Saber Shares KOTOR Remake Status as Fans Await Gameplay Reveal

The KOTOR remake is still in development, and Saber has put a year on it. Before a date gets you excited, the thing worth waiting for is about 30 seconds of a real fight. The moment someone pulls out a lightsaber, you'll learn a lot more about what kind of Star Wars game this is.

You'll find out whether you can pause, whether you can give orders to your whole party, and whether you'll be timing parries as you did in Jedi: Survivor. If the combat changes, you'll also see how much of the RPG underneath goes with it.

Back in March, a top studio executive confirmed the KOTOR remake was still being worked on.

More recently, Saber's chief business officer said he hoped the project would be part of the company's 2028 lineup. Saber called the comment genuine but said it shouldn't be treated as an official release target. So if you've seen claims that the KOTOR remake is coming in 2028, the word doing the heavy lifting there is hopeful.

That's the latest concrete update. You're still waiting on an official gameplay reveal, a release date, and any specifics on combat or quality-of-life changes. Some old development screenshots of the KOTOR remake are floating around, but they come from an earlier version of the project, and a different studio has since taken over.

Those images say very little about the game you'll eventually play. The loudest debate around the KOTOR remake is about combat, with plenty of people wanting the original turn-based feel back. In the original, you could let fights play out in real time or pause, switch characters, and queue up what everyone should do.

Underneath the animations, attacks resolved in rounds with dice rolls, which is why you'd sometimes watch a lightsaber swing and wonder how it missed. A duel should look like two people fighting for their lives, so faster reactions, hits that feel like they connect, and clear feedback on why an attack failed would all help.

Combat is the loudest debate, with many fans wanting the original's feel.

If a shield is eating your blaster fire, you should see it. If an enemy resists a Force power you queued, you should get enough feedback to make a different call next time. Full real-time action has its pull too. You catch a blaster bolt, shove someone off a ledge, and turn just in time to block a lightsaber.

The concern is what happens to your party meanwhile, and whether a blaster build stays as fun as a lightsaber one. The best answer for the KOTOR remake sits in the middle: responsive movement and attacks, plus a pause that lets you give the whole party orders, so you can recover when you bring the wrong companions into a tough room.

The small details are what bring you back for a third playthrough. A journal that reminds you who to talk to on Taris after a week away, a map with floors and pins, gear comparisons against companions, and feat previews before you spend points.

Add a few more autosaves, an easy manual save, adjustable subtitles, remappable controls, and the option to switch off quest markers. Those quality-of-life upgrades are what you'd expect from a KOTOR remake today. The story matters too.

The original sits roughly 4,000 years before the movies, which made Star Wars feel big again, and the KOTOR remake should keep that spirit, with more companion conversations out in the world and a big reveal that new players get to discover untouched. Saber's next gameplay look should show a full fight, party tactics, and quality-of-life choices, so the KOTOR remake gets judged on real Star Wars action.