The great Noah Gervais recently described this game as being in "diagonal criticism" with the original, and nothing I can say describes it better. It exists to completely demystify, deconstruct and ultimately destroy everything about the original, but it also wouldn't the impact it does by trying that without relying upon the original's world building and lore in the first place, which, even more than the truncated ending and cut content, is what really handicaps this game from ending in any kind of satisfactory way.

But what's there is still worth experiencing, in many ways more so than the first game. It's perhaps the only Star Wars property to ask prying questions about the nature of the Force and what it means to be a "peace keeper" in a galaxy literally defined by constant warfare. It does essentially all the things people (rightly) lauded The Last Jedi for doing, but with much more time to do it. The gameplay was mostly iterative, but a few key adjustments, like lightsaber forms, add some needed variety to keep things interesting.

Nothing can better describe the philosophical and political aims of KotOR 2 better than the fact that two of the four core planets are barren wastelands that used to house the head academies of both the Jedi and Sith. As craven and jealous as Kreia is, she remains one of the saga's most interesting and best characters because it seems as though she alone understands that at the end of the day, barren wastelands are all Force users are good for in the end. It's all they know how to do.