Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster review – a meticulous overhaul of a shooter that still blasts with the best
Dark Forces emerges from Nightdive’s bacta tank refreshed and ready for action, combining classic FPS mayhem with thrilling espionage-themed missions.
“This is too easy” quips Kyle Katarn as he snatches the Death Star plans in Dark Forces’ opening mission. What took Rogue One two-and-a-half ponderous hours to unspool, LucasArts’ shooter pulls off in ten thrilling minutes. For Katarn, a cocky mercenary in tentative accord with the Rebel Alliance, stealing the Death Star plans is just another contract. In, out, job done.
Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster reviewDeveloper: Nightdive Studios, LucasArtsPublisher: Nightdive StudiosPlayed on: PCAvailability: Out now on PC (Steam), PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One and Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch
Katarn’s confidence and competence is echoed both in Dark Forces at large and Nightdive’s work restoring it. The remaster is a consummately professional overhaul, making the game look just how you remember it in a way that belies the work involved to get it to this stage. In doing so, Nightdive reveals a shooter that hits the brief like a proton torpedo, a Doom clone elevated by its vivid, imaginative expansion upon the Star Wars universe.
To make Dark Forces play effortlessly on modern machines, Nightdive has had to dig deep. The studio has rebuilt the game from its original foundations, taking Dark Forces’ source code and reconstructing the game in the studio’s in-house Kex-engine. Moreover, the game’s art has been completely redrawn to look crisp on modern, high-res displays.
