Report: Cancelled Star Wars KOTOR Remake Version Surfaces With Opening Cinematic
We hear news about Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Remake time and time again, but it has been either bad or bittersweet. The ever-elusive remake, announced in 2021, has been on a rocky path with its development. Following the cancellation of its first iteration, developed by Aspyr and originally planned as a PlayStation exclusive, the project now has a second iteration on the way at the hands of Saber Interactive’s Mad Head Games.
Sadly, this means that the time to finally peek at the game is still further ahead. But as a consolation, development materials from Aspyr’s version still surface every now and then, such as concept art, assets, or early screenshots. This time, we have come across a piece of a work-in-progress cinematic, which gives an interesting, albeit brief, look at their take on the story.
Cinematic from Aspyr’s KOTOR Shows 2 Familiar Characters
The cinematic that we found posted on an animator’s portfolio who worked at Aspyr, shows us a piece of work-in-progress made with placeholder voice acting and almost no textures. Still, it provides an early look at what seems to be the opening story of the title, introducing two characters accompanying the player that KOTOR fans will find familiar: Captain Carth Onasi and Trask Ulgo, the tutorial character from the original game who serves as a guide inside the Endar Spire ship.
The footage shows the player character and Trask in the aftermath of a battle in a hallway, when they receive a call from Carth. Suddenly, an explosion rips through the corridor, sucking both characters into the space vacuum, before Trask saves the situation by hitting a button to close an emergency bulkhead door. This sequence ends with the objective to find Onasi, which appears to transition directly into gameplay.
An interesting detail is that the player’s character is fully voiced, a radical departure from the original 2003 title, where the protagonist was entirely silent and relied solely on text boxes for dialogue choices. This aligns with a previous report from the YouTube channel “100% Star Wars”, which originally claimed the remake featured a voiced protagonist, alongside other juicy details like combat gameplay similar to Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
Curiously, most of the materials that have surfaced about the game tend to be about its very beginning, which seems to be the part that got the most work done during Aspyr’s tenure.
This version would ultimately be canned, reportedly following the delivery of a vertical slice that disappointed Sony, leading to the company pivoting away from the project. Rumors at the time claimed Sony felt the demo wasn’t “cinematic enough”. Comments from alleged former developers also stated that studio management was severely failing to meet internal expectations, ultimately leading to the project being taken out of Aspyr’s hands.
Luckily for Star Wars fans, the franchise has several projects on the way besides this remake. The next big thing KOTOR fans can look forward to is Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic, a brand-new single-player RPG helmed by original KOTOR and Mass Effect director Casey Hudson.
Contrary to rumors regarding long production cycles, Hudson reaffirmed that players can expect the game to release before 2030, emphasizing a desire to keep its scope focused rather than over-inflated. As Hudson directly put it: “Bigger isn’t necessarily better.” Hopefully, we will get to see a proper look at it in the near future.
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