You can add Jedi Academy to the list of audacious VR ports

A rodian striking an opponent with a green lightsaber
(Image credit: LucasArts)

As shared by the Flat2VR modding community, creator Simon "DrBeef" Brown is in the early stages of creating a VR port of the classic FPS/Lightsaber duel simulator, Jedi Academy. Or, as the learned know it, Star Wars: Dark Forces 4: Jedi Knight 3: Jedi Outcast 2: Jedi Academy.

Flat2VR shared a 50-second preview gameplay clip of Jedi Academy running on the Meta Quest 2, showing off a portion of the game's Hoth Echo Base level. I already dig the idea of seeing this iconic movie location (and level I played over and over in grade school) from this new perspective, and the shooter combat looks like it translates well.

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Using a lightsaber pulls the game back into a third person view, a carryover from the base game. This perspective seems workable, though perhaps a bit risky for queasier gamers. Flat2VR indicates that Brown may have plans to work in a first person lightsaber view. Previous entry Jedi Outcast, which runs on the same engine as Academy, did offer this option so it seems like a doable feat.

This is hardly Brown's first rodeo when it comes to VR ports of retro PC games. His SideQuest profile features VR ports of Quake, Half-Life 1, Return to Castle Woflenstein, and more. This is likely where you'll find Brown's completed Jedi Academy project in the near future, but if you'd like to follow development or even try it early, you can check out his Patreon

Associate Editor

Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch.