Editorial: Deadly Dark Troopers – How ‘Dark Forces’ Continues To Inspire ‘Star Wars’ Today
28 years ago, Star Wars ventured into the newly-minted genre of First Person Shooters with the release of Dark Forces. As well as a number of technical innovations, setting it apart from other DOOM clones of that era, the game expanded on and introduced new elements to the wider story of Star Wars.
Though the game is now part of the Legends continuity and not a part of the main canon, it has had a strong influence on the current storytelling efforts. We have already covered how Cassian’s blaster was influenced by the game, but in this article we will look at the main enemies featured in it: the fearsome Dark Troopers.
When designing the 1995 game, developer Justin Chin was keen to create a new and more advanced enemy for Kyle Katarn to face:
Instead of just beefing up the stormtroopers, I designed them to be more efficient. I wanted something more terrifying and more omnipotent.
A number of designs were created for the game, but the end result was the Dark Trooper we know and love.
Dark Forces – an overview
After the failure of the Death Star, the Empire were in need of a new technological terror. In steps Admiral Rom Mohc, who has developed the Dark Troopers, merciless battle droids with impenetrable armour, jet packs, and lethal weaponry. After a demonstration where a Rebel base is wiped out, the Dark Troopers go into full production, striking out at the Rebellion from their mobile construction facility, the Arc Hammer.
Rebel mercenary Kyle Katarn is hired to investigate the destruction of the Rebel base and uncovers evidence of experimental weaponry. He follows the trail to hidden Imperial bases, the scum and villainy of Nar Shaddaa, the Imperial capital on Coruscant, and even Darth Vader’s flagship before infiltrating the Arc Hammer. Equipped with his personal shield generator, Kyle faces waves of stormtroopers, alien bounty hunters, and the Dark Troopers themselves to take down the project for good.
Dark Forces was a huge success, and its popularity continued Kyle’s story into the Jedi Knight series, spawning three more games and an expansion pack for the first of those follow-ups. But, aside from a few non-canon appearances in games, it seemed that the story of the Dark Trooper was done for good.
Enter the DT-series
But a new canon meant that their story wasn’t over. After the Disney buy-out, which rendered Dark Forces and its sequels non-canon, one of the first new pieces of content to release was Star Wars Rebels. In its third season, Rebels introduced a new Imperial security droid that is encountered by the Ghost crew when they board an Imperial cargo ship. The droids certainly had a familiar look to them, which got fans excited.
When asked if the Dark Trooper was an inspiration for the Imperial security droids, Art Director Killian Plunkett certainly wasn’t coy on the subject:
It absolutely was. In the script, the droids that got activated were Imperial probe droids. It made sense that the Empire would use probe droids as guards on the ship… but we’ve seen them before, we know what they do.
So, as a huge fan of Dark Forces, and knowing that the plot called for Imperial scary monster robots it made sense.
Killian also wrote the short comic Sand Blasted, about a rogue Dark Trooper, as part of Dark Horse’s Star Wars Tales comic book anthology series.
Later given the very on-the-nose name DT-series droids, they have continued to be popular, appearing in episodes of The Bad Batch and due to feature in the upcoming Jedi: Survivor video game as well. IGN spoke to Design Director Jason de Heras and Production Director Kasumi Shishido, who talked about adding the DT to their roster of enemies as a “big brute” and expanding on the droid’s capabilities:
One of the things that was really appealing about the DT Sentry Droid as an enemy was that they could have different loadouts, and so there are three variations of this enemy that you’ll do battle with. One might have a staff and a missile, another might have a hammer, and another might come equipped with a blaster.
In these droids alone, the legacy of Dark Forces looks well-established for now and years to come. But when it comes to the influence of Dark Troopers, and as Yoda would say… there is another.
Dark Troopers 2.0
In the second season of The Mandalorian (Chapter 14), another set of deadly droids were revealed. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait long before Moff Gideon himself named them on-screen as “Dark Troopers” — they were back! Jetting down from high orbit, these droids quickly cemented themselves as villains by committing the unspeakable crime of kidnapping Grogu.
There were some differences between the game and the live-action versions, of course, but they shared one key similarity: they were terrifying! One criticism some fans had of the DT-series is that they were a little watered down compared to their inspiration. When I played Dark Forces, if I encountered a Dark Trooper. there was only one tactic I employed: run! Fighting them never got easier, and every encounter had me ducking for cover as they flew around you blasting from every angle.
The Dark Troopers encountered by Din Djarin had the same effect. Maybe they weren’t armed with plasma cannons, but just fighting one took everything he had, and then, when they all lined up to storm the bridge, it seemed that all was lost. Only a fully trained Jedi, with the Force as his ally, could take them down.
The three phases
One key reference to the game was Dr. Pershing referring to the droids encountered by Grogu’s rescuers as third-generation Dark Troopers. During the course of the original game, Kyle encounters three versions of the Dark Trooper; the Phase One is a stabby little skeleton droid with a metal shield to block blaster fire, and Phase Two is the best known, with a built-in jet pack and heavy weaponry.
What gets interesting is Phase Three. Pershing refers to his third-generation troopers as removing the final weakness of the human soldier and replacing them with droids. In Dark Forces, the opposite is true — the first two phases are droids, while Phase Three is an exoskeleton worn by their designer, Rom Mohc, who serves as the final boss of the game. This is an excellent example of current Star Wars acknowledging what has gone before in the EU while giving it a new life in the current canon.
I’m hopeful we’ll see more of the Dark Troopers in season 3 of The Mandalorian, maybe even catching a glimpse of the first or second-generation troopers.
For a game nearing 30 years old, it’s a huge accomplishment to be inspiring such memorable and important content in today’s Star Wars. Other minor references include:
- Phrik — the metal used in the Dark Trooper armour has been identified in canon as the material used to make the electro staffs used by General Grievous’ guards.
- Fest — Cassian Andor’s fake home planet was the location where the fourth level of the game happened.
- Kell Dragon — A beast killed by Kyle, its hide is worn as amour by High Republic villain Lourna Dee.
A teacher from Wales in the UK, Aled has loved Star Wars ever since that Star Destroyer flew over his head and blew his mind.
