Experience the original Star Wars first-person shooter in a shiny new form with Dark Forces Remaster

A long time ago (1995) in a galaxy far, far away (the basement den where I convinced my mom to set up her Windows 95 PC), I spent an awful lot of time playing Star Wars: Dark Forces. As a certified dork who loved the Star Wars movies and equally loved the fast-paced shooting action of Doom, a game that blended the two was like a dream come true.

Of course, games have changed a lot in the nearly thirty years since Dark Forces first came out, which is why I'm so excited to see it getting a new and improved release. Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster comes to us from the retro masters at Nightdive Studios, whose updates of older games have included classics like Doom 64, Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition, and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and its sequels. In other words, they love old games—especially shooters—and know how to treat them right.

If you've never experienced Star Wars: Dark Forces, you're in for a treat with the Remaster. The game includes fourteen levels of intense action spread around a wide variety of Star Wars universe locales. The exploration is top-notch and the shooting is intense. And it also happens to serve as the introduction of Kyle Katarn, a beloved expanded canon character who would go on to star in the Jedi Knight series of games.

Whether you loved Dark Forces years ago or want to check it out for the first time, you can soon. Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster launches on February 28, 2024, for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X and S. We'll be readying our blasters and checking it out ourselves, so watch for a review from one of TapTap's editors around that release date.