Star Wars Fan Map Project Proves Dark Forces Deserves A Full Remake

Star Wars: Dark Forces, a groundbreaking first-person shooter from the nineties that kicked off the Jedi Knight series, has been remade in a high-definition demo, and it shows that a fully licensed remake should come next. Dark Forces, released in 1995, followed the adventures of Kyle Katarn, a mercenary working for the Rebel Alliance who would become the Jedi protagonist of the Jedi Knight series of games. While the latter series would continue Katarn’s story as a Jedi (complete with lightsaber and force powers), Dark Forces was considered a “Doom Clone” and added new features that improved the first-person shooter experience. With today’s advances in high-definition graphic engines, however, it may be just the right time to revive Star Wars: Dark Forces.

The demo level of the Star Wars: Dark Forces remake was made in Unreal Engine 4, and it certainly looks impressive. The environment was created by Jason Lewis, who is currently a Lead Environment Artist at VR developer Survios. Survios has collaborated with other movie and TV properties in the past, creating VR experiences of The Walking Dead, Westworld, and Creed. Lewis has been working on the Dark Forces demo since 2016 using Unreal Engine 4, apparently in his free time with several other collaborators.

The results of Lewis and his team’s hard work is absolutely stunning, both on their Dark Forces remake and their fanmade recreation of A New Hope‘s Mos Eisley spaceport (a common location in both the Legends and canon Star Wars games). The spacious, outdoor environments in both projects are incredibly detailed and littered with alien terrain and fungi. The interior halls recreate the stark, oppressive contrast of Imperial construction designs, littered with immobile stormtroopers, so if anyone should be working on a Star Wars: Dark Forces remake, it should be them.

Star Wars: Dark Forces Demo Should Become A Fully Licensed Remake

Remakes and remasters of older video games are immensely popular at the minute, and with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic being the first Star Wars game to get a full remake, there’s a chance that remakes of games like Star Wars: Dark Forces could come next. Just like the FF7 Remake, KOTOR‘s remake could revamp the combat of the original game, and move away from a turn-based system to something more action-oriented. Similar gameplay alterations could also be made to Dark Forces to bring its shooting mechanics up to date. The story could even be expanded upon with additional, Star Wars-canon materials, which would also bring back fan-favorite Legends character Kyle Katarn back into continuity.

There is a clear desire to recreate older Star Wars video games, both from Lucasfilm Games and among the wider Star Wars fanbase. Similar fan projects to remaster the original Star Wars Battlefront games have proven especially popular online, and both that series and other classic Star Wars titles still enjoy active modding communities. Although not full remasters, games like Star Wars: Republic Commando and Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy have been re-released in recent years, and elements from the classic LucasArts games continue to inform the wider Disney-era canon. Lewis took up his Dark Forces project as a fun exercise in environment-building, but it also illustrates that the old era of Star Wars games still has plenty to offer. The galaxy far, far away has always been an incredible video game sandbox, and Star Wars: Dark Forces should be its next castle.

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