The Star Wars Dark Forces Remaster finally gives one of the best Star Wars games, albeit often one of the more underappreciated entries, the love it truly deserves. As the origin point for the beloved Jedi Knight series, Star Wars Dark Forces is a classic of the ‘90s, blending Doom and Star Wars to make something truly memorable that has stood the test of time. Now Nightdive Studios, the studio behind the recent Quake 2 Remastered and the System Shock Enhanced Editions, is bringing it back in full 4K, 120fps glory.
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.