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. 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. Jedi Outcast was developed using a more powerful game engine, id Tech 3. Katarn must return to his Jedi ways to stop a branch of the Imperial Remnant led by the Dark Jedi Desann from empowering their army with the Force.
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. 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 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 version published by Aspyr. Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast is a 2002 first and third-person shooter video game.
