The game introduces a new protagonist named ' Starkiller', a powerful Force user trained as Darth Vader's secret apprentice, who is tasked with hunting down Jedi survivors of the Great Jedi Purge while trying to keep his existence a secret. The project bridges the first two Star Wars trilogies, acting as an origin story for both the united Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Civil War depicted in the original trilogy. An Ultimate Sith Edition of the game, containing both new and previously released downloadable content, was released in November 2009, and later ported to the macOS and Microsoft Windows. LucasArts released downloadable content for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles.

The game was released in North America on September 16, 2008, in Australia and Southeast Asia on September 17, and in Europe on September 19. It was initially developed for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360 consoles and on iOS, second-generation N-Gage, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, and Java-equipped mobile phone handhelds. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is an action-adventure game developed by LucasArts and part of The Force Unleashed multimedia project.