Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (video game)

Darth Vader accompanied the Imperial Fleet in invading the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk, because rumors abound that there is a rogue Jedi who is fighting in defense of the Wookiees. After battling his way through an army of vicious Wookiees, Vader eventually made his way to a small hut, home of the rogue Jedi Kento Marek. Kento, in an attempt to protect the planet and his young son, Galen, from Vader's grasp, engaged the Sith Lord. Kento, not surprisingly, lost the duel and is then killed by a Force choke by Vader. During the battle however, it became apparent that the young son was powerful in the ways of the Force. Powerful enough that, rather than allow his officers and stormtroopers to kill the young boy, Vader murdered them to protect the boy.

Now in Vader's hands, the young boy is taught in the ways of the Sith, is raised as Vader's secret apprentice, sent on dangerous missions by his dark master in order to test his abilities, and given the codename of "Starkiller".

For his first mission, Galen is sent out to the Nar Shaddaa shipyard to locate and kill an ex-Jedi General named Rahm Kota. Before taking off for his mission, Galen is introduced to his new pilot of the Rogue Shadow, Juno Eclipse. The two, along with PROXY, took off for the shipyard, and ran into a space battle immediately after dropping out of hyperspace. Galen is dropped off within the TIE Fighter Construction Facility where Kota is hiding, and fights his way through Kota's Troopers and Stormtroopers alike. When Galen finally reached Kota, the two fought and Galen eventually emerged victorious, sending Kota hurtling towards the planet and leaving him for dead. Before returning to his master, Galen took Kota's lightsaber per Vader's orders.

After defeating Kota, Galen's next mission was to the junk-world of Raxus Prime where he was to find and kill the insane Jedi, Kazdan Paratus. He fights through the hoards of Rodian scavengers and junk droids before he reached the tower of the makeshift Jedi Temple Paratus constructed. The crazed Jedi Master, determined to protect the mannequins of fallen Jedi Masters, fights against Galen, who eventually defeats him.

Before they could confront the Emperor, Vader tells Galen that he must defeat someone more powerful than the other Jedi, Shaak Ti. On Felucia, she is training an army of Felucian Force-users. When she spots the Rogue Shadow, she tells her Zabrak Padawan Maris Brood to hide while she lures the assassin to the place of sacrifice, the enormous sarlacc's nest. But even her strength and communion with the sarlacc are no match for Galen. Before she dies, Shaak Ti warns him that the Sith always betray one another.

Galen returns to the Executor, where he learns that the Emperor's fleet had arrived. But Vader had not lured him - his spies had followed Galen from Felucia. Without warning, Vader stabs Galen in the chest as Palpatine tells him to kill his apprentice. The Emperor, watching the former apprentice's supposed death through PROXY, enjoys seeing Galen getting beat up, saying, "Yes! Kill him, Lord Vader!" After thrashing the powerful Dark Jedi around, despite his pleas that they could defeat him together, Vader throws Galen out the window. Vader later dispatched a droid to recover his body.

Galen later wakes up on Vader's science vessel, the Empirical, his wounds treated and healed. Through PROXY, Vader tells Galen to distract the Emperor's spies by gathering the Empire's enemies. After cutting his transmission, PROXY tells Galen that he had programmed the Empirical to crash into the nearby sun. Despite the holodroid's pleas, Galen saves Juno, who was imprisoned and branded a traitor.

Remembering that Kota said he'd be in his future, Galen tracks him from Nar Shaddaa to Ziost eventually finding him — blind, doubtful of the Empire's fall, and drunk in the Vapor Room, an industrial cantina on a construction platform near Cloud City. Galen urges the former General to help him, as they escape the Imperials looking for them.

Kota said he had a contact who had been feeding him information on Imperial targets but he required that Galen find something on Kashyyyk. Galen goes down to the planet, where he finds an old hut which seems vaguely familiar. He encounters a vision, in which his father said he never wanted this for him. Galen then rescue Princess Leia Organa, who was being kept prisoner by Captain Ozzik Sturn. She refuses to leave until the skyhook is destroyed. Galen goes on to destroy the skyhook and kills Ozzik Sturn who attempts to kill Galen in his personal AT-KT.

After Marek's master, Darth Vader, killed and resurrected him, Starkiller felt compelled by the Force to visit the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Winding through the temple to the High Council quarter's, the Sith apprentice made his way to the lobby of the High Council Tower. Here he blasted an ancient Jedi statue, using it as a bridge allowing him to reach the Council Chambers. Here Marek faced Jedi trials, tests designed to challenge the force users' abilities. After passing these, Starkiller gazed upon his next adversary; a Sith Stalker. Using the Force and other techniques to subdue the Sith phantom, Marek eventually defeated the Sith. Before leaving, however, the Sith was revealed to be none other than Galen Marek himself.

Kota said that because he was of no use to Bail Organa, he went looking for Shaak Ti. Galen then returns to Felucia, where the Empire had been battling its inhabitants, who have turned to the dark side, and studying the Sarlacc. Galen is able to locate Bail, who was being held prisoner by Maris, who plans to use him to buy leniency from the Empire. Galen defeats Maris and her pet bull rancor, holding her at his mercy. She pleads with him to let her go, promising to turn her back on the dark side. Galen lets her go; when Bail challenges his mercy, Galen replies that Maris will have to live with her choices for the rest of her life.

Organa says that to rally other dissidents, they need to show that the Empire is weak. Vader suggests destroying the Star Destroyer construction yard over Raxus Prime. Upon trying to make contact with the planet's sentient computer core, PROXY's mind is immediately taken over and finally attempts to fulfill his programming by killing Galen, but the apprentice defeats him. But after using the ore cannon to destroy the construction yard, one of the Destroyers came crashing down through the atmosphere. Kota tells Galen to use the Force to bring the Destroyer crashing down. After he does so, PROXY is found, his mind restored, and regretfully informs Galen that he no longer recalls his primary function.

On Corellia, Bail, Mon Mothma and Garm Bel Iblis gather to form a Rebellion to take down the Empire. But as soon as the Alliance is declared, the Empire strikes, capturing the Senators and Kota. Vader then reveals to Galen that he had been using him and that he had never intended to kill Palpatine with him. He attempts to kill his apprentice but PROXY, disguised as Obi-Wan Kenobi, saves him, at the cost of his own life. Galen, whom Vader presumed dead, was picked up by Juno. He realizes that Vader only wanted to draw out the Empire's enemies.

Through the Force and his knowledge that the Rebels were going to be executed by Palpatine, Galen and Juno go to the incomplete Death Star to rescue Kota, Mon Mothma, Garm Bel Iblis, and Bail Organa. After being discovered by Palpatine, Vader is sent to take care of Galen. They duel, leaving Vader injured and with damaged armor. Kota, after a failed attempt to attack the Emperor, is struck with Force lightning, and Galen intervenes. He defeats Palpatine in a duel, but decides not to kill him; Palpatine, as in his duel with Windu, is feigning defeat. To save the Alliance from Palpatine as they escape, Galen sacrifices himself. Later, the Alliance is formed formally, and they decide to use Galen's family crest as their symbol.

Galen Marek and Juno Eclipse went to the Death Star I in order to rescue Rahm Kota and the Rebel leaders, who had been captured by the Emperor for execution. Marek and Eclipse professed their love for each other before the apprentice left the Rogue Shadow. Fighting his way through the battle station, Marek made his way to the throne room, where he encountered Darth Vader, and the two of them dueled. Marek crushed Vader with several metal girders, before throwing him into the throne room. As Darth Vader lay clinging to life before him, Palpatine attempted to influence Marek to murder Vader and become Palpatine's new apprentice. Rahm Kota, sensing the mind trick, attempted to distract the Sith Lord. It was not enough, however, to distract Marek from his bloodlust, and Marek struck down Darth Vader in anger.

Returning to Palpatine, he found Kota lying at the feet of the Dark Lord, charred from Sith lightning. Palpatine decreed that Marek's final test was to kill Rahm Kota, thus severing all his ties to the Jedi. Instead, Marek turned to attack the Emperor. Palpatine deflected the attack easily, and said he had foreseen the attack. He threw Marek through the observation window. Marek saw the bodies of Bail Organa and the other rebel leaders. Juno Eclipse attempted to save Marek with the Rogue Shadow. Palpatine gripped the ship with the Force, and with Juno Eclipse still inside the ship, he threw it on top of Marek. The last thing Marek saw was darkness. The next thing Starkiller saw as he woke up was the Emperor, standing over him. He was on an operating table. Starkiller looked down at his hands. To his horror, they matched the vision he had at the Jedi Temple. He had been clad in his own suit of life support armor. And so, Lord Starkiller was born.

These versions are slightly different as they include some additional levels in the Jedi Temple and on Cloud City. The biggest difference is the location of Rahm Kota, who is found on Nar Shaddaa instead of Bespin.

After Starkiller defeated Rahm Kota at the TIE fighter construction facility, Darth Vader sent his apprentice to the ruins of the Jedi Temple in order to prepare for his next mission. Within it, his presence activated the Holocron of the long-dead Sith Lord, Darth Desolous. Leeching off of Marek's fear, Desolous began his attack, wielding a cortosis shield and a red lightsaber. Starkiller successfully fended off the Sith's lightsaber blows and used Force lightning to send the Sith reeling. Near defeat, Desolous made a final attempt at destroying Marek, and failed. Starkiller then used the Force to hurl Desolous' Sith Holocron towards the main statue at the top of the hall, and up along the statue's surface. The Holocron was then cast down from the statue's face and hurled into the stone floor. With a final pull of the Force, the giant statue of Palpatine came crumbling down on the hologram of the ancient Sith Lord, defeating him and ending the Trials program.

After Starkiller assassinated the deranged Jedi master Kazdan Paratus on Raxus Prime, Darth Vader sent his apprentice to the Jedi Temple once more. While Darth Sidious had ordered the library's protection during Operation: Knightfall, the Jedi protecting the four main wings of the Archives brought down the ceiling in the central atrium and a few of the archive's wings. It was within one of the damaged wings that Starkiller encountered an incarnation of the ancient Sith Lady, Darth Phobos. Engaging each other in lightsaber combat, Phobos often changed her appearance to that of one of the few people Starkiller cared for, Captain Juno Eclipse, believing that would hold him back. However, the young Sith apprentice was unrestrained by the illusion, and savagely battled the Sith apparition. Hurling busts and holobooks around towards his opponent, Starkiller eventually pushed the Sith illusionist through four bookcases. Wounded, Phobos once again attempted her disguise in order to spare her defeat. Not fooled by the image before him, Starkiller stabbed Phobos through her back.

After Marek's master, Darth Vader, killed and resurrected him, Starkiller felt compelled by the Force to return to the Temple a final time to finish the Trials. Winding through the High Council quarter, the Sith apprentice made his way to the lobby of the High Council Tower and entered the ancient turbolift that would transport him to the summit chamber. When the turbolift stopped and emptied into the Council Chambers, Starkiller gazed upon his next adversary; a robed Jedi, yet another opponent selected from the Trials program's memory bank. Using the Force and other techniques to subdue the Jedi phantom, Marek eventually pulled the Trials' ghost down and impaled him with his saber. Before the program cut out, the Jedi revealed itself to be Kento Marek, Galen's father.

After destroying the shipyard above Raxus Prime, Marek traveled to Cloud City to find Senator Bel Iblis. With his assistance along with Bail Organa's, there would be enough people to help in the creation of a resistance against the Galactic Empire's rule. Upon reaching Cloud City, which was still under construction at the time, Marek encountered the administrator of the floating platform, which was Lobot. He informed the cyborg that master Rahm Kota had sent him to meet with the senator. However, Lobot informed him that the senator was unavailable, as he attempted to negotiate with a criminal gang led by Chop'aa Notimo, who's mercenaries were assaulting the city. Mounting the Basilisk war droid, Chop'aa fought Marek and after a long battle the droid was defeated when Galen used the Force to send it crashing into the ground. From the flames, Notimo's helmet rolled out and he came charging at Starkiller ready to kill him. After a lengthy battle, Galen slashed his lightsaber across Chop'aa, thus killing him. Now that Chop'aa was dead, Starkiller came before Bel Iblis and told him that he was safe. Galen attempted to inform Garm that Rahm Kota sent him, but Bel Iblis was already aware of this and knew of his plans for a rebellion. When Starkiller asked the senator if he was with them, Garm replied by stating that he had spoke out against the Emperor too many times, which resulted in Palpatine issuing death warrants against him and his family. He then said that he was of course going to join Marek and told him to meet him with Bail Organa in order to discuss their next move.

The Nintendo DS version, developed by N-space, follows the plot of the PlayStation 3's and Xbox 360's versions very closely. However, the opening crawl and some parts of the plot are different from the other console versions. It also doesn't include Garm Bel Iblis and Mon Mothma. Other differences include the use of the Feel the Force events in some of the missions like on Kashyyyk where Darth Vader encounters Kento Marek, the cutscenes using the text and boxes underneath character icons when they speak instead of the cinematic cutscenes in the console versions, Captain Ozzik Sturn piloting an AT-RT instead of an AT-KT and Trandoshans protecting him, etc.

The cellphone version, The Force Unleashed Mobile, developed by THQ Wireless, does not allow the player to control Starkiller's movements. Instead, he must weave the patterns of numbers appearing above the enemies' heads to make them disappear. Starkiller can also use Force push, Force drain, Mind trick, telekinesis and Force lightning by weaving certain patterns. The plot loosely follows that of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions with some major differences. Rahm Kota is completely absent from the plot after his first encounter with Starkiller. Instead, after Starkiller is resurrected, Vader immediately dispatches him to Kashyyyk to liberate Organa. Having been rescued, the Princess sends Starkiller to liberate several Wookiees, one of whom is a local leader. After he completes his objective, Organa dispatches Starkiller to infiltrate an Imperial prison and set free more Wookiees. Inside the prison, Starkiller faces off against an Imperial commander equipped with a lightwhip and kills him. Later, instead of sending Starkiller to Raxus Prime in order to show the Empire's weakness, Vader sends him to destroy the TIE fighter construction facility above Nar Shaddaa where he confronted Kota.

THQ developed two more versions of the game; one for the N-Gage service for Nokia smartphones and another for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch. Both versions utilize the same combat system as the mobile game, but have 3-D graphics. In these versions, Starkiller rescues Organa from a group of escorting stormtroopers in the forest of Kashyyyk. Not willing to leave while the planet's population is enslaved, Organa sends Starkiller to liberate Wookiees from a nearby prison compound. After he has set the slaves free, Starkiller faces off against an electrostaff-wielding Sturn inside the prison. The captain is also assisted by two AT-STs. Starkiller, however, manages to push the AT-STs out of the prison building and closes the doors through which they have come. When Sturn charges him with the electrostaff, Starkiller kills him with a discharge of Force lightning.

Additionally, in these versions, Starkiller's initiation to the status of Vader's apprentice takes place on the Death Star instead of the Executor, and the duel with Maris Brood occurs inside the wreckage of a starship. Like in the cell phone version, Starkiller goes to the TIE fighter construction site instead of Raxus Prime. There, after destroying the core, he duels a Shadow Guard. Also, Vader does not kill Starkiller aboard the Executor; instead, when the Rebels have been rallied, he tells him to go to the Death Star to confront the Emperor. There, Starkiller discovers that Vader has betrayed him and duels his master. They fight through the Death Star, eventually reaching the Emperor's throne room. There, Marek uses the Force to collapse a nearby Star Destroyer into the Death Star, thus creating a distraction for the Imperial troops stationed inside and allowing Bail Organa and the other Rebels—who are unidentified in these versions—to reach the Rogue Shadow and escape. After their escape, Starkiller tells Vader that without him he will never be free and deactivates his lightsaber, and Vader deals a mortal blow.

At the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con, LucasArts announced an Ultimate Sith Edition expansion for The Force Unleashed, available only to the 360, PS3, PC, and Mac platforms. It includes all of the missions from the original game, plus three bonus missions. Of those three missions, all can be downloaded to the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the original game.

One of the three bonus missions included in this edition occurs in the Jedi Temple. The other two continue the events surrounding Galen Marek after he became Palpatine's apprentice in the Dark Side ending of the game. Instead of saving Kota, Galen defeats Vader, fatally skewering him with two lightsabers, to replace him at Palpatine's side. His final test is to strike down the incapacitated Kota, but Galen instead attempts to kill the Emperor, who has anticipated his attack and blocks it. Palpatine defeats Galen easily and brings the Rogue Shadow down on top of everyone in the room, killing all but Galen and the Emperor himself. The final scene shows Galen, resting on a table, in a mechanical suit, paralleling Anakin Skywalker's transformation in Revenge of the Sith. In this non-canon form, Marek is often referred to by fans as "Darth Stalker" due to his position as Sidious' new Sith Apprentice and the name of his armor, but in game, he is referred to a "Lord Starkiller".

The first mission in this new setting consists of Marek being sent to Tatooine to find information regarding the stolen Death Star plans. Carving his way through numerous Jawas and Tusken Raiders, Marek breaks into Jabba's palace and cuts down numerous thugs in an effort to gain a meeting with the crime lord. His destructive spree impresses Jabba, and he agrees to meet with Marek. Marek inquires about two droids; a protocol droid and an astromech droid; who are thought to hold the plans. Jabba initially denies any knowledge of these droids, but a foolish blunder on the part of his current translator droid gives away his deception.

Enraged by this latest development, Jabba drops Marek into the Rancor pit. However, Marek kills the Rancor and escapes through the palace incinerator, encountering a salvaged and hobbled PROXY along the way. PROXY helps Marek bypass the garbage disposal security, allowing him to escape to the Palace hangar, where he is confronted by Boba Fett, who is looking to collect on the bounty on Marek's head. The two engage in a lengthy battle, but Marek ultimately prevails when he telekinetically throws one of Fett's rockets back at him, apparently killing the bounty hunter. Following the information inadvertently revealed by Jabba's translator, Marek travels to Mos Eisley and storms in on Docking Bay 94 just as the droids, accompanied by Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi are boarding the Millennium Falcon. Kenobi remains in the bay to confront Marek, who is gleeful at the thought of finally destroying the "real Obi-Wan Kenobi", having spent a great deal of his training under Vader battling PROXY's combat module of the Jedi.

After a lengthy lightsaber duel with Kenobi, Marek finally cuts down the Jedi. However, before he can board the Falcon, he is suddenly attacked by Kenobi's Force ghost. After another lengthy duel, Marek manages to vanquish the spirit, just as the Millennium Falcon is taking off. Leaping onto the hull, he manages to plant a tracking node before falling off.

Although Marek was successful in planting the homing device on the hull of the Millennium Falcon, the Death Star was still destroyed by the Rebels. After the battle, the ghost of Obi-Wan began tutoring Luke in the ways of the Force. Years later Marek tracked down Luke Skywalker and the rest of the Rebels to Hoth. After dispatching a snowspeeder with his lightsaber and exiting his AT-AT, Marek began his attack on Echo Base. Captain Keenah - who was to act as Marek's attack group liaison - planned an infiltration route for the dark lord to enter Echo Base via ice caverns adjacent to the base. The caverns were infested with wampas, who Marek dispatched with ease. As ice columns the Sith had been jumping across started to collapse, Captain Keenah contacted Marek on his comlink to inform him of the cavern's instability and admitted that the most likely cause was the walker invasion force. Although the captain claimed the mistake to be unintentional and Marek was unharmed from the experience, the dark lord reached out with the Force to strangle the captain for his failure. Lieutenant Marsen was next in line as Starkiller's liaison and attempted to aid the Sith throughout the rest of the invasion.

The ice caverns adjoined to the Rebel base and presumably to prevent Wampas and other attacks from the cave, the Rebels had set up a sentry auto turret defense. The defense was inadequate to Marek. After Marek destroyed a generator, shutting down the door shield, Rebel troops came to investigate the disturbance, but were utterly outclassed. Marek continued to push his way into the base violently slaughtering all Rebels as well as many wampas which entered the base during the battle. Lieutenant Marsen contacted Starkiller about the presence of a group of Rebels ahead of his location that likely had an officer with them - he was not incorrect, and Marek had finally found the young force-user he was after. Upon confronting Luke alone, Starkiller revealed the truth about Luke's father in an attempt to infuriate and confuse him, although he denied it. Despite the surrounding turmoil of the invasion, Luke kept his cool in the lightsaber and force duel that followed. Luke even tried to turn Marek away from the dark side by telling him he could sense the good in him, but his attempts in all respects failed and Luke was forced to let three wampas out of containment to cover his escape. This did not distract Marek for long, and Starkiller continued to make his way through the base to trap Skywalker.

When Marek disabled the force field generator protecting the Millennium Falcon in the Echo Base hangar, the blast doors were closed to protect the ship as well as Princess Leia. Starkiller attempted to force open the doors with the Force, but Skywalker was waiting for him and Force pushed him away, stepped through, and resealed the doors behind him. Luke claimed he would not run away from Starkiller or his own destiny. Another duel ensued, this time as the hangar was engulfed in fighting between Rebel and Imperial soldiers. Starkiller overpowered and continued to humiliate Luke, drawing Luke toward the Dark Side. As snowtroopers ran up to capture Skywalker, he tapped into the passionate forces of the Dark Side to defeat them and was reinvigorated for battle against Starkiller. Skywalker began using red Force lightning, wild lightsaber attacks, and boasting that even though Obi-Wan could not defeat Marek, he could. Although Luke's powers were very aggressive and damaging, Starkiller absorbed his opponent's powerful lightning into his lightsaber and launched it back at him throughout the battle and bested him in lightsaber combat. Marek threw Luke into the path of an outbound snowspeeder. Luke then charged at him and after a series of strikes, Marek stripped Luke of his lightsaber and used it to cut the bearer's right hand. As Marek readied for a final stab, the blast doors protecting the Millennium Falcon opened behind him and the ship shot off through the hangar, ready to escape the planet. Starkiller reacted quickly and withdrew from his attack to catch the ship with the Force. Marek told Luke that he could only save his friends with the power of the Dark Side of the Force and the now-fallen Jedi quickly obliged by shooting force lightning out again. Marek then blocked it with his lightsaber and pushed back the lightning to him. Although Luke had succeeded in distracting Marek with the attack, allowing the Millennium Falcon to escape, he was beaten and had embraced the power of the dark side. Marek then congratulated Luke and addressed him as his new apprentice. Luke angrily then looked up to his new master, his eyes and teeth yellow as a result of using the Dark Side.

The game also has an in-game encyclopedia. As players advance through the game, entries on various objects and characters become unlocked. It is similar in function to the encyclopedia found in the video game Star Wars: Rebellion.

• TIE Fighter
• TIE Fighter Construction Facility
• Imperial Senate Sentinel
• MAAT
• Executor
• Darth Vader
• The Secret Apprentice
• Emperor Palpatine
• Wookiee
• Kashyyyk
• Rahm Kota
• Kota's Militia
• AT-ST
• Stormtrooper
• Imperial Navy commando
• Imperial medic
• Imperial heavy trooper
• Imperial jumptrooper
• Shadow EVO Trooper
• Shadow Trooper
• Shadow Guard
• Maris Brood
• Shaak Ti
• Sarlacc
• Rancor
• Bull rancor
• Felucia
• Raxus Prime
• PROXY
• Juno Eclipse
• Felucian shaman
• Felucian warrior
• Rodian heavy defender
• Rogue Shadow
• Imperial Ore Facility
• Jedi Temple
• Junk Jedi Temple
• Jedi Trials
• Darth Desolous
• Darth Phobos
• Purge trooper
• Heavy Tactical Fighting Unit
• Chop'aa Notimo
• Kleef
• Cloud City
• Lobot
• Bail Organa
• PrincessLeia
• Garm Bel Iblis
• Mon Mothma
• Death Star
• Empirical

The development team of the video game was tasked around the August of 2004 to create a new major part of the Star Wars mythology. In inception, several ideas were proposed, such as stories taking place centuries before the films, open-world game focusing on smugglers, a game featuring Darth Maul or a Wookiee protagonist, or "the first Rebel". Some concepts focused on game mechanics such as an open world, highly customized weapons or ships, or newly discovered exotic Force powers and Force-imbued weapons.

While George Lucas was not involved in the development of video games, The Force Unleashed had this privilege, in the capacity of being the next major chapter of the saga. The developers had a meeting with him in spring of 2005 in Skywalker Ranch, providing pitch boards and concept art. Lucas emphasized the elements of comedy, drama and the concept of redemption as core themes of Star Wars, and shared reservations and enthusiasm for the same ideas as the team. He showed interest for the "Underworld" and "Rise of the Rebellion" concepts, giving them freedom to invent the birth of the Alliance; he also approved a new vision of Force powers, from another concept.

After the meeting, the team decided to focus on the "Rise of the Rebellion" concept; taking into account the preference of the gaming audience on Jedi characters, they decided to make the main protagonist a Jedi resulting to the "Rebel Jedi" concept. The protagonist was envisioned as an archetype inspired from spy fiction and Westerns: a former Imperial soldier betrayed when his Jedi heritage is revealed. Operating out from a secret lair, the Force-sensitive vigilante uses his expertise on customiseable weapons, gadgets and exotic vehicles—and loyal contacts—against the Empire and its bounty hunters. His personal quest for vengeance inspire Bail and Leia Organa to form the Alliance.

Despite the lack of a clear view about the game's future gameplay features, storyline and protagonist, development tools and technologies had been developed by the team. A concept animation showed the Rebel Jedi igniting a Stormtrooper and using the Force to set ablaze others, or frozing one with a carbonite gun before destroying him with the Force.

The LucasArts executive team rejected the disparate elements of the "Rebel Jedi" and the team decided to strip the concept off them: they focused on the Jedi protagonist's villain beginnings, reliance on lightsaber and Force powers, which would do things never seen in a game before. Starting as an evil Force-sensitive would make him an Emperor's Hand, or even Darth Sidious's secret Sith apprentice. Eventually it was decided that the Emperor would not be such an intimidating figure to serve, and the Apprentice was instead transferred to Darth Vader: a Dark Jedi secretly trained to overthrow the Emperor. The secret nature of the Apprentice (and his eventual redemption) would require him to kill both Empire's enemies and Imperials alike, ensuring full action.

An exploraton of new Force powers rejected most exotic proposals (such as summoning Jedi/Sith warrior spirits, teleportation, shape-shifting or wall-crawling) but instead re-imagined the staple Force powers. A piece of concept art showed a Stormtrooper Force-pushed with extreme power, hurled against columns; this provided the idea of unleashed Force powers: While the Jedi are trained to control their emotions and constrain their power, the Apprentice would be free of such limitations; instead he would be encouraged to use his powers in primitive and uncontrollable ways that would seem "amped up". By fall 2005 the protagonist and the vision of the Force were established.

Haden Blackman thought that the protagonist's powers would be so unleashed that he could pull a Star Destroyer from the sky. A concept artwork depicted a Star Destroyer crushing in front of the protagonist, an iconic vision that captured the spirit of the subsequent inspiration. Other concept art explored known Force powers in their extreme form, and their extension into new powers, such as "Force repulse". New pre-visualization animation showed a character using staple powers pushing, hurling, slamming Stormtroopers, even cannonballing one to destroy an incoming TIE fighter; this video was essential in the greenlighting of the project.

During the first draft of the story, which was presented to George Lucas, there was a different scenario that triggered the Apprentice's redemption, and concerned his ultimate enemy: the Apprentice kills Shaak Ti on Alderaan, who is the guardian of the Royal Family; although young Princess Leia witnessed it, the Apprentice is unable to kill her. Then Vader, and a mysterious Dark Jedi, attack the Apprentice. It is revealed that Vader secretly operated two different apprentices simultaneously in order to choose the best, and use him to kill the other should he fail. The Apprentice is saved by his droid and is in comatose stasis where he meets the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn. He wakes up ten years later as a cyborg, and under the guidance of Qui-Gon's spirit, he seeks revenge against the Empire.

His quest brings him to the early Rebel leaders, and close to the Organa family (who don't recognise him). He takes the place of Shaak Ti in protecting Leia, to atone for her murder, and kills the Dark Apprentice. He is involved in the Battle of Toprawa and lets Leia escape on the Tantive IV with the Death Star plans, killing his rival. Vader then attempts to corrupt him once more, explaining that he betrayed him to help him feed on his hatred and lust for revenge, inviting the Apprentice to return to him. The player's choice would affect the fate of the Rebellion.

The second meeting with Lucas took place in late 2005, who was positive with the pre-vis animations and elements of the story. He gave some ideas about the dynamics between Vader and his Apprentice, being both cruel to him and also promising him to impeach the Emperor in the future; he dismissed the role of Leia as a known Rebel, and relationship with the Apprentice, and the specific timeframe of the story. Furthermore he was skeptical about the rival Apprentice, and preferred the duo of Emperor and Vader as the main villains: the Emperor did not rely on fear, but on greed; and the Apprentice didn't have to kill either of them to create a climatic battle to save the Alliance. Lucas suggested the Emperor learning about the Apprentice and betraying him, a vague timeframe, and new characters, including a living Jedi mentor, a new love interest, and a comic relief sidekick. Lucas also agreed that Bail Organa could had been one of the founders of the Alliance.

Around that time the team relocated from Skywalker Ranch to the Letterman Digital Arts Center where they were joined by a few members. Blackman also decided that the story needed a significant plot twist that would rewrite the known timeline. Vader's motivations were explored, including a possible plan to resurrect Padmé; the appearance of Plagueis was considered in some capacity, like Plagueis controlling Vader, or being reborn as the Apprentice, or being the Apprentice's mentor. Lucas also gave some insights about Vader in the period between the trilogies: a tragic, broken individual, forever transformed, always under Emperor's heel. As Vader should still be loyal to the Emperor, his "conspiracy" with his Apprentice to overthrow him would be only part a bigger plan masterminded by the Emperor himself: while the Apprentice lives and hones his skills to overthrow him in the future, his actual role is to hunt down the Emperor's enemies, and consolidate the Empire's hold. Vader's "betrayal" that would enable the Apprentice to secretly form the Alliance, was part of the Emperor's plan to concentrate all his enemies, and destroy them.

As the final story was being developed, so did the archetypical characters--Kota as the mentor, Eclipse as the love interest, and PROXY as the comic relief--and on February 10 2006 the team submitted a memo to Lucas with the story outline, the cast of characters, and several submitted questions. Those pertained to the Organa's visibility within the Rebellion and Emperor/Vader's knowledge about them; and the latters' role in the creation of the Alliance. Lucas replied over a fax, approving all the ideas, and replying affirmatively to the questions, providing also some ideas, like the existence of other Rebel leaders besides Organa.

The story of The Force Unleashed would evolve in several sceneries that would be recognizeable and different from each other, but all would give the familiar Star Wars feeling, using planets from both trilogies, but also new ones. The planets chosen would allow for Imperial presence in order to advance the plot concerning the Empire's hold on the galaxy after Episode III. The specific sceneries of the action were designed in order to provide several natural hazards and rich in destructible objects.

Kashyyyk was a favorable location from the start, being a familiar location, with the popular Wookiees; its natural scenery would show the devolution in the timeline under the Empire, from a lush colorful world to a charred dystopia. The foliage and fur of Wookiees would demonstrate the mechanics of the game engine. Another location proposed from the start was Raxus Prime, that had appeared in The Clone Wars video game; rich in objects and props with which the player could manipulate with the Force, but also in "natural" hazards such as acid streams and avalanches. The landscape was designed so as not to be an overwhelming maze, but the playable area was defined by huge objects, like turbines and derelict spaceships. The strata of junk created geological-like formations such as canyons and hills.

Darth Vader was a character that had an important part in all drafts, and had to be developed in the period between the trilogies that was not much explored in the Expanded Universe. His motivations and stances towards the Emperor changed, until Lucas gave his insights: although submitted to the Emperor, his loyalties are tested when he suffers from his master.

Concept art was what defined the appearance and characterization of the new characters. In some drafts the presence of Darth Plagueis was explored, as would be the first ever appearance of the character in any work. Concept art explored who he was, envisioned him as a human, sometimes reminiscent of undead, vintage or occult figures, even mechanically clinging to life.

Characters from the original trilogy, other than the Emperor and Vader, would bridge the continuity of the game and the movies, such as a young Princess Leia and Mon Mothma. Leia and Bail Organa (one of Hayden Blackman's favorite characters) almost always featured in the most prominent drafts, with Bail always opposing the Emperor and Vader. Young Leia's role in an early draft would trigger the Apprentice's redemption, as explained above. In another abandoned concept, Leia would lead a small rebel group of Mandalorians on Alderaan, ultimately against the Empire. Leia was intended to serve as the Apprentice's love interest, but her young age in the timeframe, her known fate with Solo, and Lucas's preference for new characters, created Juno Eclipse. With Leia's role diminished, Bail's became larger and more important. Blackman solidified him as a brave, passionate and strong-willed, yet rational idealist of freedom.

Another reused character was Garm Bel Iblis from the Expanded Universe. Garm and Mon Mothma were already established in the EU as being two of the founding members of the Rebel Alliance. Lucas had personally agreed with the developers that Bail Organa was also present in that event.

Characters and sprites, such as Wookiees and Stormtroopers, were based on the movies; the Wookie warriors were based on those seen in Episode III, whereas the Imperials represent an intermediate stage between the of the prequels to the Stormtroopers of the old trilogy with visual elements from both. Except the familiar Imperial Gunners, new types of Stormtrooper were introduces sich as EVO, Incinerator and Shadow Troopers that offered richer gameplay. Giant robotic Dark troopers were also considered.

As the game was to use high-resolution motion capture and likeness of actors, these were chosen in relation to how the characters were envisioned in concept art. The casting process took almost four months: talent agencies, based on information and concept art, provided photoshoots to Blackman and Darragh O'Farrell, the Senior Manager of Sound and Audio of LucasArts, to choose among hundreds of candidates. Darragh O'Farrell, sound designer David Collins and their voice team, auditioned the candidates in a Los Angeles studio. Sam Witwer, a friend of Collins's, expressed his wish to participate, and filled the role for The Apprentice. Adrienne Wilkinson also was chosen for Maris Brood from the initial audition.

An actress with British accent was needed to fill the role of Juno Eclipse, consistent with the speech of the Imperial characters of the original trilogy. The team travelled to London, where casting director helped in selecting a number of candidates before choosing Nathalie Cox.

• The PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 versions were developed by LucasArts and are essentially the same. They all feature Ronin, a game engine developed by LucasArts. It integrates the physics engines Havok, euphoria, and Digital Molecular Matter. It should be noted that while the Wii and PS2 versions also feature Ronin-like engines, they do not contain these modules.
• The Wii, PS2, and PSP versions were developed by Australian developers at Krome Studios.
• The Switch version is a port of the Wii version, with an option to use button controls instead of motion controls.
• The physics engine featured in the PS2 means that rag-doll effects, enemies flying across the screen, and destructible environments can be more prominent in the game.
• The DS version was developed by and features a touch-screen combo system and a four-player death match mode.
• The iPhone version was developed by THQ Wireless. This version is controlled by pre-determined movements on the touch screen that must match what is shown for successful attacks with the Force. The playable character moves to areas on his own while the player simply has to destroy the obstacles in the way, enemies and non-organic alike.

Havok is a system also used in the famous Halo series; it allows the game to know the dimensions of objects and how they would work against each other.

The use of euphoria, developed by NaturalMotion, gives characters advanced bio-mechanical AI, allowing characters to realistically respond to changes in the environment.

DMM creates truly interactive environments that behave as they do in real life. Materials in games usually break in predetermined ways. DMM calculates the breakpoint in real-time. It simulates what would happen to a material when broken, shattered, cut into two, snapped, splintered, pushed, squeezed, etc. It was developed by Pixelus and exclusive to LucasArts until September 2008.

ILM partnered with LucasArts to deliver movie-quality special effects in real-time for the game. LucasArts worked with ILM's Zeno tool framework and helped ILM build its Zed game editor. Lucas said having the two companies working together in the same building was "a great collaboration". ILM's face- and motion-capture "CloneCam" technology recorded actors' voice and physical performances. CloneCam technology had previously been used in producing the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

The music was composed by Mark Griskey, who also scored Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. The 90-minute soundtrack was recorded by the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra and was both mixed and recorded at Skywalker Sound on September 23 and 24 trough October 2007, and was released as a promotional album available for listening here.

When asked in an interview about whether or not he thought the soundtrack would be released for sales, Griskey replied, "I can always be hopeful! I don't have much control there. That's really up to the legal and PR folks to decide."

During some of the action sequences and boss battles, stock music by John Williams was used.

The game was the feature of a full multimedia campaign, with accompanying novel and comic.

Advertisement for the game included the smartphone app Lightsaber Unleashed, which allowed owners to view the lightsabers for the characters.

• The Wii, PS2, and PSP versions were developed by Australian developers at Krome Studios, but each version is slightly different. They all have characters and locations not featured on the other consoles, such as a bar on Nar Shaddaa and the ruins of the Jedi Temple.
• The Wii's control scheme allows players to "wield" a lightsaber with the Wii Remote and use Force powers by moving the Nunchuk. The game also features a two-player duel mode with nine arenas and 27 characters to choose from.
• The PSP version features three quick play modes – Order 66, Force Duel, and Historic Missions – and three multiplayer modes – Force Frenzy, Rule the Galaxy, and Force Out; which can be played by two-four players in Ad Hoc mode.
• In the first mission (TIE Fighter Construction Facility) the LucasArts developed versions (PC, Xbox 360 and PS3) have Galen Marek fighting an AT-CT. In the Krome Studios developed versions (PSP, PS2 and Wii) this is an AT-ST which is captured by a soldier of Kota's Militia.
• Some story elements for the various versions also had various differences. For example, in the opening level, the Imperial commander who greets Vader, depending on the version, is either a fully-armored stormtrooper commander, or an Imperial officer, and Vader's treatment on him in the opening is also slightly different: in the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, the officer was explicitly shown to have been spared of Vader's wrath for his incompetence (though only because Vader didn't care about the outcome for the battle anyway due to his own personal mission), while in the PS2, Wii, and PSP versions, his fate was handled a bit more ambiguously because the scene immediately cut to behind Vader when releasing him from his grip.
• The skin for Kento Marek in the PSP version refers to him as "Kento Nion".

On December 12 at the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards, LucasArts revealed The Force Unleashed II with a teaser trailer showing Galen Marek, battling a huge creature in some sort of arena. From the voice over on the trailer, Vader and Yoda can be heard.