With Star Wars: Squadrons released, all eyes are on the delayed LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. Outside of that title, the world of Star Wars video games is rather quiet. Promising endless fan service and solid, family-friendly adventuring, The Skywalker Saga is shaping up to be an exciting release.
However, it isn't the type of Star Wars experience the larger community is hoping to see. While the fandom waits for the next, high-fidelity Star Wars experience from the EA family of studios, now is the perfect time to revisit the Dark Forces games.
Dark Forces Expand Star Wars Canon with Excellent Combat
A long time ago in a decade far, far removed from 2020, Star Wars: Dark Forces was released. Launching in 1995, Dark Forces wasn't much more than a Star Wars-flavored DOOM-style shooter, but it still offered an engaging experience for fans.
A lot of the game's success could be attributed to the license and the way Dark Forces expanded the Star Wars canon. It introduced one of the Expanded Universe's most iconic faces, Kyle Katarn. From the first mission of Dark Forces where the player steals the plans to the Death Star, Katarn's notoriety grew, as did his series.
What began as Dark Forces morphed into the Jedi Knight series, with Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. From there came Jedi Outcast and then Jedi Academy. The plot still focused on Kyle Katarn (although the player created a custom character for Jedi Academy), but the gameplay shifted to be more about Jedi combat and Force powers.
Of course, just because Dark Forces' shooter gameplay began to lose relevance to the lightsaber combat doesn't mean it faded entirely. It remained an element of gameplay, but not the primary one. The shooting was certainly best in the original Dark Forces, when every blaster bolt packed a resounding punch. That experience was made better by the game's excellent retro aesthetic, and due to those factors, Dark Forces' old-school shooter combat still holds up.
Of course, when players get into the Jedi Knight titles, the appeal is truly about flexing those Force abilities. To this day, many still regard the lightsaber and Force combat in Jedi Knight as the best out of any Star Wars game. There is a level of depth and nuance to this combat that has been exchanged for spectacle and simpler mechanics in later titles, like The Force Unleashed. As such, returning to the Jedi Knight games gives the player an entirely different style of Force gameplay with which to experiment. The learning curve is a bit higher, but the gameplay is all the more rewarding as a result.
The Legacy of Dark Forces
This gameplay success is paired with excellent stories that show dedicated Star Wars fans new corners of the galaxy. The canon elements uncovered and explored here make these titles truly special and offer a fresh appreciation of Star Wars -- particularly in the modern era. There is so much more to the galaxy than Disney-era Star Wars lets on, and the Dark Forces games are a great way to reconnect with many expanded canon elements that have been largely forgotten.
Plus, these titles are hugely influential in the Star Wars gaming legacy. Their impact could be felt more directly in early 2000s Star Wars titles. The Dark Troopers from Dark Forces appeared in the classic Battlefront titles, for example.
In a less direct sense, the Jedi combat influenced the trajectory of games like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order in terms of narrative concept and gameplay. The games retain different identities, but there is a lot of crossover. For as divergent as they are in certain respects, there wouldn't be a Fallen Order without first getting Dark Forces.
Luckily, unlike some Star Wars titles lost to time, the Dark Forces games are easily available. Players on PC have access to the entire series and console players have access to both Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy thanks to Aspyr's ports. They're all incredibly affordable and go on sale very often. While their design is archaic in some respects, they're beloved Star Wars adventures that all fans should experience. With any luck, the continued fan fervor around these titles will convince EA to bring Kyle Katarn back for another adventure.