Welcome to EXPlay, (Explain & Play) the review series where we care not for scores but tell it how it is when it comes to every game we get our hands on, whilst also taking the time to include some lengthy gameplay, to give you the reader, the chance to shape your own impressions and views whilst watching and reading.
In this explanatory review, we’re covering Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster by developer Nightdive Studios:
Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster: (The Explanation)
Nightdive Studios are back with another blast from the past with Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster. The remaster was announced alongside Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion during Gamescom back in 2023. Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster was originally developed by LucasArts and saw release on Macintosh and MS-DOS in 1995 and on Sony PlayStation in 1996. Now, almost 30 years later, it graces new platforms thanks to the magic of Nightdive Studios.
For those unfamiliar with Star Wars: Dark Forces, it is a first-person shooter game with platforming and puzzle elements. It follows Kyle Katarn, an imperial defector turned mercenary who has aligned himself with the Rebel Alliance and takes on the occasional mission for them. Set before and immediately after the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Kyle was involved in stealing the Imperial plans for the Death Star and handing them over to the Rebel Alliance (bear in mind the game was developed decades before Rogue One came on the scene, and some of the games set in the expanded universe of Star Wars are not always canon to the main films).
As Kyle, players can use an arsenal of weapons like blasters, thermal detonators, mortar cannons, and the like to show the Empire’s finest who’s boss. You start off with a standard blaster pistol and your fists, but you will eventually find better weapons, much like in DOOM, Wolfenstein, Quake, and many other retro FPS games. As all weapons with the exception of your fist require ammo, you will find it on dropped enemies and dotted around each level, alongside health, shields, batteries, and power-ups. The batteries are required to power up your headlamp so you can see in dark spaces (press the Y button to turn the headlamp on and off). There are also a number of upgrades including infrared goggles, a gas mask, and ice cleats to make traversing the hazardous areas in each level or mission.
On the subject of missions, Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster has 14 in total with some of them taking place in imperial bases, on board a star destroyer, a detention center, on Jabba the Hutt’s yacht, and Coruscant. Each mission has a set of objectives that you will need to complete in order to complete the mission. The actual objectives themselves are pretty simple, its normally a straightforward “go here and do this,” the level design however, is the real challenge.
You have a map, which you can bring up by pressing down on the D-Pad but you have no markers or indication on where you actually need to go or what you need to do first. The mission briefings provide you with a very general outline but as far navigating each level, you are very much a rat in a maze. Every level is essentially a labyrinth and you will find yourself going round in circles more than once without and real direction. When you eventually find a door that you believe could be the way out, it could just well be but then you will be told that a certain key is required and now you have to backtrack in order to try and find the flipping thing just so you can progress forward.
It is a little annoying at times but I know it is not Nightdive Studio’s fault. Like with many of their remasters, they try to keep as faithful to the original game as possible. Sure they will give the character models a good polish, add or replace textures to fit the original intention of the game’s previous developers, and they will even go as far to add a number of accessibility options and control bindings so you can better adapt the game to suit your needs, oh and gyro controls but these are pretty much a given with Nightdive and their remasters at this point. That said, I would really love some objective markers to at least be displayed on the map so I can figure out where I am actually meant to go next.
One thing that I will also add to Nightdive’s favour is that they have recreated the game’s cutscenes with updated visuals and motion but inkeeping with their devotion to game preservation. The modern visuals can be turned on and off for anyone who prefers the original cutscenes instead. There is also a vault that full of cool concept art, development notes, and other stuff that shows off some of the behind the scenes stuff of the game.
Wrapping up, Star Wars: Dark Forces is another bang up job from Nightdive but players beware. The game is a product of its time and new players will find it more difficult to get the hang of than experienced players will. Although on the surface, it may feel like a DOOM clone with Star Wars assets, there is still plenty here to make it feel like an authentic Star Wars experience worthy of taking place in the main series canon.
Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster: (The Gameplay)
Game Specifications:
Developer: Nightdive Studios
Publisher: Nightdive Studios
Platform: Nintendo Switch (eShop)
Category: First-Person, Action, Adventure,
No. of Players: 1 (Single System)
Release Date: NA|EU: February 24, 2024
Price: $29.99
File Size: 1.7 GB
Nintendo.com Listing
