From Quake and Turok to System Shock and extra, at this level, Nightdive Studios nearly appears to have a monopoly on remastering outdated, beloved first-person shooters- and we’re actually not complaining, as a result of it does it actually properly, and with shocking consistency. Now, the studio has turned its eyes to 1995’s Star Wars: Darkish Forces, a recreation that’s not solely extensively thought to be one of many higher Star Wars video games on the market regardless of its age, however will also be legitimately credited for advancing the first-person shooter style ahead in significant methods, having been an unprecedented mix of DOOM-style motion and narrative-driven development on the time of its launch.
In remastered type, Darkish Forces nonetheless manages to impress, due to a mix of its personal inherent strengths, a lot of which have stood the take a look at of time splendidly, and the wonderful modernizing and remastering work carried out by Nightdive Studios. In fact, as a recreation that’s practically three many years outdated now, not each facet of the expertise stands as much as scrutiny very properly, however regardless that there are components of it that do very blatantly present their age, by and huge, for followers of each Star Wars and shooters typically, that is the most effective model of what’s nonetheless a extremely good recreation.
“In remastered type, Darkish Forces nonetheless manages to impress, due to a mix of its personal inherent strengths, a lot of which have stood the take a look at of time splendidly, and the wonderful modernizing and remastering work carried out by Nightdive Studios.”
Break up throughout fourteen ranges that take you to totally different places, Darkish Forces sees you moving into the footwear of Kyle Katarn, a Insurgent hero who has, by now, change into an all-time Star Wars fan-favourite (too dangerous he’s not a part of the official canon, proper?). By fashionable requirements, the sport’s storytelling tendancies don’t really feel practically as cinematic or flashy as they did again within the day, at a time the place any stage of storytelling in a first-person shooter would have impressed, however even with out that affect, it’s simple as a Star Wars fan to get invested within the story that Darkish Forces spins. From well-written characters to wonderful makes use of of acquainted Star Wars trapping, there’s a lot that contributes to that, whereas the wonderful glow-up that Nightdive has supplied to the cutscenes helps massively as properly.
The star of the present right here, nevertheless, is the motion, which nonetheless feels surprisingly good, particularly for a recreation that’s practically thirty years outdated. The easy act of shifting round and capturing stays always pleasurable in Darkish Forces, and although the core loop very not often has you specializing in something apart from strolling by way of ranges and capturing enemies (at the least to a significant diploma), due to how pleasurable the fight is and the way nice the weapons really feel to shoot, it by no means loses its allure.
In fact, some components of the expertise haven’t aged fairly so well- like the extent design, which might really feel nearly unnecessarily mazy at instances, which implies there shall be instances when you’ll invariably get misplaced within the ranges). Then there are the baffling puzzles – the place at instances even attempting to determine what the puzzle needs you to do, not to mention the best way to clear up it, can take quite a lot of trial and error – or the obscure goals, which is able to usually have you ever searching for keycards or hidden switches and the like, forcing you to comb by way of ranges such as you’re looking for a needle in a haystack. These components of the sport will nearly undoubtedly be irritating no matter how acquainted you’re with the tendencies of first-person shooters from the 90s, so having a information at hand to assist take away that friction and help you correctly benefit from the fight may be one of the best ways to play this recreation in at this time’s day and age.
“The easy act of shifting round and capturing stays always pleasurable in Darkish Forces, and although the core loop very not often has you specializing in something apart from strolling by way of ranges and capturing enemies (at the least to a significant diploma), due to how pleasurable the fight is and the way nice the weapons really feel to shoot, it by no means loses its allure.”
Past the sport’s personal inherent strengths and weaknesses, there’s nonetheless a lot extra to speak about, as a result of Nightdive Studios has, as Nightdive Studios does, poured its coronary heart and soul into this remaster. Removed from a easy upres, Darkish Forces Remaster is a formidable glow up of a recreation that ought to not look or really feel nearly as good to play this far out from its launch because it does. Sure, it helps 4K and 120 FPS now, and it does so near-flawlessly, however although that’s spectacular in and of itself, there’s a lot extra occurring right here that deserves reward.
Belongings and textures have been rebuilt fully, not solely throughout gameplay itself, but additionally cutscenes, which implies every part seems a lot sharper, a lot crisper, far more detailed. In some way, the sport manages to try this with out dropping the texture and aesthetic of the unique. That’s a entice that we see remasters and remakes falling into so usually of their makes an attempt to modernize the visuals of outdated video games, so the truth that Darkish Forces Remaster seems nearly as good because it does whereas additionally retaining the unique’s visible id can’t be praised sufficient. And if, for no matter cause, the remaster’s new look doesn’t attraction to your tastes, you possibly can all the time swap between its “{hardware}” and “software program” modes to return to a visible type that resembles the unique recreation much more faithfully, warts and all.
Past that, Nightdive Studios has packed Star Wars: Darkish Forces Remastered stuffed with quality-of-life improves and new accessibility options, together with with the ability to customise controls, toggles for issues corresponding to HUD flashes and head bobbing, having choices for crosshairs, and extra. In an business that so usually appears to make use of remasters as an excuse for placing out low-effort cashgrabs that hardly make any significant or mandatory modifications, Darkish Forces Remaster appears like a breath of recent air with how a lot it provides and improves. However then once more, that’s Nightdive’s MO, so this isn’t shocking at this level. Nonetheless, it shouldn’t be taken as a right.
“Belongings and textures have been rebuilt fully, not solely throughout gameplay itself, but additionally cutscenes, which implies every part seems a lot sharper, a lot crisper, far more detailed. In some way, the sport manages to try this with out dropping the texture and aesthetic of the unique.”
All in all, there’s quite a bit to love right here for followers of traditional shooters and Star Wars. The unique Darkish Forces has a particular place within the hearts of many individuals to at the present time, so it’s actually been shocking to see it being roundly ignored by gaming firms for thus lengthy. Its return to the limelight has been lengthy overdue- however now that it has returned, it’s carried out so in convincing style, proving simply why it’s held within the regard that it’s, and why Nightdive Studios is the business’s premiere developer of remasters, particularly for traditional, old-fashioned video games. Clearly, there are components of the sport which are going to be greater than somewhat irritating for contemporary audiences – that’s just about unavoidable for a 3 decade-old recreation – however Darkish Forces Remaster does an important job of permitting the components of the sport which are nonetheless good to flourish as greatest they’ll. Actually, it does just about every part it might have in that regard wanting being a ground-up remake.
This recreation was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.
