There's something about BioWare video games that makes them so timeless, although after a bit, the graphics and gameplay do tend to start feeling a little old. So, what happens if a BioWare title gets remastered, giving it a chance to become new again?
That's exactly what's happening with Knights of the Old Republic, BioWare's plunge into the world of Star Wars. It's not BioWare doing the remastering, but a dedicated team of fans who call themselves Poem Studios that decided the game deserved an upgrade.
"We are a group of dedicated programmers, artists, voice actors, world builders, and writers that have all come together to breathe life back into a wonderful game," writes the remastering team on the project's website. "The core creators are an indie gaming group called Poem Studios, but the project will grow as needed."
Why not? The game's story is even more relevant today, especially now that Star Wars fever is in full effect. The RPG's story remains as playable as it did when it was released way back in 2003.
Until now, though, no one has seen footage from that remaster. However, one YouTuber, MrMattyPlays, got his hands on the updated game and put up a video showing off the progress made so far:
As you can see, to quote MrMattyPlays, the gameplay footage looks "absolutely incredible." However, he also points out that this footage is still in pre-alpha stage: there is still a lot of work that the Poem Studios team needs to do, such as updating the lighting, materials and static meshes.
Knights of the Old Republic takes place in the Star Wars expanded (non-canon) universe 4,000 years before the rise of the Galactic Empire and follows a Jedi through a journey to take down Darth Malak, who has launched a Sith army against the Republic. Gameplay involves making choices that take the player down either the Light or Dark path, which, ultimately, decides the game's ending.
Because this is a fan project and Poem Studios wants to avoid any copyright issues with BioWare, the game will release for free when it's ready. However, gamers will need to have an existing copy of the game to play the remastered version. Fortunately, the game is available on Steam for just $9.99.
