Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster Review – Now This is Podracing

From Quake and Turok to System Shock and more, at this point, Nightdive Studios almost seems to have a monopoly on remastering old, beloved first-person shooters- and we’re really not complaining, because it does it really well, and with surprising consistency. Now, the studio has turned its eyes to 1995’s Star Wars: Dark Forces, a game that is not only widely regarded as one of the better Star Wars games out there despite its age, but can also be legitimately credited for advancing the first-person shooter genre forward in meaningful ways, having been an unprecedented blend of DOOM-style action and narrative-driven progression at the time of its release.

In remastered form, Dark Forces still manages to impress, thanks to a combination of its own inherent strengths, many of which have stood the test of time wonderfully, and the excellent modernizing and remastering work done by Nightdive Studios. Of course, as a game that’s nearly three decades old now, not every aspect of the experience stands up to scrutiny very well, but even though there are parts of it that do very blatantly show their age, by and large, for fans of both Star Wars and shooters in general, this is the best version of what’s still a really good game.

"In remastered form, Dark Forces still manages to impress, thanks to a combination of its own inherent strengths, many of which have stood the test of time wonderfully, and the excellent modernizing and remastering work done by Nightdive Studios."

Split across fourteen levels that take you to different locations, Dark Forces sees you stepping into the shoes of Kyle Katarn, a Rebel hero who has, by now, become an all-time Star Wars fan-favourite (too bad he’s no longer part of the official canon, right?). By modern standards, the game’s storytelling tendancies don’t feel nearly as cinematic or flashy as they did back in the day, at a time where any level of storytelling in a first-person shooter would have impressed, but even without that impact, it’s easy as a Star Wars fan to get invested in the tale that Dark Forces spins. From well-written characters to excellent uses of familiar Star Wars trapping, there’s plenty that contributes to that, while the excellent glow-up that Nightdive has provided to the cutscenes helps massively as well.

The star of the show here, however, is the action, which still feels surprisingly good, especially for a game that’s nearly thirty years old. The simple act of moving around and shooting remains constantly enjoyable in Dark Forces, and though the core loop very rarely has you focusing on anything other than walking through levels and shooting enemies (at least to a meaningful degree), thanks to how enjoyable the combat is and how great the weapons feel to shoot, it never loses its charm.

Of course, some parts of the experience haven’t aged quite so well- like the level design, which can feel almost unnecessarily mazy at times, which means there will be times when you will invariably get lost in the levels). Then there are the baffling puzzles – where at times even trying to figure out what the puzzle wants you to do, let alone how to solve it, can take a lot of trial and error – or the obscure objectives, which will often have you looking for keycards or hidden switches and the like, forcing you to comb through levels like you’re trying to find a needle in a haystack. Those parts of the game will almost definitely be frustrating regardless of how familiar you are with the tendencies of first-person shooters from the 90s, so having a guide at hand to help remove that friction and allow you to properly enjoy the combat might be the best way to play this game in today’s day and age.

"The simple act of moving around and shooting remains constantly enjoyable in Dark Forces, and though the core loop very rarely has you focusing on anything other than walking through levels and shooting enemies (at least to a meaningful degree), thanks to how enjoyable the combat is and how great the weapons feel to shoot, it never loses its charm."

Beyond the game’s own inherent strengths and weaknesses, there’s still plenty more to talk about, because Nightdive Studios has, as Nightdive Studios does, poured its heart and soul into this remaster. Far from a simple upres, Dark Forces Remaster is an impressive glow up of a game that should not look or feel as good to play this far out from its release as it does. Yes, it supports 4K and 120 FPS now, and it does so near-flawlessly, but though that’s impressive in and of itself, there’s so much more going on here that deserves praise.

Assets and textures have been rebuilt entirely, not only during gameplay itself, but also cutscenes, which means everything looks much sharper, much crisper, much more detailed. Somehow, the game manages to do that without losing the feel and aesthetic of the original. That’s a trap that we see remasters and remakes falling into so often in their attempts to modernize the visuals of old games, so the fact that Dark Forces Remaster looks as good as it does while also retaining the original’s visual identity cannot be praised enough. And if, for whatever reason, the remaster’s new look doesn’t appeal to your tastes, you can always swap between its “hardware” and “software” modes to return to a visual style that resembles the original game even more faithfully, warts and all.

Beyond that, Nightdive Studios has packed Star Wars: Dark Forces Remastered full of quality-of-life improves and new accessibility features, including being able to customize controls, toggles for things such as HUD flashes and head bobbing, having options for crosshairs, and more. In an industry that so often seems to use remasters as an excuse for putting out low-effort cashgrabs that barely make any meaningful or necessary changes, Dark Forces Remaster feels like a breath of fresh air with how much it adds and improves. But then again, that’s Nightdive’s MO, so this isn’t surprising at this point. Still, it shouldn’t be taken for granted.

"Assets and textures have been rebuilt entirely, not only during gameplay itself, but also cutscenes, which means everything looks much sharper, much crisper, much more detailed. Somehow, the game manages to do that without losing the feel and aesthetic of the original."

All in all, there’s a lot to like here for fans of classic shooters and Star Wars. The original Dark Forces has a special place in the hearts of many people to this day, so it’s certainly been surprising to see it being roundly ignored by gaming companies for so long. Its return to the limelight has been long overdue- but now that it has returned, it’s done so in convincing fashion, proving just why it’s held in the regard that it is, and why Nightdive Studios is the industry’s premiere developer of remasters, especially for classic, old school games. Obviously, there are parts of the game that are going to be more than a little frustrating for modern audiences – that’s pretty much unavoidable for a three decade-old game – but Dark Forces Remaster does a great job of allowing the parts of the game that are still good to flourish as best they can. Honestly, it does pretty much everything it could have in that regard short of being a ground-up remake.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.