If someone wanted to officially remake Dark Forces II and make it look like this, I personally would be extremely down for that. In lieu of such a remake, I will settle for the fantastic work of a fan collective called Ruppertle.
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II is a first-person shooter from 1997 created by the great and mighty LucasArts (RIP). The game was set one year after the end of Return of the Jedi and follows mercenary Kyle Katarn as he strengthens his latent connection to the Force. Katarn races to reach the fabled Valley of the Jedi in a bid to find and confront the Dark Jedi Jerec who murdered his father.
Dark Forces II is a cult classic and beloved by many older Star Wars fans for its strong shooting mechanics and fun implementation the Force. It was also one of the first few games to let the player wield a lightsabre in first-person.
Ruppertle has been working on its remake for the last three years or so, attempting to create an updated version of the game in the Unreal Engine that will appeal to fans old and new. The goal was leave the classic Dark Forces II gameplay untouched, but introduce other touches of modernity like upgrades graphics and overhauled controls. And it looks GREAT.
Because the team aren’t all that excited to get sued by a turbo-litigious Walt Disney Corporation, V1.0 of the remake is little more than a proof of concept. It’s two levels from the original game, along with a cluster of four survival levels, a sandbox mode, a few tools for debugging and, as the developers put it, “some secrets”. If you’d like to play it, you can download the latest build from the Ruppertle Discord server here.
It’s beautiful work, the kind that you hope creates a miracle, gets them noticed by the right people, and into a position to expand the scope of the project. If you’d prefer to play the original version without any of the upgrades, you can get it on Steam here.
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