Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith

Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith is the expansion pack for the first-person shooter Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. It was released January 31, 1998. One of the most appealing things for fans was the opportunity to play as Mara Jade, one of the most popular Star Wars Expanded Universe characters. The game contains fourteen levels. The story is set in 10 ABY, five years after the events of Jedi Knight.

Many under-the-hood changes were made for this expansion. For example, colored lighting support was added to the rendering engine and the COG scripting language that was also used in Jedi Knight was enhanced with new programming capabilities. These upgrades to the game engine were well received by editing communities who made homebrew add-ons for this game.

Story
The story consists of unconnected missions, but climaxes with the redemption of Kyle Katarn.

The plot begins on Altyr 5, where the New Republic base is under attack from two artificial asteroids controlled by the Imperial Remnant. Kyle Katarn&mdash;controlled by the player&mdash;steals a Lambda-class Shuttle from the Imperial attackers and flies to one of the asteroids. There, he breaks into the control room and redirects the asteroid's fire to the other. With the other asteroid destroyed, he circumvents the weapon's cooling system, self-destroying the asteroid base, escaping just before the asteroid explodes.

While on the artificial asteroid, he finds information on the the planet Dromund Kaas, which has some importance to the Empire. He travels to the planet to investigate, leaving the player in control of Mara Jade.

Mara's first mission is to negotiate with Ka'Pa the Hutt concerning the New Republic's supplies. In order for Ka'Pa to comply, Mara is forced to steal Takara's GCT device. While looking for one of Takara's lieutenants, Abron Mar, on the Katraasii Spaceport, Mara is trapped by Takara. She is thrown into a prison but manages to break out of her cell and retreat into a series of pipes. The pipes lead to the lair of a rancor kept by the pirate group. Retrieving her lighsaber from behind the cage door, she slays the rancor and escapes with the device. Afterwards, Mara is assigned to a New Republic Corvette guarding a Jedi Holocron. The ship is attacked by Kaerobani's pirates. Mara repels the attackers but the Holocron is stolen. Mara stowes away in a cargo container and infiltrates the pirates' ship. The ship carries her to Rathalay, where she reclaims the Holocron and escapes.

With Kyle having been absent for quite some time, Mara travels to Dromund Kaas to find him. The planet's dark side aura leaves Mara's weapons useless, except for her lightsaber. Fighting her way through a large swamp, she reaches the Dark Force Temple. There, she encounters Kyle, totally maddened by the dark side. Mara and Kyle duel several times, Mara as the victor. Kyle retreats deeper into the catacombs, finally reaching the temple's throne room. Mara pursues Kyle, finally confronting him inside the throne room. Mara then voluntarily turns off her lightsaber and leaves herself open to Kyle's attack. Kyle is unable to kill Mara and rejects the dark side.

Realizing his mistakes, Kyle abandons his Force powers, returning to his military action on behalf of the New Republic with his long time partner, Jan Ors.

Characters

 * Kyle Katarn
 * Mara Jade
 * New Republic soldiers
 * New Republic officers
 * Ka'Pa the Hutt
 * Mon Mothma
 * Ugnaughts
 * 8t88
 * Kaerobani
 * Abron Mar
 * Takara
 * TK-8252
 * Unidentified New Republic commander
 * TT-8L gatekeeper droid
 * Luke Skywalker
 * Talon Karrde
 * Luke Skywalker (Only in bonus level)
 * Darth Vader (Only in bonus level)
 * Boba Fett (Only in bonus level)

Bounty Hunters

 * Gamorreans
 * Grave Tuskens
 * Grans
 * Ithorians
 * Lumini Pirates
 * Rodians
 * Trandoshans
 * Weequay

Creatures

 * Dianogas
 * Drugons
 * Mailocs
 * Rancor
 * Swamp wampas
 * Vornskrs
 * Water cycs
 * Ysalamiri

Imperials

 * Imperial Assassin Droids
 * AT-AT drivers
 * Imperial commandos
 * Imperial Officers
 * Imperial probe droids
 * Loader droids
 * Scout Troopers
 * Sentry droids
 * Stormtroopers
 * TIE pilots
 * Torture Droids

Sith Forces

 * Dark Mara
 * Dart flowers
 * Noghri
 * Sith Jedi Statues
 * Sith undead
 * Watchers

Locations

 * Altyr V
 * Delta 3
 * Ka'Pa's palace
 * Katraasii
 * Katraasii Spaceport
 * Katraasii Droid Ballet Studio
 * Takara's stronghold
 * New Republic EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate
 * Kaerobani's pirate ship
 * Rathalay
 * Kaerobani's base
 * Dromund Kaas
 * Dark Force Temple
 * Bespin (Only in bonus level)

New weapons

 * Carbonite Freeze Gun
 * BH-35 Electroscope
 * Repeating Blaster Cannon
 * Seeker Rail Detonators
 * Flash Bombs
 * Remote Sequencers
 * DL-44 Heavy Blaster Pistol
 * RMF-31 Repeating Blaster Cannon

Additional Force powers
''See Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II for the remaining list.
 * Force Push
 * Chain Lightning
 * Saber Throw
 * Force Projection
 * Far Sight

Voice cast

 * Heidi Shannon: Mara Jade/Dark Mara
 * Rino Romano: Kyle Katarn
 * Brendan Holmes: Droid Eye/Stormtrooper/Intercom
 * Steven Jay Blum: Computer/Rebel Officer/Rebel Soldier
 * Peggy Roberts-Hope: Mon Mothma
 * Roger Jackson: Ka'Pa The Hutt/Imperial Commander/Kaerobani/Rebel Officer/Gran (credited as Ree-Yees)/Tusken/Rodian
 * Terence McGovern: Rebel Commander/Pirate Raider/Rebel Soldier/Stormtrooper 2/Civilian Man/Trandoshan/Abron Mar
 * Mary Dilts: Droid Eye/Civilian Woman
 * Joe Paulino: Imperial Officer/Stormtrooper/Weequay

Aurebesh inscriptions
In two instances, Aurebesh inscriptions can be seen. They are mirror-inverted, denoting all capital letters.
 * A camera screen on Katraasii reads 'DISABLED'
 * The New Republic Corvette schematics is seen on a screen of the bridge, which reads 'WARNING'

Hidden level
The game has a hidden level which allows the player to take the role of Luke Skywalker during his visit to Bespin in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. The instructions on how to play it can be found here.