Conclusion and Legacy:
The game is one of the few FPS in Star Wars, and has no Jedi or lightsabers or any of the usual familiar Star Wars game characteristics from that era.
A dark, covert, and gritty entry in Star Wars gaming, as opposed to the romanticized and overused Jedi. Personally, I’d like to see more of that. An Andor style FPS, maybe an update or expansion of Star Wars Arcade’s FPS aspects, or even just a non-canceled FPS Star Wars game!
For a game that is circa 20 years old, it still has a place in the heart and memory of many die-hard Star Wars fan, despite being made non-canon, and having its lore & material retconned and written over.
Book-wise:
As said above, it is a pity, and can be highly frustrating, that the series will likely never be finished:
End of one era, start of another… - Karen Traviss announcement on her blog, in August 2009:
“I can’t discuss the canon issues because of the standard non-disclosure agreement that all writers sign. I’m not even going to discuss the ones that are public now, and I know little of the full detail anyway. So please don’t ask me. All I can say is that I was given enough of the detail in January to realise that changes in continuity were such that I wouldn’t be able to carry on as originally planned with the storylines you were expecting to see continued in my books. It would have required a lot more than routine retcon.”
Yet that also strangely gives us fans room our own head-canon, to make up and choose our own ending. Doing that is not for everyone, and I’d rather have Karen Traviss finish the series than not; but meanwhile I choose to believe Sev is alive and out there training up Rebel Commandos, as the possible sequel game development stage ideas had him doing.
Plus, there is some varying fan fiction attempts at writing a finale for Republic Commando.
Lore-wise:
The GFFA has often given us new stories from old concepts brought to the screen. The Bad Batch is a particular show capturing the essence of how a clone commando squad works, basically based on Delta Squad; with Clone Force 99 reflecting familiar traits and quirks like Sev to Crosshair, Tech to Fixer, and Wrecker to Scorch. In other words, you could say it is a blatantly familiar re-telling of a Delta Squad-like unit (or a rip off of the Republic Commando premise).
Dave Filoni was right when he said in 2014 re Canon/Legends: "I think the EU will be a legacy that is mined forever.”
Caston is also correct when she says the original EU creators should be credited, or their work linked to, it is the least Lucasfilm can do when their EU lore & content is being mined and recycled.
Personally, I prefer the old 2002-07 lore; that Clone Wars MMP era, over TCW 2008+ lore shown since. But that’s just me.
Other Appearances:
The Delta Squad were made canon once more with a ‘blink and miss it’ appearance in the 3rd season of 2008’s The Clone Wars animated series, in the episode titled ‘Witches of the Mist’, written by George and Katie Lucas.
Some members of the Delta Squad have also appeared in The Bad Batch animated series. Although they appear as mainly token background characters, and some Republic Commando fans have noted they appear to have pale or supressed characterizations from either the games or books. Some other fans seem content or happy with the call-backs or nod to the past.
Cult Following
The series continues to have a special place in the hearts and minds of fans nearly 20 years after release, with the game warranting a release on modern consoles back in 2021, a whole catalog of fan fic stories based on the Republic Commando series and lore (with Sev living on to fight again, or continuing with new and fresh stories), and even a number of award winning fan films with significant viewing numbers in the millions. This despite being wiped from canon, likely awareness of the story for new or younger fans, and retaining the old lore from the pre-2008 TCW series. A few examples:
SHADOW OF THE REPUBLIC - Star Wars Short Film (4K) : 7 minute fan film by Cinematic Captures (4m views)
As the Clone Wars continue to rage throughout the galaxy, a squad of Republic Commandos are urgently dispatched to extract Senator Wal Bakrom; held hostage on the Core World planet ‘Karameir’.
a couple examples of Republic Commando based fan fiction (there are many other Republic Commando fan fics out there):
Star Wars Republic Commando 2: Rebellion : Fan Story by The Typer, at FanFiction net
Star Wars Republic Commando: Search for the Fallen : Fan Story by Raw Sewage Writer, at FanFiction net
A fair assessment (and a wish for more similar games and content):
“Somebody deserves credit for making a gritty, Jedi-free Star Wars game without any fruity Force powers or lightsabers.”
^ Some 20 years on and this still holds up and resonates. Whether for games, novels & comics, and TV & film in Star Wars.
This overlong thread all came about from reading the following three thought-provoking threads:
Caston’s The Jedi Purge | The Empire hunting down the Jedi Knights | a general discussion (2024 thread)
Kyp_Astaar’s Am I the only one that has a fundamental issue with Clones’ Inhibitor Chips? (2023 thread; 2008 TCW series’ retcon)
skyjedi2005’s The 2008 Clone Wars messes up continuity or how Lucas is still destroying Star Wars (2011 thread)
as well as from some of the research done for my own ‘Pre-Prequel Trilogy era lore in Star Wars’ thread:
Pre-PT era lore | an OT & EU scrapbook resource | additional info & sources welcome
and realizing that there wasn’t a dedicated Republic Commando thread, still having love for the RC game, and both the RC MMP & larger 2002-2007 Clone Wars MMP. Plus that the material & lore from that time should be highlighted on here for discussion? That it may also be of interest to others? (if nothing else than to be another example of official GFFA lore and content being later retconned, re-written and then largely ignored.)