20 years after launch, technique basic Star Wars: Empire at Warfare remains to be being patched
Avid gamers remember: Main publishers are actively working towards a future the place video games run within the cloud after which disappear eternally when the servers shut down quickly after. Nevertheless, some builders can nonetheless present some affection for his or her creations even after a substantial variety of years have handed.
Petroglyph Video games positively belongs to the latter class. Based in 2003 by two former programmers of the legendary Westwood Studios, the Las Vegas-based developer is usually targeted on making real-time technique (RTS) video games for Home windows PCs. Their first sport was Star Wars: Empire at Warfare, a Star Wars-themed RTS revealed by LucasArts in 2006 for PC and macOS.
Chronologically set between Episode III (Revenge of the Sith) and Episode IV (A New Hope), Empire at Warfare depicts the Galactic Civil Warfare occasions that fueled the development of the Loss of life Star. The participant takes the position of a “galactic commander,” visiting well-known areas within the Star Wars movie mythology (Kashyyyk, Tatooine, Dagobah) and main their military to victory.
In October 2006, Petroglyph launched an growth for the bottom sport titled Forces of Corruption. The sport misplaced its on-line multiplayer functionalities in 2014, but it surely was later re-released on Steam with full multiplayer and workshop assist. The Star Wars: Empire at War Gold Pack presently accessible on Valve’s market consists of each the bottom sport and the Forces of Corruption growth.
Earlier in November 2023, Petroglyph launched a upkeep patch for its 17-year-old sport to supply minor bug fixes and optimizations. Now, the Las Vegas studio is offering one more maintenance patch update, with some outstanding enhancements to an previous 3D RTS that ought to have been misplaced within the fogs of gaming historical past years in the past.
The most recent patch for Star Wars: Empire at Warfare converts each the bottom sport and its growth from 32-bit to 64-bit purposes, which ought to remedy out-of-memory bugs and crashes gamers have been experiencing. Multiplayer out-of-sync points have been addressed as effectively, bettering total stability. Moreover, the patch offers “quite a few” fixes geared toward addressing gameplay steadiness and incorrect unit conduct.
Regardless of being nearly twenty years previous, Star Wars: Empire at Warfare nonetheless has some loyal followers on the market with 1000’s of concurrent gamers logged on Steam at any given second. Multiplayer is unquestionably an possibility, and Petroglyph’s dedication to sustaining their first sport is commendable. Switching to 64-bit could provide some incentive for modders as effectively, whereas a contemporary remake is not totally out of the query. Petroglyph’s newest productions embrace Command & Conquer Remastered Collection (2020) and The Nice Warfare: Western Entrance (2023).
