Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and PS4
Put aside Rogue One; mercenary Kyle Katarn actually obtained the Death Star blueprints. That is, until Disney ate up all things Star Wars and wiped out the old Expanded Universe, which made the events of LucasArts’ 1995 first-person shooter Dark Forces non-canonical.
But consistency be damned, the effects of Dark Forces are still felt nearly thirty years later. In addition to giving players the opportunity to explore planets in that far-off galaxy for themselves, being the first 3D Star Wars game also made Katarn a hero who would later play a key role in hundreds of other games, books, and comics. Along with improved camera controls, character leaps and ducks, and an extensive inventory of weapons and accessories to use in overthrowing the Empire, it also expanded upon the first-person shooter concept established by earlier video games like DOOM. Even though it all seems obvious now, those developments at the time distinguished the game as a technological pathfinder.
This remaster of the iconic game is appealing in large part because of its reputation and significance to gaming history, which is equal to that of Star Wars. Nightdive Studios has given the original material the same kind of care and attention as it did for its outstanding 2023 remaster of System Shock, bringing it (back) to life. It’s important to understand that this Dark Forces has not been remade, even though it has been completely recreated using the original code. Rather than redesigning landscapes or objects in ultra HD detail, the game’s layout, progression, and blocky style have all painstakingly recreated that 1995 aesthetic, resisting the need to update elements for today’s players.
An experience that, despite its distinctly antiquated design, feels shockingly current.
The true genius of Nightdive’s presentation of the game is how it makes more experienced players feel as though they are familiar with it. The high-resolution, low-poly visuals depicted here are probably familiar to anyone who played this curled up against a CRT display, excited as Katarn made removing the Death Star schematics look trivial, before discovering the Empire’s terrifying Dark Trooper project. The truth was far more hazy. Not convinced by us? In a masterful touch of realism, you can disable all of Dark Forces Remaster’s modern improvements, like better cutscenes and sprites, and return to the game’s original software-based rendering, which forces you to shoot down groups of white pixels that resemble Stormtroopers in a 4:3 aspect ratio. While playing the game in that format on a 4K TV feels almost masochistic, it’s a remarkable piece of historical preservation nonetheless.
Dark Forces Remaster includes a ton of extra content, including as concept art, cutscene development, and behind-the-scenes glimpses, which further solidifies its status as the definitive version of a classic. Much of this is stuff you’ll glance at once, but the real treasure is a playable version of the previously-abandoned level “The Avenger.” It was originally intended to be a trade show demo for the game, but it was cut from the final version of Dark Forces, so having it here completes the package.
But if Dark Forces wasn’t a fantastic game in the first place, gathering all of these historical oddities together and giving the entire thing a visual makeover appropriate for screens in the twenty-first century wouldn’t mean anything. Despite its somewhat antiquated design, it provides a surprisingly modern experience. The main issue is its briefness; it seemed rushed back in 1995 and feels that way now, but you can extend your playtime with this classic game by replaying each level to find secrets you might have missed and by using the cheat code function to break the rules.