Video Games

Whether you enjoy the action-shooter mayhem of Battlefront II, the single-player campaign of Jedi: Fallen Order, or the massively multiplayer world of The Old Republic, Star Wars video games hold a unique place in the EU by letting you take control of your favorite characters in a galaxy far, far away. But these stories don’t end when you put down the controller. The EU boasts a bevy of novel and comic tie-ins to your favorite games. Want to know how Iden Versio became the leader of Inferno Squad? Curious about that radio chatter regarding Theta Squad in Republic Commando? You’ll find the answers within this collection.

As the video game industry continues to grow, tie-in novels and comics are front and center at the launch of a new Star Wars game. While the medium’s earliest spin-offs remain often overlooked, they set the precedent for expanding their respective in-game worlds, paving the way for series that marked significant eras in Star Wars publishing history.

With the first Star Wars video game tie-ins dating back as far as the ‘90s, quite a few of these reads land squarely in the Legends realm, while more recent Canon entries include the Battlefront novels and the Jedi: Fallen Order comic miniseries. There’s a lot of history here, and each book gives us a fascinating snapshot of the changing video game landscape as well as its connection to the EU. For this collection, we’re listing those books that are direct spin-offs of their respective video games. 

So hit PAUSE, and let’s explore what’s on this list.

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Reaching back in time, we start off with the Dark Forces series, one of the earliest Star Wars game spin-offs, notable for detailing the partial theft of the original Death Star plans. Then we move on to the fan-favorite Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire multimedia project, which included a novel and comic line, before breaking into the millennium with 2002’s Starfighter: Crossbones, a limited series comic follow up to Star Wars: Starfighter. Shortly after, The Ruins of Dantooine gave us an unusual prophetic glimpse at a famous future storyline with an Imperial defector named Finn, and the Knights of the Old Republic comic series followed up the smash hit RPG of the same name.

By the early 2000s, video game spin-offs were becoming a true force as the galaxy brimmed with interactive content. In 2004, Republic Commando: Hard Contact kicked off a heavy-hitting series based on its successful first person shooter, much to the delight of gamers who wanted more clone trooper action. The Force Unleashed and its sequel would soon see their respective novelizations hit shelves, followed by The Old Republic novels and comics, which expanded on their already vast massively multiplayer online world.

Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012 would send waves through the EU, formalizing the Legends and Canon timelines and resulting in the Battlefront series becoming the first direct video game Canon tie-in novels. Jedi: Fallen Order: Dark Temple limited comic series followed, preparing gamers for Cal Kestis’s sprawling adventure set shortly after Order 66. 

Are you ready? Then press START, and let’s get to it!