I can clearly remember the first time I laid my eyes upon Star Wars: Dark Forces. It was back when my family was about to make the jump from not having anything to do with the Internet to buying a Windows 95 machine and booting up America Online. We had been living in the U.S for a few months and were walking around a mall – remember those? – when we stopped at a Sears for some reason. There, I stumbled upon a store demo machine and it happened to be running a demo of the game.
Back in 1995 there were no first-person shooters. They were called Doom clones at the time and for good reason, since the juggernaut from id Software had its firm grasp on the throne for quite a while at that point and everyone else was struggling to come up with their own games within the new gaming genre. One in particular struck a chord and turned into one of the most influential titles… you guessed it, Star Wars: Dark Forces.
Dark Forces was not only an excellent shooter that introduced the notion of having an actual story and cohesive narrative that strings levels together, as well as gameplay mechanics such as being able to look up and down, but it was also one hell of a Star Wars product. Back in ‘95, the brand was at best in a shaky point of its lifecycle, and the only real medium making use of it was games.
This one in particular shone light at a particularly overlooked part of the saga, and for decades it remained within the official canon, until Lucasfilm was bought by Disney and the timeline was rebooted, relegating all non-film content to “Legends” status. During the time it was the real deal, though, Kyle Katarn, the game’s protagonist, was the one who stole the Death Star’s plans, opening up the way for the first movie’s climactic finale.
Dark Forces went on to kickstart its own series, followed up by the equally excellent Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight and both Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy, which as their names imply, took the story towards a more Jedi-centric path. The original stands on its own as a spy thriller, one that has Kyle investigating the Empire all the while mowing down waves of enemies pulled straight out of the films, as well as some that were exclusively created for the game.
One in particular is the Dark Trooper. A concept that was originally brought upon by Dark Forces and was later adopted by The Mandalorian, where the bad guys created a super powerful version of the Stormtrooper, one that couldn’t be stopped by any normal means. Only human and armed with an assortment of universe-appropriate weapons, Katarn had his work cut out for him all throughout his first adventure, culminating in a battle against the game’s ultimate baddie, Imperial Admiral Rom Mohc.
Last year, the wizards from Nightdive Studios delivered an excellent edition of Star Wars: Dark Forces, which I had the opportunity to talk about for the site. An incredible package full of bonus materials and increments to graphics, music, and gameplay, Dark Forces Remastered proved to be a hit not only among fans of the original, but also casuals who had never touched it on DOS. It’s by far the best way to play through the game if you don’t mind paying a premium, otherwise you’re good to go on GOG, where it’s relatively cheap, especially on sale.
Regardless of the way you choose to play this, be sure to give it a shot if you haven’t. Even though it doesn’t count anymore in the grand scheme of Star Wars, it’s a reminder of the evolution of the genre we all know and love today. A vital stepping stone that today’s developers have climbed up onto in order to reach what FPS is today. Dark Forces is a bonefine classic and it’s incredible to think it’s 30 already. It’s infinitely replayable and a great way to blow some steam.
I’ll see you in a galaxy far, far away…
