Galen Marek vs. February

Something about Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was made for winter. You’re Galen Marek—Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, raised in darkness, aimed at the Jedi like a weapon—and outside everything is grey and nobody’s going anywhere anyway, so you might as well spend the afternoon hurling stormtroopers off ledges with your mind. LucasArts understood the appeal of that particular power fantasy: the Force as pure, undisciplined violence, no patience required, just controlled destruction rendered in electric blue and red.

For a licensed game from 2008, the story held up. Vader as handler. The Empire as a machine that eventually eats its own instruments. Galen Marek as someone who was never given the luxury of choosing anything for himself until the moment that choice cost him everything. There was real craft in that structure—it filled in a section of the galaxy the films always left dark. You spend the whole game becoming exactly what the story needs you to be, and then it yanks the rug. For a game about throwing people off things, it earned its ending.