The first FPS from Star Wars (which preceded the Jedi Knight series) wasn’t easy to source port, but it got the ZDoom treatment.

Three developers, LuciusDXl, Winterheart, and Gilmorem560, have released version 1.0 of the Force Engine. It is an open-source reverse-engineered code for Dark Forces (and later Outlaws). It allows you to play the game, initially released in 1995, in high resolution with modern, comfortable options. The game is practically a DOOM clone: it’s a fast-moving game with a wide range of weapons, mazelike maps, and a Star Wars-style audiovisual style, with a decent story (the Han Solo-like Kyle Katarn fights the remnants of the Empire).

The Jedi Knight games, on the other hand, made us forget about Dark Forces, as Kyle becomes a Jedi, and they had excellent lightsaber controls. We should also mention LucasArts’ Western-style Outlaws, which reuses the Dark Forces Jedi Engine, and as a result, this game will also get a modernization. However, it will take some time, so until Force Engine 2.0 only (?) Dark Forces will be playable with many of the now-accepted conveniences: you can look around with the mouse, higher resolutions are supported, and you can not only render in software but also use the GPU. Current and future mods will also be supported with the mod loader.

The mod requires the original Star Wars: Dark Forces, which can be purchased now on Steam for $6 and GOG for less than $2 at the moment. After downloading the mod, it will automatically detect the installation location of the original game when you launch the Force Engine executable. User maps and tweaks are placed in the Force Engine’s Mods folder and can be selected at startup so that you can play comfortably.

Upgrading old games is always commendable for fans, as it eliminates the need to run the game on DOSBox, for example.

Source: PCGamer