Society Has Moved Beyond The Need For A KOTOR Remake

I’ve been very vocal about wanting the Knights of the Old Republic remake to succeed. It’s one of my favourite games of all time, so obviously I want to play an updated version of it that doesn’t look awful or have a terrible combat system, but I’ve given up hope that we’re ever going to see it. It hurts less to assume it’s dead, even as Saber insists over and over again it’s still in the works. I can’t deal with any more disappointment, life is already bleak enough.

Now, the latest reaffirmation of its existence has made me think about whether we even need a KOTOR remake anymore. It would be nice, sure, but after so many years of developer flip-flopping, long silences, and my own growing disillusionment with the entire concept of remakes in general, I’m beginning to think that there just isn’t a reason for it to exist.

There Are Plenty Of Star Wars Games To Play

The Star Wars video game industrial complex has been going strong for decades now. We’ve gotten games for the franchise on basically every console ever made, spanning every genre imaginable. Even now, there are modern Star Wars series being put out – Star Wars Outlaws last year, the two Star Wars Jedi games (with a third in development), the ill-fated Star Wars: Hunters, and the upcoming Star Wars Eclipse from Quantic Dream. We’re not wanting for Star Wars IP.

None of these games are KOTOR. Nothing will ever be KOTOR. The game is a classic, a defining Star Wars game and a defining RPG in equal measure. It’s one of the greatest games ever made. We’re not going to see anything fill this particular niche, at least, not any of the games we know are in the works right now.

But they are, at the very least, new. Respawn’s Jedi games are doing interesting narrative work on the idea of morality within the Jedi order and its strict, rigid binary of Dark and Light. Outlaws, while contentious, was a perfectly fun game that focused on the seedy underbelly of the Star Wars universe instead of focusing on its space wizards, as so much of its media has.

Silent Hill Isn't Just A Town, It's A State Of Mind

Konami is bringing back the survival horror icon with a distinctly Japanese twist.

We Already Have KOTOR

KOTOR, obviously, isn’t new. It was launched over two decades ago. While Icertainly think a game this old deserves a remake more than many remasters we’ve seen recently, and it’s an absolute classic that a new generation of gamers deserves to play, we already can play KOTOR. It’s on Steam. It’s backwards compatible on Xbox and has been ported to the Nintendo Switch. Hell, you can even play it on your phone. It’s a perfectly accessible game – in this case, game preservation succeeded.

While a remake would be nice, it’s certainly by no means a necessity. I’m more interested in seeing a worthy successor, which is why it’s a shame that there doesn’t seem to be one. The closest thing we have is probably Star Wars Eclipse, considering it’s supposed to be a multiple-character game with branching narratives, but it hasn’t been looking good for that project, and also… it’s Quantic Dream, man. Sorry, but I will never pin my hopes on David Cage.

The real problem is that nobody is making games like KOTOR anymore. Even BioWare, the studio that made KOTOR, isn’t making games like that anymore – its recent games have been straying further and further from the games that made it iconic. Really, the only studio I can think of that still makes great games in this vein is Larian, and I believe the studio deserves to move on from IP and make whatever it wants.

Is there anybody who wants to, and can, make a game as great as KOTOR? Probably not, but that’s what I want. Maybe I don’t want to play KOTOR again, I just want games to be as great as KOTOR. I don’t know if that’s possible, but I do know that a remake with a development cycle this fraught might just not be worth the effort. I’d rather see something new.

Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic Remake