New Star Wars title The Old Republic will take the form of a story-driven MMO set in the timeframe of previous hit Knights of the Old Republic, LucasArts and Bioware have revealed.

While the official statement from LucasArts does not reveal an expected release date, it does outline the plot, which sees players “explore an age thousands of years before the rise of Darth Vader when war between the Old Republic and the Sith Empire divides the galaxy.”

Players can choose to play as Jedi, Sith or a variety of other Star Wars roles and befriend companions to fight alongside – or betray.

“Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is the most critically acclaimed Star Wars game in LucasArts history and a preeminent example of our company’s interactive storytelling heritage,” said president of LucasArts Darrell Rodriguez.

“For a long time, we’ve wanted to return to the franchise in a grand way, and we felt that the best setting for it was an online world that would allow millions of people to participate in the experience together. We knew that the developer capable of working with us to deliver an engrossing story with a fully-realized online world was BioWare.”