Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast is a first and third-person shooter video game, released in 2002 for multiple platforms. The Microsoft Windows and OS X versions were developed by Raven Software, and the Xbox and GameCube versions by Vicarious Visions; most versions were published by LucasArts, with only the OS X published by Aspyr. The game is a sequel to 1997’s Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, and the third main installment in the Star Wars: Jedi Knight series. The single-player campaign, set in the ficitonal Star Wars expanded universe two years after the Mysteries of the Sith expansion for Dark Forces II, follows returning protagonist Kyle Katarn, a mercenary working for the New Republic and former Jedi who cut his connection to the Force, but must return to his Jedi ways to stop a fraction of the Imperial Remnant led by the Dark Jedi Desann from empowering their army with the Force.
Jedi Outcast was developed using a more powerful game engine, the id Tech 3, and is a large improvement over its predecessors in the Jedi Knight series. The melee combat introduced in Dark Forces II was heavily reworked, becoming the main focus of the gameplay instead of the shooter elements, which are prominent only during the first few missions of the game. Players may wield blasters, lightsabers, and Force powers to engage enemies, with the latter being recommended in later stages of the game, as numerous lightsaber-wielding enemies are introduced. Jedi Outcast also features a multiplayer mode that allows players to compete in several different game modes online or over a local area network.
Upon release, the game received largely positive reviews from critics, with its story and lightsaber combat being the main praised elements. Jedi Outcast is considered a landmark Star Wars game for its revolutionary lightsaber combat, which many consider hasn’t been topped since. A sequel, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, which built upon Jedi Outcast‘s gameplay, was released in 2003. In September 2009, the game was re-released onto Steam and Direct2Drive alongside the rest of the Jedi Knight series. A Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 port with no multiplayer mode was announced in September 2019 and released the same month.