Darkish Forces is a traditional recreation for a cause—not only a nice licensed recreation that informed a brand new, unique story in a beloved franchise, however as a result of it helped start to revolutionize the first-person shooter style as we know it, setting the stage for iconic luminaries within the discipline. And now, it’s again with a contemporary coat of paint.
Introduced in the present day throughout Gamescom, Nightdive Studios is engaged on a remaster of Darkish Forces, updating the 1995 shooter with up to date 4K graphics and high-framerate modes. It’s not an entire overhaul, however the sprucing up of Darkish Forces’ traditional 2D and early 3DCG cutscenes captures plenty of the legendary ‘90s gaming aesthetic whereas simply giving it a clear go. Darkish Forces nonetheless appears to be like like Darkish Forces and never, say, Jedi: Survivor, however that’s the purpose—it’s not a remake, however an invite to return to that second in Star Wars and gaming historical past and see it as your hazy recollections recalled it.
Darkish Forces is a product of its time, after all—the way it mechanically holds up for intrigued audiences who’ve missed out on it through the years stays to be seen. However what’s immortal in regards to the recreation is that as Star Wars has advanced as a lot because the FPS style has, Darkish Forces has discovered itself much more vital to Star Wars storytelling even because it light out of canonicity. The story of how Kyle Katarn stole the Dying Star plans—or no less than, the complicated process of all that—might now not “matter” from the standpoint that it’s now not canon. But it surely’s laborious to have a look at fashionable Star Wars and never see Darkish Forces’ thematic, symbolical and ideological finger prints throughout it.
Kyle himself has but to make the leap over from Legends to the present continuity, however a lot of what made Darkish Pressure compelling as a Star Wars story has. There’s literal examples, like the Dark Troopers being picked up by The Mandalorian, Kyle’s iconic ship The Moldy Crow making cameo appearances in video games and comics, and even the straightforward undeniable fact that Cassian Andor—the closest modern Star Wars has to a Kyle Katarn—actually has Kyle’s legendary Bryar blaster pistol in his personal present.
However Darkish Forces issues tonally to what Star Wars is asking of itself within the right here and now because it navigates its personal rendition of the early days of the Rise up, of the strains wanted to be crossed by its operatives within the identify of combating towards the Empire. The murky side of revolution is what drives the likes of Rebels, Rogue One, and Andor, and whereas Kyle himself would go down a very different, fascinating path in future Darkish Forces video games—finally changing into a Grasp in Luke’s New Jedi Order—it’s laborious to not see the affect of what was as soon as a faux-Han Solo vibe on the planet Star Wars inhabits now with protagonists like Din Djarin or the aforementioned Cassian.
Perhaps Darkish Forces didn’t want remastering, when its spirit is alive and effectively in Star Wars regardless of its non-canonical standing. But it surely’s no less than good that it’s getting one to remind us that one among Star Wars’ most iconic video video games nonetheless issues to the galaxy far, far-off. The Darkish Forces remaster will launch on Ps 4 and 5, Xbox One and Xbox Sequence X/S, Nintendo Swap, and PC by way of Steam, with a launch date announcement coming later this 12 months.
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