Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster is now available and brings the classic 1995 first-person shooter to PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and Steam. Lovingly ported by Nightdive Studios, it now runs at 4K at 120 FPS, while also featuring high-resolution textures and enhanced lighting. The game simply hasn’t ever looked or played better, which is a great starting point.
Of course, a port wouldn’t mean too much if the game wasn’t fun to play. Thankfully, nearly 30 years after it was originally released, Dark Forces is still quite enjoyable. Gameplay-wise, it’s essentially Doom, with no need to look up and down while aiming and running quickly around large maps. The ten weapons you unlock are all fun to use and combat is responsive and satisfying, with enemies posing a threat but also going down quickly as you buzz around the environments.
There’s also some light puzzle-solving involved, as you’ll need to collect some items to advance and interact with terminals to open doors. Fun areas really flesh out the Star Wars world, with a sewer level being particularly memorable as you fight monsters and change the sewage level to travel to different sections. Some stages can be rather confusing, but this helps pad the overall time, as stages would be quite short if they were more linear. Instead, you get to explore and take your time as you figure out how to complete your objectives.
The story and the character of Kyle Katarn are more fleshed out in the sequel, but Dark Forces deals with the character discovering the Dark Trooper Project and then attempting to stop it. It’s mostly a reason to go to different planets and starships while battling enemies, but it serves as an interesting backdrop and is more intriguing than most shooters of the era. The more you’re into Star Wars, the more you’ll get out of the story, which largely plays in the background to the action.
One of the best elements of the remaster is the vault section, which features a ton of behind-the-scenes elements and even a playable version of a cut level. Called The Avenger, this prototype level was cut from the game for being too difficult as the opening stage. When you check it out, you can see the concern was properly in place, as it’s quite the challenge, but that makes it quite fun to revisit now, especially once you’ve gotten better at Dark Forces.
Beyond the new level, there are also a ton of images, videos, and accompanying text that detail the development of Dark Forces, show off concept art for the game, and show how rotoscoping was used for cutscenes. It might not go quite as far as some of Digital Eclipse’s more exhaustive offerings in terms of BTS content, but it’s clear that Nightdive went the extra mile and scrounged up as much as they could get access to. This is highly appreciated and helps the game go beyond a standard remaster and gives it value as a historical document as well.
Star Wars: Dark Forces Review: The Final Verdict
Nightdive Studios’ Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster is an easy recommendation for any fan of the franchise. The first-person shooting action is a bit dated but charmingly so, and the Doom formula is still fun to experience with a Star Wars theme placed over top. With a ton of extras, this is a no-brainer purchase.
Disclosure: Review code provided by publisher. Reviewed on PS5 on version 1.003.000.
