame is punctuated by a Sith attack on its already fragile ecosystem, ensuring that Telos never returns to glory, instead withering away at the hands of your enemies.
9 Korriban - The Barren Sith World
Korriban's bleak, sandy surface starkly contrasts its Jedi twin, Dantooine, and introduces you to the cut-throat world of Sith academia. In KOTOR, you roam the Sith Academy disguised as a prospective student, while KOTOR 2 redux highlights the dark powers hiding in the planet's caves.
Few worlds are as compressed and significant to the story as Korriban, making it a key stop on your journeys along with both Revan and The Exile. Its dark valleys hum with the Dark Side, creating the most unsettling environment across either game.
8 Tatooine - Coarse, Rough Sand Everywhere
One of Star Wars' most iconic planets, Tatooine upholds its reputation as a world of sweeping sand dunes and a hive of scum and villainy. Despite the confusing layout of the desert area outside of Anchorage, especially the eastern Dune Sea, Tatooine's sandy expanse adds to its immersion.
The Dune sea also boasts an unforgettable encounter with a legendary beast: the Krayt Dragon. While you do not engage in combat with the Dragon, its death presents an opportunity to reflect on the dangers that lay hidden beneath this seemingly simple planet's surface.
7 Onderon - A Million Voices Suddenly Silenced
Princess Leia's home planet is a buzzing metropolis, its air thick with the stench of revolution and civil unrest. While your time on Onderon is marred by the outbreak of civil war, your initial journey to the planet depicts a city populated with people just trying to survive.
The cantina offers a crime solving side quest where players gather evidence and cross-examine witnesses. The cantina's murder-mystery foreshadows the delicate balance between peace and war, functioning as an excellent microcosm of the game's larger themes.
6 Taris - Crumbling Under Darth Malak's Grip
KOTOR 1's introductory planet, Taris crams a plethora of quests, six companions, and several major story threads into a world of towering buildings and a seedy underbelly reminiscent of Coruscant. Taris' size exceeds Onderon and Telos, incorporating the best aspects of each into one.
Whether you fancy some Swoop racing, want to try your hand at Pazaak, (Star Wars' Blackjack) or prefer to eradicate the deadly Rakghoul Diseases plaguing the Undercity, Taris is brimming with opportunities to make your mark - Light or Dark - on the face of the galaxy.
5 Kashyyyk -The Fate Of The Wookies Lies With You
Kashyyyk is a flourishing forest world plagued by the enslavement of Wookies by the sinister Czerka Corporation. Here, you can enjoy one of the game's most impactful side quests as you decide whether to free the Wookies from Czerka's tyranny, or doom them to captivity.
While you can complete the game without involving yourself with Czerka's crimes, this planet will have lasting ramifications on your party members for the rest of the game, as you can choose to abandon Zaalbar if you are enticed by the allure of the Dark Side.
4 Dxun - The Forest Moon of Onderon
Star Wars' second most famous forest moon, Dxun is littered with the remnants of war and now serves as a haven for the last Mandalorians after their defeat during the Mandalorian Wars. Dxun's vicious wildlife and ancient tombs serve as excellent proving grounds for The Exile to win the trust of the Mandalorians via a series of brief side quests.
Returning here in the endgame is indicative of Dxun's continued significance in the game's backstory and its more immediate conflict as you repel the Sith and push them out of Freedon Nadd's tomb.
3 Lehon - The Unknown World
Also known as Rakata Prime, this serene planet is covered with beaches, verdant hills, and the powerful temples of an ancient race called the Rakata. How you treat the Rakata here will have immense repercussions for both you and your party.
The penultimate location in KOTOR, Lehon provides a pivotal moment for players to forsake their choices thus far and fully embrace the Light Side, or fall to Dark Side. This moment alone can completely alter your game's ending and your available companions, for better or worse.
2 Malachor V, The Broken World
The final planet of KOTOR 2, Malachor V brings The Exile's war-torn past to the forefront, as the final testing ground for you to overcome your demons or succumb to their power. Unlike other planets, you are completely alone on Malachor as your party has been knocked out and scattered in the crash landing.
Malachor is a daunting challenge if you are not properly prepared, emphasizing the importance of applying lessons learned along your journey to bring you safely to your destiny at the Trayus Core.
1 Nar Shaddaa - Beware The Smuggler's Moon
Nar Shaddaa perfectly captures what it's like to be surrounded by people, but be completely alone. The Smuggler's Moon is swarming with gangsters, bounty hunters, and refugees, all living in fragile harmony.
Nar Shaddaa's importance cannot be understated as it contains solutions for several story threads, many open-ended quests, and a revelation from its crime lord, GOTO, that will change your perspective on the galaxy. Nar Shaddaa also serves as the location you can train multiple companions to be Jedi, cementing it as one of your essential hubs for any playthrough.