Star Wars: Dark Forces and Turok 3 are next on Nightdive's remaster list

[Daniel Sims]

Something to look forward to: Nightdive Studios seems to be in a highly productive phase. In less than a month since releasing well-received remasters for Rise of the Triad and Quake II, the company has unveiled plans for two additional revamps of classic first-person shooters. One of these projects even has a scheduled release date for this year.

The studio responsible for the System Shock remake and the recent Quake II remaster has officially announced its ongoing work on upgraded editions of Star Wars: Dark Forces and Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion. While Turok 3 is set to be released on November 14, there is no confirmed release date yet for Dark Forces.

Both games will be available on current and previous generation PlayStation and Xbox consoles, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Players can anticipate the standard improvements such as higher resolutions and frame rates, enhanced graphics, optional gyro aiming, gamepad compatibility, and various quality-of-life enhancements.

Listed features for Turok 3 specifically include 4K 120fps gameplay, bloom, ambient occlusion, dynamic shadows, and motion blur. The details about Dark Forces are currently less clear, but a teaser trailer provides glimpses of retouched cut scenes.

Originally released in 1995, Star Wars: Dark Forces made its debut on MS-DOS and Mac platforms, arriving on the original PlayStation the following year. Its gameplay was notably more advanced and diverse compared to the then-recent Doom, bearing some resemblance to upcoming Build engine titles like Duke Nukem 3D.

While Dark Forces doesn't offer players lightsabers or force powers, it boasts an extensive collection of unique weapons. Among its many types of enemies are the Dark Troopers – imposing robotic Imperial soldiers who later appeared in The Mandalorian.

For those interested in experiencing Dark Forces with modern enhancements, the original version can be purchased for $5, and you can install the Force Engine – a recently released free mod that adds support for high-resolution graphics and mouselook functionality. This mod is available on the developer's blog (version 1.09) and TechSpot's download section (version 1.0).

This FPS classic also introduced Kyle Katarn, a fan-favorite character from the Star Wars expanded universe, who later became the protagonist of the subsequent Jedi Knight games. Nightdive's agreement with Lucasfilm Games to remaster Dark Forces could potentially pave the way for re-releases of its sequels or other vintage Star Wars titles.

Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion originally launched exclusively on the Nintendo 64 in 2000. Nightdive's remaster will mark its debut on PC platforms. With dual protagonists, the game wraps up the storyline from Turok and Turok 2, both of which the company previously re-released.

Nightdive also recently expressed interest in remastering Unreal but series publisher Epic Games hasn't said anything on the matter.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/99897-star-wars-dark-forces-turok-3-next-nightdive.html

 

[DDG4005]

They have to remaster Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders, Hexen I and II, and Heretic 2. A remastered Unreal series would be dope, but what I'd really like to see is a remastered Descent series. Now that would be something.

 

[Homerlovesbeer]

So over remakes........get some fresh ideas already.

 

[arrowflash]

Turok 3, finally. Very welcome addition to Nightdive's remasters. I find the N64 version very wonky to play on emulators, in no small part due to the control scheme.

As for Dark Forces, I hope the Nightdive remaster will be worth it when we already have The Force Engine source port which is pretty good, brings many improvements to the game and is in active development. TFE is pretty much on the level or better than your average Nightdive remaster.

 

[jpvalverde85]

After checking Quake2 remaster, I certainly was expecting a remake, I already had at hand sorta remaster with yamagi quake2 even upgrading the graphics and models a bit and with kmquake2 even VR was at hand, pretty modern aproach with vulkan support, very playable and upgradeable in graphics.
A remaster of DF2 feels damn dated, I would prefer a remake there too.
Turok didnt show up at PC as a native FPS, rather a port of a limited N64 release, Turok 2 was better, so if it doesnt look dated could be interesting to play as remaster.

 

[Mr Majestyk]

Not playing a game still using sprites.

Disney should just pay to have Dark Forces remade instead of lipsticking fossilised pigs.

 

[arrowflash]

They have to remaster Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders, Hexen I and II, and Heretic 2. A remastered Unreal series would be dope, but what I'd really like to see is a remastered Descent series. Now that would be something.

Almost all games you mention already have source ports that bring them to remaster standards or even better, to the point I think in most cases it would be a though call for a remaster to surpass the source ports already available.

Heretic and Hexen 1: GZDoom
Hexen 2: Hammer of Thyrion
Descent 1 and 2: DX Rebirth, really recommend it if you haven't tried it
Unreal: OldUnreal + lots of optional enhancements (hi-res texture packs, improved models ,etc)

Of course, same could be said about classic Quake but they still managed to make a pretty good product with good content for the remaster (haven't played the Quake 2 remaster yet to judge).

Out of the ones you mention, a Heretic 2 remaster would be the most interesting IMO since there's no source port and just one community patch that basically just adds 60 fps and widescreen resolution support.

 

[ZedRM]

The studio responsible for the System Shock remake and the recent Quake II remaster has officially announced its ongoing work on upgraded editions of Star Wars: Dark Forces

Ok, THIS I can get behind. Unreal, not so much, but Dark Forces?!? Hell yeah!! Bring it on Nightdive!

(haven't played the Quake 2 remaster yet to judge)

It's actually very good! Give it a go. If you already own it on GOG, Epic or Steam, you get the Remaster free. If not, $10 is more than a reasonable price for such an excellent game!

@NightDive Studios
Return to Castle Wolfenstein! Oh yeah. Pretty please? With a cheery on top? Just remember, GOG. Why? Because DRM is pathetic and disrespects the user.

 

[Bamda]

I would LOVE to see the Gold Box series get a remake! I am so for that. LOL