For many, Knights of the Old Republic is the greatest game to ever come out of the Star Wars franchise. BioWare's take on a galaxy far, far away wasn't just a faithful adaptation, it was an extremely well-crafted RPG - one that pioneered many of the mechanics and tropes seen in Western RPGs today. Kotor was a game that transcended its status as a licensed title to become one of the best games ever made.

That being said, the game doesn't look all that great anymore. Back when it first launched, Kotor looked great - but, in today's world of high-end visuals, it just doesn't hold up. Simple character models, blurry textures, low-grade effects ... simply put, Kotor's visuals haven't aged all that well. Unfortunately, since BioWare is currently hard at work on Mass Effect: Andromeda, fans shouldn't expect to see an official remake anytime soon.

An unofficial remake, on the other hand, is already in development: a team of fans known as Poem Studios is bringing the game into the next generation, thanks in no small part to the power of the Unreal Engine 4:

Known as Apeiron, the project intends to bring all of Kotor's original content into the Unreal Engine 4. It's a huge leap forward: Kotor was built on hardware that simply can't compare with the machines of today, and it shows.

Even in its early stages, it's easy to see just how far video game visuals have come. What was once a simple, blocky room or poorly rendered street now feels like an actual place - and, considering how far character models have come since Kotor's original release, it's safe to say that the crew of the Ebon Hawk will look better than ever as well.

That being said, remaking an entire game is a daunting task: BioWare created an absolutely immense world for Kotor, and that was with an entire team full of professional artists and coders. While it may sound harsh, asking a small team of fans to do the same might be too much - just look at how long it took to publish the Half-Life remake Black Mesa (over a decade, for those who don't know).

Currently, Apeiron is still in the early stages of development - as such, fans shouldn't expect to play the Unreal Engine 4 version of Kotor anytime soon. That being said, if you're interested in helping build the game, you can contact Poem Studios over at its official site.