At Sony's PlayStation Showcase 2021, the company announced Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake, a console-timed exclusive remake for PS5. The game will also be released for PC. Aspire Media is responsible for the remake of Bioware's popular role-playing epic, which was released in 2003. The original was released in 2003 for PC and the original Xbox; it has also been ported to iOS and Android phones.
In it, players control a customized male or female character. The game is set in the Star Wars universe, but takes place thousands of years before the Galactic Empire was established to prevent the evil Sith Lord Malak from launching a war against the Galactic Republic. Because of its timeline, players were free to follow either the light side or the dark side of the Force, a choice that would affect the direction of the game.
This is everything we know so far about "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic," one of the most exciting announcements of the PlayStation Showcase.
At this point, information about the release of the game is thin. According to a post on the official PlayStation Blog, KOTOR is still in "early development."
As such, the announcement trailer consists of a short CG teaser. It is not expected to be released within the next two years, but we do know that once it is released, it will be available to an unspecified number of users exclusively on the PS5.
Without Bioware at the helm of this project, no other studio would make as much sense for the KOTOR remake as Aspyr Media. Even if you've never heard of Aspyr Media, you've probably played numerous Star Wars conversions on current platforms. [Star Wars Episode 1 Racer, Star Wars Jedi Knight, Star Wars Jedi Academy, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, Star Wars Jedi Knight 2: Jedi Outcast, and Star Wars: Republic Commando. He is also working on the iOS/Android ports of "KOTOR 1" and "KOTOR 2". Interestingly, the PlayStation blog also mentions the fact that several of the developers of the original games are still with Aspyr and are involved in the development of the remakes.
The original KOTOR is a title that everyone admired, and Aspyr's goal is to preserve the integrity of the original while giving it new life with modern technology, leaving little room for failure. While it is not known to what extent the gameplay will be altered, the relationship between KOTOR and its sequel cannot be ignored.
KOTOR 2 was notorious for being rushed to release too early, resulting in a lackluster sequel with tons of cut content; the KOTOR remake may be the perfect opportunity to revive the original vision for the sequel.
Aspyr Media is nearing release and already has the gameplay systems, assets, and technology in place to make a KOTOR 2 remake a possibility sooner rather than later. By not focusing on technology, the studio can focus on examining existing mods that use KOTOR 2 design documents, source code, and cut content to restore a game that was never truly finished.
The consensus among consumers and critics is that KOTOR 2 needs a remake far more than its predecessor. However, a remake of the original Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was necessary to provide a consistent experience.
Since the original "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" was console-only, it is reasonable to assume an Xbox remake; according to the PlayStation Blog text and Aspyr's announcement tweet, the current launch is being done in partnership with PlayStation; it will also be available on PC, but PlayStation 5 will launch first on consoles. There is no information on the duration of this exclusivity, but such partnerships tend to last between 6 months and 2 years.
The remake is still in early development and information is scarce, but this is a promising project. Some remasters and remakes, when left to companies that don't understand the core of the game they're remastering, can end up with problems before they're even released.
In the case of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, there is little to worry about; Aspyr Media is a Star Wars machine and has delivered solid remasters of classic Star Wars titles over the past few years. With a much larger budget and an expanded scope of remakes rather than remasters, this could be one of the most exciting remakes in quite some time.
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