A Knights of the Old Republic Remake was announced for PS5 and PC back in September 2021 during a PlayStation Showcase.
In April this year Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported that Aspyr Media were working on a remake of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Jason made the claim in an interview with MinnMax Show. At time of writing, Aspyr Media has not made a comment on this rumour so this is what it will remain, despite Jason’s track record to breaking stories about projects in the past including Assassin’s Creed titles. Disney didnot commented on the speculation at the time.
However, since then rumours of troubled development have been floating around and now Jason is reporting that Aspyr have been taken off the project and it will now be developed by one of Saber Interactive’s Eastern European studios. Both Aspyr and Saber are owned by the Embracer Group, so it seems like some sort of internal change. Aspyr staff were told the game was “on pause” a few months ago while management tried to work out what to do next.
A video in the PlayStation Showcase Post-Show explained that everything is being rebuilt from the ground up with completely overhauled visuals and the team is made up of industry veterans that even includes some of the old KOTOR developers. It was noted that this was a big deal for Aspyr, they don’t usually handle such big project, unfortunately it seems they were not up to the job this time .
Originally released in 2003 for the PC and original Xbox, Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel are often heralded as two of the best Star Wars video games of all time. Some would even hold them up as some of the best RPGs of all time.
For those who never played KOTOR, here’s a summary:
Choose Your Path.
It is four thousand years before the Galactic Empire and hundreds of Jedi Knights have fallen in battle against the ruthless Sith. You are the last hope of the Jedi Order. Can you master the awesome power of the Force on your quest to save the Republic? Or will you fall to the lure of the dark side? Hero or villain, saviour or conqueror… you alone will determine the destiny of the entire galaxy!
- A brand new Star Wars role-playing experience with unique characters, creatures, vehicles and planets.
- Learn to use the Force with over 40 different powers and build your own lightsaber.
- Adventure through some of the most popular Star Wars locations, including Tatooine and the Wookiee homeworld Kashyyyk.
- Choose your party from nine customisable characters, including Twi’leks, droids and Wookiees.
- Travel to eight enormous worlds in your own starship, the Ebon Hawk.
Source: Bloomberg