Summary
- Darth Vader, with his imposing visual design and iconic voice, is the greatest villain in cinematic history and deserves his own video game.
- While Darth Vader has appeared in various Star Wars games, he has never been a playable character for extended periods or at full power.
- A Darth Vader game could provide players with the ultimate Sith power fantasy and capitalize on his enduring popularity by exploring his entire journey through different time periods.
The Star Wars franchise is home to a good few iconic villains, from The Clone Wars' General Grievous and Count Dooku to the prequels' Darth Maul, to the sequels' Kylo Ren, to the original big bad himself Emperor Palpatine. But while all of these characters will go down in history as some of the greatest villains ever put to screen, none of them can match the sheer iconicity and popularity of Darth Vader.
From the second he walked out into that stark white Tantive IV hallway in A New Hope, Darth Vader was immediately cemented as one of, if not the greatest villain in cinematic history. An imposing and incredibly unique visual design paired with James Earl Jones' booming voice, Darth Vader is a real highlight of every piece of Star Wars media he appears in, and that's true for any video games he's appeared in. But despite his extreme popularity, Darth Vader has never received his own video game, and it's about time that changed.
It's Time Darth Vader Got His Own Game
Over the last few decades, Darth Vader has cropped up time and time again across the Star Wars video game landscape, but he's not always playable. Most of the time, Darth Vader has been used as some kind of boss, likely one of the more challenging fights in the game. But on the handful of occasions where Darth Vader has been a playable character, it's either only for very brief periods or he's not quite at full power. The Star Wars Battlefront series is the perfect example of both of these situations, letting players control Vader for only a limited time, and not quite making him the unstoppable Sith powerhouse he is in-universe.
2008's Star Wars: The Force Unleashed actually has one of the best playable versions of Darth Vader in Star Wars video game history. Beginning the game with a huge bang, players take control of Darth Vader as they slaughter their way through an entire Wookiee village on Kashyyyk. With just the tap of a few buttons, players will be throwing Wookiees from treetops, and slicing through them like butter with their lightsaber, all while taking practically no damage themselves. It may only be for one mission, but Force Unleashed' s version of Vader offers the ultimate Sith power fantasy, and there's no reason why fans shouldn't be able to get a whole game out of that.
Of course, a video game still needs some restrictions and stakes to keep players invested, but a Darth Vader game could still have those while also putting players in the boots of the galaxy's most feared Force user. For the last 46 years, Darth Vader has remained one of the most popular Star Wars characters, and his popularity is only continuing to grow thanks to movies like Rogue One, and more recent shows like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka, where Vader makes short but triumphant returns.
Though one of the biggest strengths of Darth Vader as a character for a while was the mystery surrounding him and his backstory, the Star Wars prequels, novels, and comics have all basically peeled back every layer the character could possibly have, so there's really nothing to lose by giving fans a game where they take control of Darth Vader for its entirety. The game could even lean into the new wave of nostalgia that the franchise is currently experiencing, get Hayden Christensen to reprise the role of Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker, and potentially even switch between multiple Star Wars time periods to show the character's whole journey.