However, after he is tasked with planting the seeds of what would become the Rebel Alliance, which Vader plans to take advantage of to overthrow the Emperor, Starkiller begins to question his own morality and to slowly redeem himself.

[20][21] Shortly into the Galactic Empire's rule, Imperial spies locate a Jedi survivor of the Great Purge named Kento Marek on Kashyyyk.

Sensing the boy's strong connection to the Force, Vader proceeds to kill Kento and an Imperial squadron after they try to execute Galen and secretly takes him as his apprentice with only a select few knowing of his existence.

[24] Starkiller's targets include Rahm Kota, a Clone Wars veteran and leader of a militia;[d] Kazdan Paratus, insane after years of isolation on Raxus Prime;[e] and Shaak Ti, who's hiding on Felucia.

[f] To gain Bail's trust, Starkiller rescues his captive daughter Princess Leia Organa, and liberates the enslaved Wookiees at her request.

Starkiller travels to Felucia to find Bail, discovering that he'd been captured by Shaak Ti's former apprentice Maris Brood, who succumbed to the Dark Side after her master's death.

To convince more dissidents to do the same, Vader suggests that Starkiller attack a Star Destroyer facility on Raxus Prime to show that the Empire is vulnerable.

[g] Bail meets with fellow senators Mon Mothma and Garm Bel Iblis on Corellia to formally organize a rebellion, only for Vader to arrive and arrest them and Kota.

The first one is set during the events of the main story and explores more of Starkiller's background,[26] while the second and third ones expand upon the non-canonical Dark Side ending of the game, taking place in their own alternate timeline.

The Coruscant DLC depicts Starkiller, at some point before traveling to Kashyyyk, deciding to visit the abandoned Jedi Temple to learn more about his identity and connection to the Force.

After fighting his way past the Imperial security forces, he reaches the old Council Chambers, where he meets Kento Marek's spirit who tells him that he needs to pass three Jedi trials.

Following his defeat, Starkiller finds a holocron left by Marek, who reveals himself as his father and implores him to return to the light side.

[46] Over 100 initial concepts were whittled down to 20 to 25 that included making the game the third entry in the Knights of the Old Republic series or having the protagonist be a Wookiee "superhero", Darth Maul, a bounty hunter, a smuggler, a mercenary or the last member of the Skywalker family living 500 years after the events of Return of the Jedi.

[12] Production was greatly aided by concept art, which was intended to visually bridge the two Star Wars trilogies, convey the impression of a "lived-in" universe, show how the galaxy changes under Imperial rule, and to seem familiar yet new.

[46] In April 2005, after several months of planning, the LucasArts team received Lucas' encouragement to create a game centered on Darth Vader's secret apprentice in the largely unexplored period between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, drawing the two trilogies together.

[55] Focus group feedback indicated that, while hunting down Jedi at Vader's order would be fun, the character should be redeemed, in keeping with a major Star Wars motif.

Knight and the developers explored different possible looks for Plagueis, depicting him as a human resembling actor Michael Gambon, a zombie, a time traveler, a cyborg, etc.

[65] It is the first game on which LucasArts and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) collaborated since they both relocated to the Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco, California.

[70] LucasArts music supervisor Jesse Harlin said the music matches the game's motif of redemption and goal of bridging the gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope: We had to make sure that the game's score started off rooted within the Prequel Trilogy feel of ethnic percussion and sweeping themes that spoke to the nobility and grandeur of the old Jedi Order.

[26] Although a moment in the game's main story was considered as a "jumping off point" for the expansion, LucasArts decided instead to make the new mission instantly accessible to players.

[17] The Tatooine Downloadable Content, released August 27, 2009, is the first of two expansions that occur in an "Infinities" storyline, an alternate history in which Starkiller kills Vader and becomes Palpatine's assassin.

[27][28] The second Infinities expansion, which takes place on Hoth, was originally only available as part of the Ultimate Sith Edition, which also includes all previous downloadable content.

[106] Wired, X-Play, and GameSpot criticized the game's third-person camera and the sequence that requires the player to make Starkiller pull a Star Destroyer out of the sky.

[95][127] IGN, which also identified problems with targeting, speculated that DMM's processor intensiveness limited its use throughout the game, detracting from players' ability to feel immersed.

[101][136] X-Play, pointing to "Default Text" as the bonus objective description in the Xbox 360 version's final mission and other glitches, said it seems the developers one day "just stopped working on the game".

[137] GameSpot said LucasArts seems to have acknowledged some of the game's criticisms in developing the Tatooine expansion,[28] but IGN called the level's boss fights "a joke" in light of the player's high Force powers.

[138] IGN found the level design in The Ultimate Sith Edition's Hoth scenario uninteresting, and called the boss fight against Luke Skywalker tough but "not nearly as fun" as it could have been.

[146] GameSpot noticed visual glitches and problematic audio compression that detracted from the Wii version's "mature and exciting" story, adding that the reduced number of Force-manipulable objects helps mitigate the targeting problems experienced on other platforms.

[96] Zero Punctuation criticized the Wii version's graphics and compared lightsaber combat to "trying to follow an aerobics routine with both your arms tied to different windmills".

[92] GameSpot called the PSP version's camera "unwieldy", but added that smaller and less cluttered environments make the targeting system less frustrating than on other platforms.