Many Star Wars fans are coping with the announcement, and subsequent indefinite delay, of the original 2003 KOTOR game certainly carries such weight. Even among the dozens of games based on the massive Star Wars franchise KOTOR is widely regarded as one of the very best. Remakes must struggle to balance pleasing veteran fans and reaching a wider modern gaming audience. Veterans may fondly the gameplay and experience of the games as they were originally presented, while modern audiences expect current day gaming conventions and graphical presentation. With gameplay that was well-loved, but certainly a product of its time, there is no way a KOTOR remake could please everyone, making its indefinite delay less surprising, and perhaps a relief to some.
The gargantuan Star Wars franchise is no stranger to delays and cancellations, and the KOTOR indefinite delay causes Star Wars’ gaming fans to share the movie audience’s frustrations. Some expected the KOTOR remake to release this year, but a “vertical slice” of the game’s progress reportedly did not meet expectations, resulting in staff being fired and the project put on indefinite delay. Looking at other major gaming remake projects shows just how difficult it is to make a product that resonates with fans new and old. On one end of the spectrum are the Enhanced versions of the Dungeons & Dragons PC games originally developed by BioWare, the studio behind KOTOR. Beamdog produced Baldur’s Gate Enhanced, and similar remakes of Baldur’s Gate 2, Planescape: Torment, and Icewind Dale.
These Enhanced versions were designed to run on modern consoles and PCs at the resolution of today’s monitors, but they reverently retained the original gameplay based on 2e Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, using BioWare’s Infinity Engine “pause and play” gameplay. The KOTOR Switch port shows the console’s limitations, to some, as Nintendo’s console received a port of a nearly two decades old game, but it also highlights the lasting appeal of the original KOTOR. BioWare used the Odyssey Engine, a successor to Infinity, for KOTOR and Jade Empire. Like BioWare’s successful Baldur’s Gate games, KOTOR was tied to the D&D rule set, as most of its mechanics were pulled from the d20 System Star Wars game based on the rules of 3e Dungeons & Dragons.
Unlike FF7R, Much of KOTOR's Original Appeal Was Tied To Its TTRPG-Style Mechanics
The market for video game and tabletop RPGs has changed considerably since KOTOR’s release. D&D is now in its 5th edition, which is considerably streamlined when compared against the 3e rules beneath KOTOR’s mechanics. Following KOTOR and Jade Empire, BioWare went on to create its immensely popular Dragon Age and Mass Effect RPG franchises. These games retained some of the choice-based elements of their earlier works, in of characterization, but the gameplay leaned more towards action game mechanics and further from the tabletop RPG roots of their D&D-licensed works. While Baldur’s Gate 3 could grow tabletop D&D interest, the 5e D&D-based sequel is being developed by Larian, not BioWare.
This puts Aspyr in a difficult position, as a KOTOR remake that retains the rule system it originally carried might not be possible due to licensing issues. At the time of the original KOTOR’s development, Wizards of the Coast held the license for Star Wars based tabletop RPGs and produced the version based on the 3e D&D rule set that KOTOR made use of. EDGE Studio currently produces Star Wars tabletop RPGs, but they use a very different narrative-focused set of rules that bears little resemblance to the combat and skill-check focused 3e D&D system. BioWare has similarly altered the expectations of consumers who play Western RPGs with its own subsequent games. Real-time action battle systems, like those of Mass Effect, have become the norm for such games, not the “pause and play” system of KOTOR which emulated a tabletop RPG’s turn-based battle system.
In a very different approach to an RPG remake, Final Fantasy 7 Remake delivered, from its trailer to its release, what many fans wanted, with its more immersive rendition of Midgar and its superior storytelling, but others might have preferred if it was closer to Baldur’s Gate Enhanced. The FF7R series showcases the opposite end of the spectrum for an RPG remake from Beamdog’s remakes of BioWare classics. The newer take on Final Fantasy 7 embraced modern action-based combat, with a faux turn-based option as a nod to the game’s origins. It features more in-depth characterization of its cast and allowed its story room to breathe. Major events like the fall of Sector 7, which the original game moved past quickly, were given needed emotional weight in the remake. Some ardent fans of the original Final Fantasy 7 expressed dissatisfaction that the remake’s first game only covered a small portion of the original story, while others disliked the new approach to gameplay, highlighting the difficulty in pleasing any dedicated fanbase.
A KOTOR Remake Is Doomed To Disappoint Some Fans, So Cancellation Might Be Better
Square Enix anticipated some of the backlash, and the Whispers of FF7R serve as commentary on fans. The Whispers are guardians of fate, wraithlike entities who work to ensure that events play out as they originally did, while the heroes of FF7R battle to change their fates. This made the Final Fantasy 7 Remake more of a sequel, in truth. Still, the game’s approach to enriching the original story and revitalizing combat to fit within current-gen norms does provide a template for what many expected from the KOTOR remake. The story and characters of KOTOR are beloved, albeit most are not as iconic as the cast of Final Fantasy 7. A significant part of KOTOR’s appeal was how its tabletop RPG-style mechanics allowed players to approach challenges their own way, where Final Fantasy 7’s JRPG gameplay was largely unremarkable for the storied series. Few fans would react poorly to a KOTOR remake that presents its story with modern AAA cinematic cut scenes, but the loss of the original mechanics is another matter altogether.
Prior to the indefinite delay announcement, fans speculated whether there would be changes to KOTOR’s story to make it canon, but now they are left to wonder if the project will be finished at all. Aspyr is a studio known for simple ports, and has experience transitioning older games to modern consoles and mobile devices. This means the developer’s level of tinkering was even more hands-off with the source material than Beamdog’s work on the Enhanced series. New characters and quests were added to Baldur’s Gate Enhanced, along with mechanics that did not appear in the original game, including several classes and subclasses that were borrowed from Baldur’s Gate 2. With the KOTOR remake, Apsyr aimed to move from porting classics across platforms to reshaping the gameplay and storytelling of one of the most beloved games of its generation.
Expectations are always high for such ambitious projects, along with scrutiny. Though the FF7R games have their detractors, most have acknowledged that Square Enix put its best foot forward, giving the remake the resources is deserved. Fans might want to instead hope for classic KOTOR ports to PS5 to compensate for the indefinitely delayed remake, and in the end, that might please more people. Without the original 3e D&D-based gameplay of KOTOR, odds are the remake would alienate veteran fans, while a facsimile of a tabletop RPG-style system would likely fail to resonate with a wider audience. To overcome the challenges of its daunting premise, a KOTOR remake would have to be undeniably excellent, to appeal to both groups of fans. This would be a tall order for any developer and putting such responsibility on a studio known for ports, like Aspyr, may have been unrealistic. The indefinite delay may disappoint some, but it could be better than the alternative, as a Knights of the Old Republic remake was always likely to disappoint a large chunk of its audience, no matter how much effort went into its development.
