Rear View: Is STAR WARS Rebellion Still Worth Playing?

Game Overview.

Star Wars Rebellion Just Feels Very Outdated

The biggest problem with STAR WARS Rebellion is that it just feels very outdated in 2026. I play a lot and enjoy a lot of very old games, but there is such a lack of quality-of-life improvements in Rebellion that at times I feel like I am playing a game from the 80s, let alone one released in 1998.

I still play the early Civilization games, I have played Age of Empires, and I have played so many amazing games from the 90s, both when they were new and again today. Yet STAR WARS Rebellion feels like it was made with the design philosophy of the very early 90s, despite actually releasing on 28 February 1998, towards the end of the decade.

That becomes apparent almost immediately with the unskippable and very long introduction briefing each time you start a new game.

Even though I am a fan of C-3PO, hearing him drone on again and again about the rules of a game I already know became very frustrating. There are community methods for skipping these briefings, but the fact that people have had to create ways around something as basic as this rather sums up some of my problems with the game.

It Has Not Aged Well Visually Either

Visually, STAR WARS Rebellion has not held up particularly well. When playing it at a decent-sized modern resolution, you can almost count the individual pixels, and while I can forgive old graphics when the gameplay underneath them still feels good, that is where Rebellion struggles for me as well.

The gameplay simply has not aged particularly well, and this is coming from someone who loves 4X games, appreciates the Master of Orion games and has enjoyed Star Wars for more than a quarter of a century. I went into this wanting to enjoy an old Star Wars strategy game, but I have to admit that I got bored very quickly.

I think I am simply too used to modern quality-of-life improvements, and when I say modern, I am including improvements that have existed for around a quarter of a century at this point. Rebellion feels considerably older than many other games from the same general period, and that makes returning to it much harder than returning to something like one of the Civilization 2 or Age of Empires II.

The Community Is Still Keeping Rebellion Alive

One thing I absolutely have to give STAR WARS Rebellion credit for is its community. There are still people helping to make the game playable on modern hardware, alongside remaster projects, unofficial patches, anniversary patches and community updates. There is still a community here, and for people willing to invest the time into getting a classic Star Wars strategy game working properly, Rebellion remains an option.

Unfortunately, one of the more popular community projects I tried to access was not working for me. I do not know whether they were simply having server issues or whether that particular project has finally moved on, but there are still other people working on keeping Rebellion alive, including the 25th Anniversary Patch and other community fixes.

For somebody who really wants to put the effort into making an old Star Wars strategy game work on modern hardware, I can understand the appeal. I just do not personally think the game underneath all of that work has aged particularly well.

You Cannot Even Officially Buy It Anymore

Another problem is that STAR WARS Rebellion is no longer officially available through Steam. The Steam store page still exists, but the game has been delisted and cannot currently be purchased there. I also could not find an official explanation for why it was removed.

There are still plenty of unused keys available through third-party marketplaces, and while checking for this review I could see keys available for as little as around 84 pence. However, not every third-party marketplace is somewhere I would personally recommend buying from. G2A, for example, is a site I have trouble recommending, even though Rebellion can be found there very cheaply.

So the game is still obtainable, but obtaining it today may mean going through a third-party seller rather than simply buying it directly from an official storefront.

Do I Recommend STAR WARS Rebellion?

Not really.

I am sorry, because I love Star Wars games, and perhaps if I had played Rebellion when it was new, when my expectations were dramatically lower, I would have nostalgia helping to fuel my desire to play it today. Without that nostalgia, without memories of playing it as a young man, I just do not see why I would want to play this over pretty much any other Star Wars strategy game.

There are also some extremely good Star Wars mods available for games that are not even Star Wars games to begin with. Stellaris has Star Wars mods, Sins of a Solar Empire has Star Wars mods, and there are plenty of other strategy games where the community has created impressive Star Wars experiences. Honestly, I think I would have a lot more fun playing those.

STAR WARS Rebellion FAQ

STAR WARS Rebellion is a strategy game developed by Coolhand Interactive and published by LucasArts, Lucasfilm, Disney, it released on 28 February 1998, and is available exclusively on PC.

What Peripherals Are Supported?

STAR WARS Rebellion supports the following peripherals:

• ☑ PC - Mouse and Keyboard

Is There Any Mature Content?

STAR WARS Rebellion is unrated and contains:

• ☑ Violence

Final Verdict.

Ultimately, STAR WARS Rebellion is a very dated game, and it is not one I can recommend. I may give it another chance if it ever receives an official remaster that addresses some of the quality-of-life and presentation problems, but as it exists today, I simply do not see enough here to make me want to keep playing it.

It is certainly not, in my opinion, one of the best Star Wars games ever made. It is closer to Star Wars: Obi-Wan on the original Xbox, which in my opinion was not only one of the worst Star Wars games ever made, but possibly one of the worst Xbox games released by a major publisher.

Is STAR WARS Rebellion Worth Playing?

We found STAR WARS Rebellion to be a poor game, meaning that while it has some redeeming qualities, it's ultimately disappointing and not recommended for most gamers.

Please Note

Rear View is a review format we use to discuss older games that are no longer receiving official updates or active developer support, and are instead being kept alive through community patches, mods, servers, or fan support.

Rear View articles should not be viewed as representative of the length, depth, or overall format of our traditional review coverage.