Buy them on GOG, and buy them before October 7. Twenty classic Star Wars PC games are still sold legally, from X-Wing (1993) to Empire at War (2006), and almost every one is on both Steam and GOG at the same list price, mostly $9.99. This week GOG has all twenty at 50 to 65 percent off, which puts the entire shelf at $87.20. Steam has none of them discounted. There are two games where Steam is the better buy, one where GOG is the only good one, and a few versions nobody should pay for. All of it is below.
The short version
- Default to GOG. Same price as Steam, and you get a DRM-free offline installer you can keep on a drive forever.
- Buy TIE Fighter on GOG. Its package has the 1995 CD-ROM version, the best one. Steam's does not.
- Buy Empire at War on Steam. The Steam copy got years of updates, a 64-bit engine and the Workshop that the mod scene lives on. GOG's did not.
- Buy KOTOR II on Steam if you want the Restored Content Mod in one click. On GOG it is a manual install that takes ten minutes.
- Skip the Battlefront Classic Collection on PC, the Amazon copy of KOTOR, and any key reseller.
The shelf: twenty classics, where to buy each
Prices are the week of September 21. "List" is the normal price on both stores; "GOG now" is GOG's sale price, which ends early on October 7.
| Game | Year | Buy on | List | GOG now | On console |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| X-Wing Special Edition | 1993 | GOG or Steam, identical | $9.99 | $4.99 | None |
| Rebel Assault 1 + 2 | 1993 | GOG | $9.99 | $4.99 | None |
| TIE Fighter Special Edition | 1994 | GOG only | $9.99 | $4.99 | None |
| Dark Forces Remaster | 1995/2024 | GOG | $29.99 | $14.99 | PS4, PS5, Xbox, Switch |
| Shadows of the Empire | 1997 | GOG | $5.99 | $2.09 | None (the N64 game was never re-released) |
| Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II | 1997 | GOG, expansion included | $5.99 | $2.09 | None |
| X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter | 1997 | GOG | $9.99 | $3.49 | None |
| Rogue Squadron 3D | 1998 | GOG | $9.99 | $3.49 | None (N64 original never re-released) |
| X-Wing Alliance | 1999 | GOG | $9.99 | $3.49 | None |
| Episode I Racer | 1999 | GOG | $9.99 | $3.49 | PS4, Xbox, Switch |
| Starfighter | 2001 | GOG | $5.99 | $2.09 | PS3 (PS2 Classic, 2015) |
| Galactic Battlegrounds Saga | 2001 | GOG | $5.99 | $2.09 | None |
| Jedi Outcast | 2002 | GOG | $9.99 | $3.49 | PS4, Switch (no multiplayer) |
| Jedi Academy | 2003 | GOG | $9.99 | $3.49 | PS4, Switch |
| Knights of the Old Republic | 2003 | GOG or Steam | $9.99 | $3.99 | Switch, iOS, Android, Xbox (backward compatible) |
| Battlefront (Classic, 2004) | 2004 | GOG | $9.99 | $4.99 | Classic Collection; original Xbox disc (backward compatible) |
| KOTOR II: The Sith Lords | 2004 | Steam for the Workshop, or GOG | $9.99 | $3.49 | Switch, iOS, Android |
| Republic Commando | 2005 | GOG or Steam | $9.99 | $3.49 | PS4, Switch ($14.99, no multiplayer), Xbox (backward compatible) |
| Battlefront II (Classic, 2005) | 2005 | GOG or Steam, same servers | $9.99 | $4.99 | Classic Collection only |
| Empire at War: Gold Pack | 2006 | Steam | $19.99 | $6.99 | None |
The bold entries are the ones where the store matters. Everywhere else, pick whichever launcher you already use; at list price the two are the same game for the same money, and this week GOG is simply cheaper.
Why GOG is the default
The installer is yours. Every game GOG sells can be downloaded as an offline installer with no launcher and no account check. Back it up and it still installs in ten years, whatever happens to the store listing. For games this old that is the real argument, because Star Wars classics do get pulled. The original 1995 Dark Forces and the 1998 strategy game Rebellion both disappeared from Steam and GOG in April 2026. People who already owned them kept them. Nobody new can buy them.
Correction, September 24, 2026: this paragraph said only Dark Forces had left GOG. Rebellion was pulled from GOG at the same time.
Some of them are under a maintenance promise. GOG runs a Preservation Program for older games it has patched to run on current Windows and commits to keeping working. Five Star Wars games joined it on April 28, 2025: X-Wing, TIE Fighter, Battlefront (2004), Rebel Assault 1 + 2 and the original Dark Forces. Four are still on sale and carry GOG's "Good Old Game" label on the store. Battlefront (2004) got cloud saves and a Windows 10 and 11 stability pass out of it.
It discounts them deeper. GOG's May the 4th sale this year went up to 75 percent off, and this one runs to 65. At $2 to $5 a game, there is no reason to pay list for any of these.
Where Steam wins
Empire at War. From 2017 onward the Steam version got a run of updates the GOG version never did: Steamworks multiplayer to replace the dead GameSpy service, Workshop support, and in November 2023 a move to a 64-bit engine that fixed the out-of-memory crashes big mods used to cause. Petroglyph's developers said at the time that it came down to which platform the volunteers who built the patch knew. The upshot is the same. The big total conversions in our Empire at War mod guide are one click on Steam, and the GOG copy is stuck on the older build. Pay the full $19.99 on Steam rather than $6.99 for the wrong version.
KOTOR II, if you want it easy. Both stores sell Aspyr's 2015 update with widescreen and controller support. Steam also has the Workshop, where the fan-made Restored Content Mod is one subscribe button. On GOG you install it by hand. Our Restored Content Mod guide covers both routes; neither is hard, and the mod is not optional either way.
Republic Commando, marginally. Steam keeps your saves in the cloud and plays better on a Steam Deck. GOG's copy runs without a launcher and asks for a CD key for multiplayer, which it shows in your library. Either works with the community fix in our Republic Commando guide.
Where GOG is the only good answer
TIE Fighter. Both stores sell "TIE Fighter Special Edition" for $9.99, and GOG's includes the 1995 Collector's CD-ROM version: 640x480, full voice acting, the Enemies of the Empire missions, and the reactive music. Steam's package has the 1994 floppy version and the 1998 Windows rebuild and leaves the CD version out. That is the version we would tell anyone to play, so this one goes to GOG, full stop. Our TIE Fighter guide has the setup. X-Wing is different: both stores ship all three versions, per our X-Wing guide.
Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. GOG's $5.99 package includes the Mysteries of the Sith expansion. Steam sells the expansion separately for another $2.99.
The versions to skip
- The Battlefront Classic Collection on PC. Aspyr's 2024 bundle of both Pandemic Battlefronts is about $35 and sits at 24 percent positive on Steam. The two standalone games are $9.99 each, and Battlefront II's online still works on Steam and GOG together. Our Battlefront II (2005) guide explains how to get into a match. One catch there: GOG's offline installer for Battlefront II is the old retail build and cannot get online, so GOG owners who want multiplayer install through the Galaxy client.
- The Amazon Games copy of KOTOR. It ships a modified executable that breaks the game's sound and complicates the mod setup in our KOTOR guide. Buy it on Steam or GOG.
- The 1998 build of TIE Fighter as your default. You can play it, and it needs a joystick to start. Launch the 1995 one.
- Key resellers. Search any of these titles and you will find sites selling Steam keys for less than the store does. Those keys come from somewhere, often bulk bundles, regional pricing or stolen cards, and when a key is revoked the reseller is not the one who loses the game. On a $9.99 game that GOG discounts to $3.49 several times a year, the saving is a dollar or two against the chance of losing the purchase. The official stores are cheap enough.
Console: what exists
Most of the flight sims and strategy games are PC-only for good, but a handful of classics have modern console versions, most of them from Aspyr:
- Jedi Outcast (2019) and Jedi Academy (2020) on PS4 and Switch. Outcast's port is $9.99 and dropped multiplayer; details are in our Jedi Outcast guide.
- Episode I Racer (2020) on PS4, Xbox One and Switch.
- Republic Commando (April 2021) on PS4 and Switch, $14.99, single-player only. The PS4 version runs on a PS5.
- KOTOR (2021) and KOTOR II (2022) on Switch, plus older phone ports on iOS and Android. None of these take mods, and KOTOR II's promised Restored Content DLC for Switch was cancelled.
- Battlefront Classic Collection (2024) on PS4, PS5, Xbox and Switch. It is the only version of either Pandemic game sold on current consoles, so buy it there, for the campaigns and split-screen. The original Xbox disc of the 2004 Battlefront also plays on Xbox One and Series through backward compatibility. (Correction, September 24, 2026: this said the collection was the only console version.)
- Dark Forces Remaster (2024), by Nightdive Studios, on PS4, PS5, Xbox and Switch. It is the only 1990s Star Wars game with a full modern remaster. Nightdive has not announced one for Jedi Knight, whatever the Steam forums hope.
- Xbox backward compatibility covers the original Xbox KOTOR and Republic Commando, in their 2003 and 2005 forms.
- PS4 PS2 Classics. Jedi Starfighter and Racer Revenge, which never came to PC, are about $10 each on the PlayStation Store and play on PS5.
Newer "old" games, and the remasters of console classics
These are not LucasArts PC classics, but people searching for old Star Wars games usually want them too. List prices on Steam and GOG, the same on both:
| Game | Original year | Price | Also on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bounty Hunter (Aspyr remaster) | 2002 | $19.99 | PS4, PS5, Xbox, Switch |
| Episode I: Jedi Power Battles (Aspyr remaster) | 2000 | $19.99 | PS4, PS5, Xbox, Switch |
| LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga | 2007 | $19.99 | |
| The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition | 2009 | $19.99 | Switch (Aspyr port) |
| The Force Unleashed II | 2010 | $19.99 |
GOG has all five in this week's sale, between $5.99 and $7.99.
Game Pass and EA Play Pro
None of the classics are on Game Pass; our Game Pass guide has the full list, and it is EA's games from 2015 on, plus Outlaws and LEGO Skywalker Saga.
EA stopped selling the old LucasArts catalog in its own PC store on June 13, 2022, but most of it lives on inside EA Play Pro, the $16.99-a-month PC tier: KOTOR and KOTOR II, both Jedi Knight games and Dark Forces II, Republic Commando, both Pandemic Battlefronts, Empire at War, and the X-Wing and TIE Fighter games among them. That is only worth it if you want Pro for EA's new releases anyway. A year of it costs $119.99. Owning all twenty games in the first table from GOG's sale costs $87.20, and you keep them.
What we would do
With $20 and a free weekend: KOTOR, TIE Fighter, Jedi Outcast and Republic Commando on GOG this week comes to $15.96, and that is four of the best Star Wars games ever made. Add Empire at War on Steam when it next goes on sale, because paying full price is still better than the GOG build. If the whole shelf appeals, spend the $87.20 before October 7, or $100.20 with Empire at War bought on Steam instead; these prices come back a few times a year, but not every month.
The details
- Prices, sale end dates, what each package contains and which titles are sold where are from the Steam and GOG store listings, checked September 24, 2026. GOG's sale ends October 7 at 09:59 Eastern European time, which is just before 2am Central.
- The Preservation Program titles and date are from GOG's announcement of April 28, 2025. The Dark Forces and Rebellion delistings were reported by Screen Rant and PC Gamer on April 15, 2026.
- Empire at War's Steam-only updates, and the developer's explanation, are documented on PCGamingWiki. EA's June 2022 catalog change is from EA's notice on third-party titles.
- Console versions are from Aspyr's Star Wars page and the platform stores. The EA Play Pro list is from a public subscription tracker and EA's price is from EA's membership page; check the EA app before subscribing for any one game, because subscription catalogs change.
- If a price or a listing has changed since this was published, we will correct it here, visibly.