Most games prior to Star Wars, released in 2003, were concentrated in a few regions, usually in the form of linear levels. Even higher-level Star Wars games, such as Jedi Exiles or The Phantom Menace pairing games, force players to follow a linear path, allowing only minimal exploration.

Knights of the Old Republic has a total of seven impressive planets to explore, and even the most restrictive levels, like Tarris and Dantooine, offer players a surprising amount of freedom. While each planet's primary mission does have a fairly linear critical path, the degrees of freedom offered around that critical path are still impressive today.

Once players complete Dantooine's main quest and get their first star map, they can earn SWTOR Credits and be free to explore other planets in the game in any order they choose. Once they land on the planet, players are free to explore its environment to find new gear, quests, and talk to NPCs.

One of the most impressive aspects of KOTOR planets is their visual design. Each planet in the game looks different, and the lighting works well to capture the atmosphere of the environment. Bright natural light was used to make Tatooine look distinctive, and dark lighting was used to accentuate Coliban's ominous atmosphere. Some iconic Star Wars buildings are also heavily used on various planets, making them true Star Wars locations. While some planets are indeed more barebones than others, the ability to freely roam around these iconic Star Wars locations was impressive enough at the time. Players can now use these in-game missions to earn SWTOR Credits, or they can also buy SWTOR Credits at https://www.iggm.com/.