Popular RPG Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic may be getting a new lease on life, if the Star Wars gaming rumor mill is to be believed. The original Knight of the Old Republic came out back in 2003; since then, there’s been a sequel titled Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords and a MMORPG called Star Wars: The Old Republic. However, neither of those video games have proven to be as influential as the original Old Republic game before them.
Set almost 4,000 years before the events in Star Wars: A New Hope, the game followed your player character who goes up against the Sith as they try to take down the Old Republic. The game had a very cinematic feel and was part of the official Expanded Universe canon of the Star Wars universe, upon its initial release.
Ever since Disney bought Lucasfilm, the game has been deemed part of the Legends of the Star Wars universe and has been brushed aside. However, during the SWGameOutpost (via Star Wars News Net) podcast, gaming journalist Liam Robertson revealed that a remake of the game is now rumored to be in the works at EA’s BioWare Austin studio. Here’s what he told the outlet:
I’ve learned now that [BioWare Austin is] pretty much now exclusively working on Star Wars games and they’re going to be doing that for the indefinite future.
What they’re currently working on right now—and I have this on good authority—is a sort of remake/revival of Knights of the Old Republic. I don’t know when this is set to come out, but it has been in development for a little while now. I don’t really know how that game’ll end up.
I’ve heard that it isn’t exactly a remake anymore, but it started as a remake/revival. Now it’s kind of going from that blueprint in sort of its own original thing. I guess we’ll see what that turns out to be, but they are prototyping it right now.
The reason for the revival seems to have a lot to do with Disney purchasing Lucasfilm and changing the canonical status of the Expanded Universe. Robertson continues:
This news brings up a lot of questions about the possible new game if the rumor turns out to be true. The big question is what form will the game take on, since Robertson says the project has gone off in its own direction. It’s possible this remake/revival will have all new characters and not even mention either Bastila Shan or Revan, taking the journalist’s remarks into account about the game not exactly being a remake anymore.
I think this is sort of like wiping the slate clean… I think this is going to embrace the new Star Wars universe lore because Knights of the Old Republic was sort of just pushed into the expanded universe, the Legends canon of Star Wars.
Since this is a remake of the original Star Wars: KotOR and meant to embrace the new canon established by Lucasfilm’s story group, then there is now the possibility the game could be considered canon. There are no guarantees this will be the case, as the Star Wars Battlefront games that are licensed by Lucasfilm aren’t really considered part of the official canon. Those games, however, aren’t plot dependent so there is a good possibility that the remake of the Knights of the Old Republic may become an official part of the overall Star Wars saga.
Source: SWGameOutpost (via Star Wars News Net)
