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General discussionComing soon: STAR WARS™: Dark Forces Remaster(71 posts)(71 posts)
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Posted October 31, 2023
An iconic classic, fully remastered by the team at Nightdive Studios, through its proprietary KEX engine, allowing the game to run on modern gaming devices at up to 4K resolution at 120FPS.

STAR WARS™: Dark Forces Remaster is coming soon to GOG!

Expect all fourteen original levels, featuring Star Wars™ worlds and capital ships, engaging first-person ground combat featuring ten weapons and twenty types of enemies, Personal Digital Assistant (providing you with in game information such including map, inventory, and mission briefing), modern gamepad support, controller support, advanced 3D rendering, up to 4K 120FPS visuals, and much more!



The original 1995 Star Wars: Dark Forces raised the bar for FPS games, offering players a significant degree of movement and interactivity, a large selection of items and power-ups, and engaging environments.

In that iconic title you assume the role of Kyle Katarn, a defector of the Galactic Empire turned mercenary for hire. Katarn joins the Rebel Alliance’s covert operations division tasked with infiltrating the Galactic Empire, where he discovers the secret Dark Trooper Project. The development of this powerful new series of Imperial battle droids and power-armored stormtroopers stands to strengthen the Empire’s grip on the galaxy unless Katarn and the Rebel Alliance intervene.

With STAR WARS™: Dark Forces Remaster, every new and returning player will be able to enjoy all of that with upgraded gameplay, high-resolution textures, enhanced lighting and rendering, and support for gamepads.

Make sure to wishlist the game now so you won’t miss its release or any special offer. With Nightdive Studios behind the wheel, we couldn’t be more excited!
Posted October 31, 2023
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timppu: Sorry to go against the grain, but I admit I am not interested enough to this remake. Even with the updated engine it seems too dated. I recall enjoying the original back in the day, but after retrying it lately... nah.
I'm inclined to agree. I didn't play it back in the day, only once I got the original here, and while I'm very glad to have played it once to experience the entirety of the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series, I doubt I'll ever feel inclined to play it again, remastered or otherwise. It's somehow simultanously too dated and not dated enought for me. I recently played Blake Stone and had a ton of fun with, because it's so damn simple and arcade-y. Dark Forces is too advanced to be fun in that way, but too dated to be fun for me in a more modern way.

Plus, it has the mother of all sewer levels, and that alone might be enough to put me off from replaying it :D
Post edited October 31, 2023 by Breja
Posted November 01, 2023
Almost wish this was a remake and not a remaster. I still enjoy the original... but a well-done remake could have gotten me interested in buying the game (again).
Posted November 01, 2023
Got mixed feelings.

Does it run all of the custom levels from decades past? If not, the only reason to buy it would be the cutscenes, resolutions, and (presumably) mouse input. But I already have a fix to get mouselook in the original Dark Forces, and it plays just fine on Windows 10.

If this was a remake that added modding ability like GZDoom does for Doom, THEN I would be onboard. You couldn't mod the AI or put in truly new weapons in the original DF without decompiling, so all "new weapons" were merely cosmetic.

And I've wanted that capability since the mid 90s!

I did mod the hell out of Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II though... ;)

Breja:

Anoat City Sewers. I remember that level, it's where the free 3 level demo ended that my uncle gave me! Being in the dark when the first Dianoga ("Deathstar Trash Compactor Eyeball Tentacle Monster") attacks is a VERY memorable experience!

They also have WAAAY more teeth than Legends lore give them. Though I remember getting eaten alive by the Dianoga boss from Shadows of the Empire as well...
Post edited November 01, 2023 by eddee
Posted November 01, 2023
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kai2: Almost wish this was a remake and not a remaster. I still enjoy the original... but a well-done remake could have gotten me interested in buying the game (again).
Considering what a struggle System Shock was, I doubt we'll be seeing another proper remake from Nightdive. At least not for a long time from now...

Having said that, considering the aestetical style of these games, I think that a remaster might just be enough...
Post edited November 01, 2023 by MadalinStroe
Posted November 01, 2023
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kai2: Almost wish this was a remake and not a remaster. I still enjoy the original... but a well-done remake could have gotten me interested in buying the game (again).
You should try to get the UE4 Mos Eisley Demo for a potential Dark Forces remake, which had to be taken offline due to licence issues (or better: they had no licence at all), but it's still available in some places.
Post edited November 01, 2023 by neumi5694
Posted November 01, 2023
Where are the high resolution textures in the gameplay? The gameplay shows the same as already known, but just in widescreen mode.

The Macintosh version of Dark Forces had a much higher resolution than the other versions. If I remember correctly it had at least 640 x 400 pixel resolution if not even higher. The DOS version did run in much lower resolution (320 x 200 or so). The Playstation was even lower.

I like the readrawn cutescenes with the high resolution.
Post edited November 01, 2023 by wildapple-SI
Posted November 01, 2023
In my childhood, well not so childhood, i had a very long sessions playing SW Dark Forces and Jedi Knight. Recently i tried to play again and i don't know if it was because of the monitor hz or the speed but i felt dizzy, so these fps are not more for me.
Posted November 01, 2023
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Breja: I'm inclined to agree. I didn't play it back in the day, only once I got the original here, and while I'm very glad to have played it once to experience the entirety of the Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series, I doubt I'll ever feel inclined to play it again, remastered or otherwise. It's somehow simultanously too dated and not dated enought for me. I recently played Blake Stone and had a ton of fun with, because it's so damn simple and arcade-y. Dark Forces is too advanced to be fun in that way, but too dated to be fun for me in a more modern way.

Plus, it has the mother of all sewer levels, and that alone might be enough to put me off from replaying it :D
While I don't recall all the levels etc. on it anymore, that seems like a good analysis.

Back in the day it was a great release: besides being a Star Wars game (e.g. I loved X-Wing and Tie Fighter games back then, even if I never was a real Star Wars fan), it had good FPS gameplay for that era, and the graphics were quite good too, considering it was still the Doom era of gaming. (Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 was then more like the Quake-era of gaming).

It was quite a modern game back then but fails to be that anymore, which diminishes its gameplay value today, more than, say, Tetris, whose power is exactly in its simplicity.

In my eyes, old flight simulators and racing games have a similar problem. There's probably nothing that newer racing games and flight simulators haven't done better, besides also looking better. Sad but true. As great as F/A-18 Interceptor was on Amiga 500, or Falcon 3.0c was on PC, they are not that interesting games anymore. Even if their graphics were updated somewhat.
Post edited November 01, 2023 by timppu
Posted November 01, 2023
Let's hope there will be a quick save function!!!!!

If not, I will remember that game fondly, but not touch it again! Not being able to save in the levels was a huuuuge nightmare!
Posted November 01, 2023
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eddee: Got mixed feelings.

Does it run all of the custom levels from decades past? If not, the only reason to buy it would be the cutscenes, resolutions, and (presumably) mouse input. But I already have a fix to get mouselook in the original Dark Forces, and it plays just fine on Windows 10.
I have fond memories of playing dozens of those fan-made missions (and less-fond memories of spending hours downloading a file of just a few MB over dial-up internet, only to have someone else in the house pick up the phone when it reached 99% and ruin the whole thing). But a lot of those missions had custom assets, so at best the missions would have jarringly jagged, ancient-looking fan-made sprites and textures surrounded by remastered content. Which I suppose still beats the alternative.

That said, do you know any place to actually find those custom levels? I've only been able to track down a handful. It might be fun to give them another try decades later.
Posted November 01, 2023
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wildapple-SI: The Macintosh version of Dark Forces had a much higher resolution than the other versions. If I remember correctly it had at least 640 x 400 pixel resolution if not even higher.
640x480, though the game view was 640x400 and the HUD was below that in the remaining screen space, rather than an overlay.
Where are the high resolution textures in the gameplay? The gameplay shows the same as already known, but just in widescreen mode.
No, the textures are clearly upscaled. They aren't different textures, just higher resolution, probably AI upscaled. Most obvious with the weapon sprites, see attached. That's not an artifact of a higher screen resolution, as the Mac version had the same textures so the weapons and stuff didn't look any better up close, it was just a lot easier to see things in the distance.
Attachments:
texcompare.jpg (491 Kb)
Posted November 02, 2023
The gameplay graphics seem ok-ish but the cut scenes esp. at 0:50 with Darth Vader comparison look goddamn awful! How I despise that specific cheap comic look.

I hope you can switch that back to the original pixel graphics, otherwise it's a pass for me.
I have the original, which is good enough for me.

Why is Nightdive so hit or miss? Not only across their catalog but also within one single game.
Post edited November 02, 2023 by dyscode
Posted November 02, 2023
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dyscode: The gameplay graphics seem ok-ish but the cut scenes esp. at 0:50 with Darth Vader comparison look goddamn awful! How I despise that specific cheap comic look.
The cut scenes were never good. Already 1995 testers complained about them.

To play the original ... play the original. It runs great in The Force Engine, cutscenes untouched.

The one and only thing I have to criticize is, that the keyboard only controls don't work like in the original.
(strafing works differently).
Posted November 02, 2023
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dyscode: The gameplay graphics seem ok-ish but the cut scenes esp. at 0:50 with Darth Vader comparison look goddamn awful! How I despise that specific cheap comic look.
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neumi5694: The cut scenes were never good. Already 1995 testers complained about them.

To play the original ... play the original. It runs great in The Force Engine, cutscenes untouched.

The one and only thing I have to criticize is, that the keyboard only controls don't work like in the original.
(strafing works differently).
I don't mean _all_ the cut scenes, sorry for lazy description from me. The ray traced scenes are fine.

I was talking specifically about that Darth Vader / General 'image repaint/ enhancement' at 0:50, which looks utterly terrible to me. The old pixel version look so much better.
Post edited November 02, 2023 by dyscode
Posted November 02, 2023
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dyscode: I don't mean _all_ the cut scenes, sorry for lazy description from me. The ray traced scenes are fine.

I was talking specifically about that Darth Vader / General 'image repaint/ enhancement' at 0:50, which looks utterly terrible to me. The old pixel version look so much better.
Same for me :)
It's only about the hand drawn sequences. Back then they were subject to a lot of criticism. Testers said they looked like the Augsburger Puppenkiste.

The rendered ones are ok, I could have done with a few more frames tho.

That and the limited numbers of 14 levels were the main critic points, despite the fact that each of these levels is easily as large as multiple levels in Doom.

edit: I like this Kyle Katarn best btw. The illustrated novels which were released for Dark Forces and Jedi Knight always show his design from JK. But him being a spec ops trooper in a combat armor somehow fits better.
Post edited November 02, 2023 by neumi5694
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionComing soon: STAR WARS™: Dark Forces Remaster(71 posts)(71 posts)
(71 posts)