The remake of "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" still stubbornly refuses to unite with the Force. In a recent chat between Sabre boss Matthew Curch and IGN, the CEO remarked, perhaps a little wearily, that the troubled project is still alive.

"It's clear that we are working on this project and it's been reported many times," Karch said, adding, "My point is that the game is alive and well and we are committed to exceeding consumer expectations. Frankly, at this point, I think that exceeding consumer expectations means not playing the game at all.

As for the press, Kirch is not wrong (I would know); the KOTOR remake has been shrouded in a veil of silence since July 2022, when Aspyr's original developers reportedly gave a disastrous demo to Lucasfilm and Sony execs, but the news anyway was incessant. For example, the developer was changed from Aspyr to Sabre, the project was postponed again, and the project was likely to have continued when the mysterious $2 billion Embracer deal fell through and Sabre sold the studio.

Yet somehow, the remake has continued to exist under Sabre's auspices. To me, this seems like a miracle, like dodging a thunderstorm. In fact, Kirch's comments seem like the surest sign that the project has survived since it first debuted at Sony's 2021 showcase.

It has been generally accepted for years that the project was under Sabre's control, but none of the key players ever directly mentioned it. The closest that was ever come was Embracer's 2022 comment that Saber was supporting Aspire's game development, with the remaining gaps filled by reports based on anonymous Saber sources. However, with Saber out of Embracer and Karch somewhat indignant that "it is clear and obvious that we are working on this," the exact status of the KOTOR remake is clearer than ever.

Still, it is not as clear as I would like. I loved the original KOTOR, one of the games that shaped my tastes as a child, and am very curious to see what a modern studio would do with a remake. The Sabre project is obviously still alive in some form, but it has had to endure a lot over the last few years.

KOTOR seems to be on solid footing, but I still can't bet on whether it will actually be released, and even if it is, I suspect that the scars of its development will be more than a little visible.