Do you remember Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy? A distant relative to the groundbreaking Dark Forces, the followup to the incredible Jedi Outcast, and the Star Wars game that's perhaps most in need of a modern sequel (well, it's between this and KOTOR).

More than a decade after the Jedi Academy's 2003 release, we take a look at the game and its players today in a guest article written in cooperation with JKHub.org:

Stab your friends with laser swords.
Jedi Academy is a game in which you stab your friends with lightsabers. It's a superbly enjoyable single-player trek across recognizable Star Wars locations, it gives you the chance to master the Force, along with the chance to fall to its dark side. But for its several-hundred players today, it's the multiplayer that remains compelling to this day. Well, that and the mods.

Giant, lightsaber wielding duck? There's a mod for that.
Deep down, have you ever wanted to play as a giant, lightsaber wielding duck? We have a mod for that. [url=https://jkhub.org/files/file/1041-duck/" target="_blank]Really.[/url]

In Jedi Academy, there are thousands of mods for just about anything you could imagine. Some of them are total overhauls: take [url=https://www.moviebattles.org" target="_blank]Movie Battles II[/url], an astoundingly large multiplayer total conversion which completely revamps nearly all gameplay mechanics – introducing a more in-depth lightsaber combat system, new battlefields, characters, weapons, classes, Force powers and more. There are also others, like the ubiquitous [url=http://japp.jkhub.org" target="_blank]JA++[/url] mod, which add a variety of much subtler tweaks and tools perfect for server owners. Both mods have an active and dedicated community playing every day.

But there is more: [url=https://jkhub.org/files/file/256-battle-frying-pan/" target="_blank] custom [/url] [url=https://jkhub.org/files/file/2218-xebys-kylo-ren-unstable-saber-sw-ep7/" target="_blank] weapons [/url], playable models for [url=https://jkhub.org/files/file/2903-rey-of-jakku/" target="_blank] just [/url] [url=https://jkhub.org/files/file/2814-poe-dameron-finn/" target="_blank] about [/url] [url=https://jkhub.org/files/file/1122-hs-count-dooku-rots/" target="_blank] any [/url] [url=https://jkhub.org/files/file/2654-aayla-secura/" target="_blank] character [/url] in and [url=https://jkhub.org/files/file/1296-geth-trooper/" target="_blank] outside [/url] of Star Wars lore, and [url=https://jkhub.org/files/file/3062-jedi-temple-yavin-iv/" target="_blank] some [/url] [url=https://jkhub.org/files/file/163-sjc-the-palace-of-jabba-the-hutt-map-pack-daytime-sunset/" target="_blank] amazingly [/url] [url=https://jkhub.org/files/file/162-sjc-coruscant-adventures-pack-night-and-day/" target="_blank] detailed [/url] [url=https://jkhub.org/files/file/211-atlantica/" target="_blank] maps [/url] to play on. [url=https://jkhub.org/files/file/1528-the-jedi-academy-texture-overhaul-full/" target="_blank] Graphical [/url] [url=https://jkhub.org/files/file/2321-ultimateweapons/" target="_blank] upgrades [/url] are popular too, with a little effort you can make the game look much more modern than it does out of the box. And although multiplayer is the community's biggest focus by far, there are also mods [url=https://jkhub.org/files/file/1540-dark-forces-mod/" target="_blank] intended for [/url] [url=https://jkhub.org/files/file/2550-jedi-academy-enhanced/" target="_blank] singleplayer [/url]. Like Survival Mod 2, which completely replaces the singleplayer campaign with a series of levels designed to be a harrowing test of your Jedi powers.

One modification especially worth highlighting is [url=https://jkhub.org/topic/2220-frequently-asked-questions/" target="_blank]OpenJK[/url]. In 2013, the source code for Jedi Academy was released and OpenJK quickly followed: an open source version of Jedi Academy which preserves the existing gameplay, but fixes countless bugs and problems in the vanilla game, as well as introducing native Linux support. OpenJK has played a significant role in keeping the game alive, serving as a kind of unofficial community patch.

For many players, mods are one of the main things keeping the game interesting despite its age, and new mods are still being released every week.

Jedi Knight: Jedi Chatroom?
Variety is the name of this game. On many servers, simply anything goes. But there are also several active roleplaying communities, mostly hanging out on heavily modded and customised servers. <img src="http://i.imgur.com/kTbb7ex.png" style="float:left; margin:4%" width="50%"> Others are home to a community playing Jedi Academy as a kind of chat room with lightsabers, spending much of their ingame time simply socializing. Many server owners outright forbid attacking another player whose saber is not ignited.
[Ed: No, breaking those rules doesn't make you a Sith]

But, there's also an active competitive community in the midst of it all. Saber combat in Jedi Academy has a pretty steep learning curve, giving rise to a tradition of experienced players mentoring newbies one-on-one, mimicking Jedi-Padawan relations in Star Wars lore. This is especially popular in clans and guilds, of which there are many. Joining a clan or team you like can be one of the fastest ways to learn more about the game, as well as simply being fun. Many clans organize regular events, such as lightsaber tournaments, racing, or roleplaying adventures.

Not a Force-ghost town.
Over the years, Jedi Academy's playerbase has stabilized with a consistent several-hundred active players spread across different servers, mods, and play styles. If you've never played Jedi Academy, it's definitely not too late. If you have played it in the past, it may be worth revisiting if only to check out all the new mods (and maybe meet some old friends).

For mods, tutorials, help getting started, and assorted Jedi Knight discussion, [url=https://jkhub.org" target="_blank]jkhub.org[/url] is the place to be. We're a Jedi Academy community active for 5 years and managed entirely by volunteers. We also host the largest active repository of Jedi Academy mods on the internet, at almost 3,000 mods. If you're a new player, we have [url=https://jkhub.org/tutorials/article/217-jka-multiplayer-getting-started/" target="_blank]a concise guide to getting started with Jedi Academy multiplayer here[/url].

Finally, I'd like to give a shout-out to GOG.com for inviting us to write this guest article about our favorite Star Wars game. Happy Star Wars Day to you all, and May the 4th be with you!

This article was brought to you in cooperation with [url=https://jkhub.org" target="_blank]JKHub.org[/url]