A long time ago, in a console generation not too far away, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic hit the musty shelves of GameStops, Blockbusters and mom n’ pop markets everywhere. It may not seem like it these days with the amount of vitriol modern critics hurl at the prequel era, but the early 2000s were a magical time for fans of George Lucas’ galaxy; new movies were coming out on the regular, we were on the cusp of the debut of one of the best tie-in animated series ever made, and we got some kick-droid video games to boot. The best among them being LEGO Star Wars, of course. Come on, Skywalker Saga, ya beauty.
But Knights of the Old Republic, on Xbox and PC initially, more than earned its keep as well. It’s frequently considered among the greatest pieces of Star Wars media in existence, what with its emotional story, expansive RPG stylings, intriguing moral alignment system and the respectful way in which it adds to existing lore without trying to actively deconstruct or pull out any rugs. Take notes, Rian. So good was KOTOR (pronounced like ‘rotor’ if you were wondering, which you weren’t) that it soon spawned a sequel, and a planned third instalment, which was sadly canned due to cuts at LucasArts. They may have gone too far in a few places.
Since then, the subfranchise has largely laid dormant beyond the odd spinoff and namecheck, leaving fans of the popular adventures bewildered and clamouring for a revisit in some capacity. And for a while, it would seem those prayers fell on Death Stars deaf ears, as no substantial mention of KOTOR was Forceforthcoming for over a decade. But – as we all have had beaten into our submissive gamer consciousnesses over the years – good things come to those who wait, because at Sony’s recent video conference, a remake of the original game was announced.
However, as PCGamesN reports, this project could have turned out very different. Darth Revan, at one stage, was set to take a page out of Crash and Spyro’s playbook and throw together a multi-game collection for the series. In other words, we missed out on a far larger package. Well, that smells stinkawhiff.
“BioWare’s founders actually pitched another way of bringing back KOTOR,” states the report. “According to Beamdog CEO – and BioWare co-founder – Trent Oster, his studio actually pitched a remaster called the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic – Reforged Collection, which seemingly would include both KOTOR games.” Oster elaborated on this via Twitter, where he showed off the effort he put into the pitch before the remake beat his poor studio to it. Take a look:
Regardless of all this, the return of such a cherished entry into the Star Wars mythos is still something to be excited about, so don your Jedi robes and pay attention to all our channels for the latest.
Are you excited about the remake? Would you have wanted a collection instead? Let us know!
Via, PCGamesN.
