Star Wars : Dark Forces Star Wars : Dark Forces is a first - person shooter computer game released on February 28 , 1995 , by LucasArts . The game introduces the character of Kyle Katarn , a former Imperial Stormtrooper and agent , now a mercenary for hire in the service of the Rebel Alliance . The story takes place both just before and mostly after the events of . Synopsis . Kyle Katarn infiltrates an Imperial base on the planet Danuta , in order to steal the Death Star plans . The Mission to Danuta results in Rebel possession of the plans that would later be given to Princess Leia and the destruction of the Death Star . After the Battle of Yavin , Kyle is again contacted by Mon Mothma to investigate an Imperial assault on the Tak Base of Talay , using a type of Imperial trooper never encountered previously . After the attack on Tak Base Kyle infiltrates the ruins of the base and discovers a prototype dark trooper weapon . The initials " M . R . " are discovered on it , which are found to stand for Moff Rebus , an infamous Imperial weapons engineer . This investigation reveals the dark trooper project , led by General Rom Mohc , and this leads Katarn to Anoat , where he finds the Moff hiding in the sewage system of Anoat City . During interrogation , Moff Rebus reveals the location of a testing facility for the mineral phrik , used in the construction of dark troopers , on the planet Fest . After obtaining a sample of this mineral , Kyle is led to the Gromas system , where phrik is mined and the phase - I dark troopers are manufactured . After the destruction of this facility , Crix Madine is found to have been captured by the Empire and sent to an Imperial detention center on Orinackra . Once Kyle has rescued Madine , he provides Kyle with critical information regarding the dark trooper project . Kyle travels to the Ramsees Hed docking port on Cal - Seti , which is used for Imperial runs to the frozen planet of Anteevy , where the second phase of dark trooper construction was completed . After smuggling himself aboard an Imperial ship , Kyle reaches Anteevy and destroys the Ice Station Beta facility . He is afterwards led to Nar Shaddaa , where he obtains a Nava card . At this point in the scenario , the Empire has placed a large bounty on his head , and as he pulls out of Nar Shaddaa , the " Moldy Crow " is captured by Jabba the Hutt in the " Star Jewel " . Here , Kyle is stripped of his weapons and has to fight hand - to - hand with a kell dragon . After obtaining his weapons , he and Jan Ors escape to Coruscant , the only place where Kyle can insert the Nava Card into a decoder to reveal data chips used for additional information . On his way to his ship , Kyle finds the Crow missing and Boba Fett ( hired by Mohc ) waiting for him . He defeats Fett after a hard fight and then travels to the Imperial Fuel Station Ergo , where he sneaks onto the " Executor " . From here , he smuggles himself aboard the " Arc Hammer " , where the third and final phase of the dark troopers is being overseen . Finally , Kyle faces Rom Mohc , spearhead of the operation ( who is using the only phase - III dark trooper exoskeleton in existence ) , and defeats him . Kyle proceeds to blow up the " Arc Hammer " and escape . Watching from the " Executor " , Darth Vader comments that this " is an unfortunate setback " and somewhat prophetically notes that " the Force is strong with . " For his actions and bravery in the face of defeat , Mon Mothma awards Kyle the Star of Alderaan . Levels . Unlike many other - based games , " Dark Forces " attempts a realistic approach : The missions follow a certain storyline , sometimes interrupted by videos to progress the tale . Each mission has its own briefing and objective . The levels were designed to represent actual bases , mines , facilities , and other known places from the " Star Wars " universe , like Star Destroyer interiors , Jabba ' s ship , Coruscant , etc . Development . " Dark Forces " was released during the hype started with " " a year earlier . Often labeled a " " Doom " clone " like other games following that trend , " Dark Forces " may have been created to counter the many unofficial " Star Wars " – themed for " Doom " . LucasArts is rumored to have reverse - engineered the " Doom " engine to find out how to build their own . The " Jedi Engine " was more advanced than that of " Doom " . It allowed designers to construct overlapping sectors ( " room - over - room " ) to create multistory buildings , bridges , and similar structures ; most earlier first - person shooter engines , such as " Doom " , do not support this ability . The Jedi Engine does not support perspective correction when looking up and down . " Doom " had shared textures for all levels , one solid objective ( which was simply to move from entry to exit ) , and maps which were designed often very abstractly , with the architecture often somewhat unrealistic . The levels of " Dark Forces " each had their own unique texture sets that were rarely reused , their own briefings and objectives which often varied , and maps which were designed to represent actual bases , mines , facilities , and other known places from the " Star Wars " universe , like Star Destroyer interiors , Jabba ' s ship , Coruscant , etc . Several cinematics reused images from earlier games , such as " " ( Vader ' s talking animation with Mohc and Mon Mothma ' s awarding cutscene ) and " " ( Vader ' s closeup in the final cutscene ) . Like " TIE Fighter " , several space scenes in " Dark Forces " were 3D - rendered . Not until " " did LucasArts began using original filming with actors and stunts . Lead artist and author Justin Chin stated that weapons like the Bryar pistol and Packered mortar gun were named after his personal favorites , such as composer Gavin Bryars and 1950s Packard automobiles , respectively . A character named Ruu San was meant to appear in the game , and was briefly described as an antagonist of Kyle Katarn in the article " Revving Up the ' Jedi Engine ' " in " Star Wars Galaxy Magazine 1 " . However , she did not appear in the final release of the game . All " Dark Forces " cheat codes start with codice _ 1 ( LucasArts ) , paralleling the cheat codes of titles , which always began with codice _ 2 . Release . George Lucas appeared on CNN ' s Future Watch show and demonstrated / promoted the game . Lucas and Daron Stinnett also promoted it in Disneyland when they traveled there for the opening of the Indiana Jones train . The first mission was released independently as a demo of the game . The intro of the demo is different from the published product in that it contains a Rambo - ish cutscene showing Kyle preparing his gear for the mission . This was omitted from the final game . The reason for this is not clear since the files of that sequence already exist in the CD . However , it ' s possible to reinsert the missing scene into the game . The game was originally published with a which contained additional backstory text . On April 29 , 2015 , the game was released on PlayStation Network , and made available to play on both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable . Reception . " Dark Forces " was the 11th best selling computer game of the period 1993 to 1999 , with an estimated 952 , 000 copies sold . The game was followed by novelizations and a sequel , " " . " Jedi Knight " spawned an entire series of games which includes the expansion " " , " " and " " . This series , with the exception of " Jedi Academy " , focuses on the continuing exploits of Kyle Katarn , many of which take place after the events of . The game was criticized at the time for lacking a multiplayer mode ; however , given the growing complexity of games as the 21st century approached , developers had to decide whether to trade off online play for the single - player storyline missions . It also did not have mid - level saves , instead having extra lives like " Doom " ' s predecessor " Wolfenstein 3D " . While " Doom " gameplay placed an emphasis on fast - paced action and combat , " Dark Forces " was considerably slower paced . " Dark Forces " also included numerous puzzles that the player had to solve to advance . While difficult for the casual player and often frustrating , this gave " Dark Forces " much appeal among hardcore gamers and critics . The " omission " of the lightsaber was frequently questioned on forums by casual fans who were not satisfied with having the fist as the only melee weapon . However , those familiar with " Star Wars " noted that only Force - sensitive users could effectively wield such a weapon . This controversy no doubt influenced the direction of . Many of the key data files in " Dark Forces " were actually plain - text files , allowing fans to decipher the formats and write tools to edit them . These have been used to create a wide variety of new levels for the game . Many of the same fans have gone on to create tools and editors for the later games in the series ; and at least two , Yves Borckmans and Don Sielke , joined LucasArts to work on " Dark Forces II " . In 2002 , a team of fans began the Dark Forces Mod project , planning to remake the game utilizing the " Quake III " engine used in the latest sequel , " " ( later adapted to " " when it was released ) . Later , they announced that they would be ending the project , and posted a final release containing full remakes of the first six levels of the game . However , an effort to remake the remaining levels is underway as of April 2008 .