Star Wars: The Force Unleashedhas a nostalgic place in manyStar Warsfans’ memories, and for good reason.The Force Unleashedhad an incredibly engaging narrative with a protagonist whose moral compass was askew, but its gameplay took on hack-and-slash mechanics that were deeply popular at the time. Since its sequel dropped,fans have wantedStar Wars: The Force Unleashedto return. Now that games have entered a trendy era of modern reimaginings and remakes,Star Wars: The Force Unleashedwould surely be deserving of its own.
Like any cinematic game, aStar Wars: The Force Unleashedremake would not need to be wholly different from the original. Cutscenes could remain largely the same and still benefit through upscaled fidelity on current-gen platforms, making it look hopefully more impressive than mostStar Warsmedia out there. However, this remake would probably be designed with a different approach to regular gameplay. If this was the case,Star Wars: The Force Unleashedcould keep its Force physics and substitute hack-and-slash combat fora Soulslike design like theStar Wars Jedifranchise has adopted.
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Star Wars: The Force Unleashed’s Force Physics Are Iconic
Fans would undoubtedly be disappointed ifa remake forStar Wars: The Force Unleasheddid not have the same Force physics. This mechanic allowed players to almost freely launch enemies in any direction, comically ragdolling their limp bodies around the environment. While janky and silly at times, this mechanic allows players to wield the Force in an unbridled way. OtherStar Warsgames that let players use the Force tend to implement it in a more restrictive way.
There are obvious gamification reasons for this, such as enemies being redundant if players could simply wipe them all out without needing to demonstrate any skill. This would arguably not be satisfying even if it was more immersive for the IP. That said,Star Wars: The Force Unleashed’s prologue sequencedoes let players feel appropriately overpowered as Darth Vader.
A Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Remake Could Pivot to Fallen Order’s Combat
Lightsaber combat pales in comparison to the Force mechanics. Starkiller’s reverse grip lightsaber stance is iconic, and his flurry of slashes is certainly powerful, but it becomes needless if players could simply hurl enemies around in midair. Lightsaber combat is likely the first thing that would be altered in a remake, and there are a few choices that could be considered.
The easiest combat pivot thatStar Wars: The Force Unleashedcould make is turning to Soulslike combat likeStar Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. More particularly,Fallen Orderseems to have drawn a ton of inspiration fromSekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which had its own flavor of combat with one standard weapon and a posture system that relied heavily on the player’s ability to parry. This was no different with Cal Kestis’ lightsaber as it was with Wolf’s Kusabimaru, andFallen Orderfound a great stride with this combat in tow.
The Force Unleashedwould not need to fully extend itself intoMetroidvania level designs or other Soulslike featuresin order to adopt this combat, but such choices could be preferable. There is no rumor of such a remake in development, but it is exciting to consider whatStar Wars: The Force Unleashedcould offer with such treatment.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashedis available now for PC, PlayStation 3, Switch, Wii, and Xbox 360.
