It’s almost certain that anyone who was a gamer back in 2003 has heard of Knights of the Old Republic.
This is a role-playing game made by BioWare, the people who would later go on to make classics like Mass Effect and Dragon Age.
But arguably Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was their finest hour, a deep and complex role-playing game set thousands of years before the original Star Wars film. The game’s fantastic story and cast of characters (as colorful as a Christmas tree) surely were a breath of fresh air for Star Wars fans who had to sit through George Lucas’ awful prequel films.
It’s the best Star Wars game ever made, even if admittedly it’s looking a bit long in the tooth now, while Knights of the Old Republic’s (KOTOR for short) turn-based gameplay is also showing its age.
It’s a good thing, then, that KOTOR is getting a remake, a remake which was announced during Sony’s PlayStation Showcase 2021. An announcement trailer showed Revan (one of the major characters in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic), and also featured the voice talent of Jennifer Hale, who voiced the character of Bastila Shan in the game.
Bastila was the first female jedi to appear in a video game, and also one of the best female characters in a video game ever (and one of the sexiest too), so it’s great to hear the dulcet tones of Jennifer Hale again even if this remake is still a long way off, unlikely to arrive before late 2022 at least.
Something else that might leave some fans distraught is the fact that this will be a PS5 exclusive at launch, only coming to PC at a later date. A timed exclusive then, and there’s no mention whether it will even see a launch on Xbox consoles or not.
There’s also the matter of who will be developing this KOTOR remake. Apparently BioWare, who made the original game, won’t be involved, and neither will Electronic Arts.
EA has been behind all the major Star Wars games released since Disney bought Lucasfilm, but it seemingly has nothing to do with this remake of Knights of the Old Republic.
Instead, development duties have fallen on Aspyr Media, a developer and publisher best known for porting renowned games like Civilization VI to other platforms besides PC, and also for its remasters of games like Indigo Prophecy.
Aspyr did release and updated version of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II on PC, though, which amongst other things featured 4K resolution and controller support.
The thing is, Aspyr has not developed any AAA games worthy of note, so it’s questionable whether they are the right choice to remake the most beloved Star Wars game of all time…
At least they will be working closely with Lucasfilm Games on this remake, which should stay true to the original while featuring enough enhancements and additions to make it worthwhile for those who played the original game back in the day.
However, Aspyr does seem upbeat about the remake, if the words of its co-founder Ted Staloch are anything to go by, with the man saying that they’ve assembled “the very best talent from across the industry to deliver a modern vision of this timeless Star Wars legend”.
“As lifelong Star Wars fans with extensive experience working with many of its best games, we have the deepest love and admiration for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and cannot wait to share this amazing remake with the rest of the galaxy”, said Staloch in a press release.
Because the original game on PS3 surely is a timeless classic, and fans won’t forgive if the remake is not up to scratch, so it would be a great thing if this KOTOR remake turns out to be another fantastic game set in a galaxy far, far away when it hits the shelves sometime in the future.
Read more: 10 cancelled Star Wars games which never saw a release