Star Wars Dark Forces Remaster brings the iconic Doom-era shooter back with improved visuals

Star Wars: Dark Forces is a first-person shooter set in the iconic Star Wars universe developed by LucasArts and released for MS-DOS computers in 1995. It launched at a time when every release in the genre was labeled a 'Doom-clone'; however, the development team at LucasArts managed to inject the game with plenty of stories, cutting-edge multi-level stages, and incredible visuals and sound design (for the time).

This week, the game is getting a remaster courtesy of the retro gaming wizards at Nightdive Studios, collaborating with Lucasfilm Games, for the release of Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.

Nightdive, who recently remastered Quake II and Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Remastered, once again ports a classic to use its versatile KEX engine, allowing for up to 4K 120 FPS on current-gen consoles and PC hardware, with fully remastered artwork, including the cinematic sequences (or cut-scenes), presenting and preserving this classic for a new generation.

Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster also features a special treat for fans, with never-before-seen and playable content from the 1995 original.

"At a time where FPSs were largely abstract in locales, Dark Forces pushed the tech forward enough to be able to successfully realize familiar and more realistic environments," Nightdive's Project Lead and Producer, Max Waine, says. "In addition to that it was able to tell a cohesive story, complete with fully voice-acted cutscenes. The sum total of this is a game that really pushed forward just how immersive FPSs could be."