One of the best Star Wars video games, while sometimes being one of the less well-liked titles, finally receives the attention it really deserves thanks to the Star Wars Dark Forces Remaster. Star Wars Dark Forces is a classic of the 1990s, serving as the starting point for the well-liked Jedi Knight series. By fusing Doom and Star Wars, it created something incredibly memorable that has endured the test of time. Now Nightdive Studios, the company behind the recently released System Shock Enhanced Edition and Quake 2 Remastered, is bringing it back in all of its glorious 4K, 120fps splendor.
For those of you who didn’t play the original, you might be more familiar with the sequels it spawned. Adopting a rather convoluted naming convention, the LucasArts games progressed to Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, before continuing under the Jedi Knight name with sequels Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy.
Much like the later games, you step into the shoes of Kyle Katarn, a Rebel Alliance mercenary who uncovers a secret plot of the Galactic Empire. Initially setting out to recover the plans to the first Death Star (back in the days before Rogue One), Katarn and his partner Jan Ors discover the existence of The Dark Trooper project, designed to create a new force of super-soldier stormtroopers and battle droids.
While it was very highly regarded back in the day and still holds up remarkably well, Dark Forces certainly does show its age a bit. I revisited it just a couple of years ago and enjoyed myself well enough, but given its importance the opportunity to see it polished up for a new era in full 4K resolution at 120fps with remastered cutscenes and modern controller support is certainly most welcome.
Nightdive says that the Star Wars Dark Forces Remaster is “coming soon” to PC via Steam, along with PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch consoles. The team adds that a release date announcement will arrive later this year.
If that’s not enough throwback gaming for one day, be sure to check out the best old PC games you should still be playing today, along with more of the best FPS games for plenty of high-octane blasting.