Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is coming back. Aspyr Media is remaking BioWare and LucasArts’ classic Star Wars role-playing game for PlayStation 5 and Windows PC, the developer revealed Thursday at Sony’s PlayStation Showcase. Sony Interactive Entertainment will publish the remake on PS5.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – Remake is “completely rebuilt from the ground up,” Aspyr said in a news release. Development of the remake is being led by “a newly created team composed of industry veterans at developer and publisher Aspyr, working in close collaboration with Lucasfilm Games.”
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
A remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, one of BioWare’s most popular RPGs, was announced Thursday at PlayStation’s showcase. Check out the reveal trailer above.
Titled simply “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake,” the game isn’t being developed by BioWare but by Aspyr, the studio that recently remastered Star Wars: Republic Commandos.
Aspyr has done a lot of Star Wars game porting in its time. For example, it brought Episode 1 Racer, Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, and its sequel Jedi Outcast to Nintendo Switch and PlayStation. It also previously ported the original KOTOR to iOS devices.
Read Elon Musk wants to become Apple CEO.
The developer says that Knights of the Old Republic Remake will be a “console exclusive on PlayStation 5 at launch on Sony’s blog.” However, Lucasfilm Games later confirmed that the game would come to PC.
The original KOTOR was released in 2003 for PC and Xbox and is commonly regarded as one of the best Star Wars games and roleplaying games of all time. Years later, in 2012, it finally came to Steam.
KOTOR is set 4,000 years before the start of the Galactic Empire, during the early years of the Galactic Republic. As a member of the Jedi, players travel throughout the galaxy attempting to defeat a Sith lord. It was critically acclaimed for its roleplaying systems, which allowed players to follow the Force’s light side or dark side.
“With Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – Remake, we hope to give both series newcomers and long-term fans an experience that can live alongside the very best modern releases,” said Ryan Treadwell, lead producer at Aspyr. “We’re rebuilding it from the ground up with the latest tech to match the groundbreaking standard of innovation established by the original, all while staying true to its revered story.”
During a post-show interview, Treadwell added that some original KOTOR development team members are working on the remake.
Read Top horror games that you can’t play.
The Bottom Line
It first reported Knights of the Old Republic to be in development back in April by multiple outlets. Its announcement comes as part of Sony’s PlayStation showcase and is confirmed to be early in development. However, an official blog post also indicates that work has been happening on the title “for a little while” in close collaboration with Lucasfilm Games.
Orion Kellogg, executive producer at Lucasfilm Games, and Ryan Treadwell, lead producer at Aspyr, say that the team is taking its time to balance the weight of fan expectation, authenticity to the original, as well as any necessary changes or updates.
“This is important and impactful,” said Treadwell. “Our big goals on this are to bring the story to a modern audience and have it be just as impactful today as it was for players when it originally launched.”
He added that the project includes some powerhouses, such as Jennifer Hale returning to voice Bastila, developers with experience on the remake of Demon’s Souls and Ghost of Tsushima, and lead gameplay designer Matt Berner, who worked on Dragon Age: Inquisition. And, of course, many developers from the original KOTOR team.
“We can say, ‘What were you trying to do and why did you do it this way? Let’s make sure that we have the same goals in mind as we re-approach it this time,’” said Kellogg. “We’re just going to be able to do more things with asset variety and fidelity and storytelling that just weren’t possible then but are still going to meet the same goals.”
KOTOR does not yet have a release date.
