Rogue Squadron is getting an HD fan-remake in the Unreal Engine

It’s been awhile since there was a new Rogue Squadron game.

The last game, Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike came out in 2003, and since then the series has suffered a couple of cancelled games. However, a new fan project is rebuilding the first game in the Unreal Engine.

Dubbed ‘Rogue Squadron Unreal’, this project is an ode to the 1998 game developed by Factor 5. It is headed by Reddit user Thanaclara and you can follow along the with project’s development via its subreddit.

A couple of levels have fully-functioning gameplay (Tatooine and Barkhesh), but work is still needed on textures and 3D models.

You can check out footage of the classic Tatooine level below (note that Thanaclara wrote: “It’s running on a very low end computer and the screen capture tanked the framerate [sic] as well”, which explains some of the video’s choppy frame rate):

The Barkhesh level is available to watch via this video. There are also a couple of reorchestrated versions of the pieces from the game’s soundtrack.

If you want to lend some skills to the project, chime on on this Reddit thread. Those that don’t have game development skills can still help out on the project by recording the AI flight patterns from the original game. Interested parties should go to this thread.

Of course—as with any fan project like this—there’s always concern that the makers will receive a cease and desist letter, whether it be from Disney, Lucasfilm or EA. However, Thanaclara is hopeful Rogue Squadron Unreal won’t get shut down, and also explained why the team went public with the project now:

1.) We need manpower, it’s taken quite some time to develop it to the level it is currently at already and is looking like it’s still going to take considerable amounts of time to finish so bringing on more hands will help expedite things.

2.) If there is to be a C&D then we would like it to happen while there is still a chance to desist and not after it has already been distributed making the team liable.

Mission select screen in Rogue Squadron Unreal.

Hopefully, this project does eventually get made without a troublesome cease and desist letter. The most famous example of a fan-project shutdown is of the Battlefront III remake Galaxy in Turmoil. That game eventually dropped the Star Wars connection due to possibly competing with EA’s Battlefront franchise.

I’m not sure the feasibility of this, but another avenue the creators could go down is to somehow make this a mod for the PC version of Rogue Squadron. This would require users to own a copy of the game and thus wouldn’t be undercutting sales. A similar method is being used for the fan-made X-Wing HD remake.

Regardless, it’s cool to see Rogue Squadron getting some love almost 15 years after the last game came out. It’s core Star Wars gaming franchise and I hope we’ll be able to try this remake out in the near future!