Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster (PS5) review: surprisingly fast and authentic

I thought I had Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster all figured out after the first mission was done. Objectives ticked off. Enemies cleared. I leaned back, pleased with myself, only for the end screen to inform me I’d uncovered only about 40% of the level’s secrets. That’s the thing about Dark Forces Remaster, as recreated by Nightdive Studios in this new PS5 physical release (also on Switch), there’s more going on behind those simple ‘90s polygons than you may first think.

This is classic mid-90s FPS design where the basic aim is to run, gun, grab the MacGuffin, and escape the level, but scratching beneath that, you’ll find a Doom-like maze of hidden rooms and secret routes that feel almost deliberately obtuse. This is old-school design in its purest form; it’s hands-off, occasionally frustrating, but deeply rewarding if you’re willing to poke at every wall and rerun corridors like a busy little Mouse droid.

The biggest surprise, though, is just how fast this moves on PS5. My memories of the original Dark Forces are of something far clunkier, a bit sluggish, a bit compromised by its own ambition, because my PC was, well… crap. Here on PS5, it absolutely flies and transforms the game's feel. Blaster bolts streak across the screen in that unmistakable ‘77 Star Wars fashion – bright, noisy, and slightly chaotic – while my own shots hit rapidly and spark off Stormtroopers just like the old movies. It’s messy and a far cry from modern shooters, and even the auto-lock is a little loose, just to give that sense of chaos.

Crucially, for good and bad, this remaster doesn’t try to modernise that feel into something it’s not. The shooting is loose, movement has a floaty feel and combat encounters are fast, scrappy affairs that lack precision. Thankfully, instead of massaging away those edges, the game preserves them, as a remaster should, and in doing so captures the retro personality of the original Dark Forces.

'90s Star Wars resurrected

Visually, there’s no hiding what Dark Forces Remaster is – a resurrected mid-90s shooter with simple textures, basic controls and animated cutscenes that have a simple stiffness to them that’s hard to look past, but equally, there’s an atmosphere here that’s also hard to fake.

This is pre-prequel Star Wars, a time when the universe felt looser, less dogmatic, and a bit more willing to experiment. Dark Forces Remaster leans into that freedom as, playing a mercenary Kyle Katarn, it throws you into Imperial facilities, grimy outposts, and strange corners of the galaxy without over-explaining any of it. Dark Forces Remaster, in its unique bygone way, feels authentically Star Wars.

But for everything it gets right, Dark Forces Remaster is also unapologetically a game of its time. There’s no handholding here as objectives can be vague, progression isn’t always clear, and if you don’t like backtracking, or the idea of combing through near-identical corridors trying to find a hidden switch or secret door, this will wear thin quickly. The level design, as clever as it can be, occasionally tips over into frustration and old-school obtuseness. Likewise, it feels old; even with modern controls, there’s a looseness to the movement and shooting that won’t click with everyone.

Accept the quirks and keep shooting

But, for better or worse, that’s all part of the deal when you play a 30-year-old retro shooter. These quirks are also why this Dark Forces Remaster works as well as it does, because it doesn’t attempt to fix the game but represents it as it was played back then, as intended if you were lucky enough to have a well-specced PC. Dark Forces Remaster doesn’t smooth over the old-fashioned quirks or redesign its systems for a modern audience; instead, it presents the game as it was, just cleaner, faster, and more stable than most of us ever experienced it back in the mid-90s.

While it won’t be for everyone, if you can meet it on its own terms, accept the ‘90s design and looseness, push through the simplicity and embrace the itch to find every secret, there’s something special about Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster that goes beyond simple nostalgia.