Another chunk of old Star Wars PC history just got shoved off the digital shelf. A fresh round of Disney-related delistings has hit Steam, and this time it includes the original STAR WARS™ Dark Forces (Classic, 1995). SteamDB shows the game as “Retired,” and PC Gamer reports that this latest wave also affects a wider batch of older Disney-published titles. That alone stings. But for Star Wars fans, the real gut punch is what it represents. These old games were never just dusty store listings. They were part of the weird, messy, brilliant era when Star Wars games could be flight sims, strategy experiments, first-person shooters, and things that felt a little too ambitious for their own good. Dark Forces matters because it helped carve out Star Wars as a serious PC action franchise long before modern remasters and prestige branding. And Star Wars: Rebellion matters because it was exactly…
Dark Forces
Star Wars: Dark Forces Trilogy Author William C. Dietz Has Died
William C. Dietz, the science fiction author best known in Star Wars circles for writing the Dark Forces novella trilogy, has died at the age of 80. A memorial published this week states that Dietz passed away on March 15, 2026. For a lot of Star Wars readers, Dietz was not just another tie-in writer. He was the author who helped give Kyle Katarn a life on the page through Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire, Dark Forces: Rebel Agent, and Dark Forces: Jedi Knight—three books that adapted and expanded the story of one of the most beloved Legends-era characters. Wookieepedia’s record of his Star Wars bibliography lists those three Dark Forces books as his core contributions to the franchise. A Name Star Wars Readers Remember Dietz built a much bigger career beyond Star Wars. His official biography says he published more than sixty novels, with work translated into multiple…