When it comes to Star Wars video games, most people will tell you that the best ones are either Battlefront II or Knights of the Old Republic...but there's one title that's often overlooked. Star Wars: Republic Commando was a squad-based tactical shooter set during the Clone Wars - and it was the grim, gritty Star Wars game that fans had been begging for.

Unfortunately, Republic Commando didn't sell all that well. A little game called Halo 2 had launched just a few months prior, and everyone with an Xbox was still distracted - and, considering that Republic Commando's gameplay was more complex than most shooters on the market at the time, it didn't have the same broad appeal as its competition. The game was well-received by critics, but it never saw much in the way of commercial success: aside from a devoted cult following, Republic Commando never made much headway in the wider gaming market.

As such, it's not all that surprising that Republic Commando never got a sequel. That's not to say that LucasArts never tried - in fact, both of the studio's proposed sequels sounded pretty amazing.

In an interview with Cinelinx, Republic Commando lead developer Brett Douville confirmed that LucasArts was trying to choose between two separate - and very different - story ideas.

The first would have fit in line with the more optimistic tone of the Original Trilogy: Sev, one of the game's clone Commandos, was left behind during the finale of Republic Commando. In the sequel, it would have been revealed that Sev not only survived his abandonment on Kashyyyk, but joined the Rebel Alliance as its first real soldier. Douville didn't reveal much else, but the idea of the original game's Delta Squad running into their supposedly-dead brother - now fighting for the other side - sounds intriguing enough.

It's the second idea that could have broken new ground for the Star Wars franchise. The original Republic Commando was a relatively grim game, but there were ideas that the sequel would be set during the Great Jedi Purge, otherwise known as Order 66. The game would have tasked players with hunting down the fleeing Jedi Knights - and, while it sounds dark, the idea fits in line with the story of the first game (which had the Commandos hunting down General Greivous).

In the end, neither game would be made: during one of LucasArts' several management shake-ups, much of the original Republic Commando team left the company. Now, just like every other Star Wars property, Republic Commando rests in Disney's hands.

Sadly, it doesn't seem like Republic Commando will be returning anytime soon. EA and DICE have the Star Wars shooter market covered, and Visceral Games is the only other major studio known to be working on a large-scale Star Wars project.

That being said, Delta Squad is still canon, so a sequel is still technically possible...

If you happened to miss out on the game the first time around, you can find Star Wars: Republic Commando on Steam.