With a Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake all but confirmed, it remains to be seen just how rumored developers Aspyr will handle the antagonist. Even though the Star Wars franchise is home to one of the most iconic villains in cinematic history, it's difficult to say that Darth Vader actually looks intimidating, though he does sound it. The whole franchise actually has somewhat of an issue with its villains not being too scary, but this is understandable given that Star Wars is mostly marketed towards children and still has a force choke on the toy market.
This issue has even creeped into the franchise's many video games such as Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. This 2003 RPG from Bioware is often included in lists of the greatest video games of all time let alone one of the absolute best Star Wars games. In it, the player can experience an entirely new era of the universe never before seen in the films and truly define what kind of person they want to play as. The player can choose to use a lightsaber of any color, and even join the dark side and wield powerful force lightning. However, the main antagonist of the game, Darth Malak, may prove to be a tonal challenge for the remake. Darth Malak was intimidating in the original due to the mysterious tone of the brand new Old Republic universe. Now that the Old Republic has been thoroughly explored and the title itself has aged, Darth Malak just doesn't feel as scary.
The Villain Problem
If there are two characteristics that can be attributed to define Darth Malak it is that he has a metal jaw-like apparatus, and he wears tight bright orange clothing. Ironically, both of these attributes hinder his ability to breathe properly. Bioware likely wanted to create a villain that could mirror Darth Vader without coming across as a 'carbonite' copy of him. The result is a servicable enough bad guy, but like other Bioware projects such as Mass Effect, what makes Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic great is not its villain. Knights of the Old Republic is great because of the atmosphere, the companions, and the many twists and turns in the wonderfully written stories that are told. Darth Malak is simply a plot device, and while he was very scary eighteen years ago, but not so much today.
Similar to Darth Malak's inspiration, Darth Vader, every time he was in a scene it felt incredibly tense. Unlike Vader, much of this is down to everything surrounding the villain rather than the villain himself. Malak, unfortunately, doesn't have a lot of screentime to flex his villainous muscles. Sure, it's a little creepy to see someone with a metal jaw, and Malak is undeniably a fierce and brutal sith lord, especially after he saw further characterization in various novels, but some aspects of him should change for the remake. Aspyr could even take some pointers from Obsidian's 2004 aptly titled sequel Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords for how to make engaging and intimidating Star Wars villains.
It's highly unlikely that Malak will undergo any major character changes, in the remake, though, given his presence in other forms of media. Darth Malak does provide a unique challenge for Aspyr, as it can do a lot more when translating him to modern consoles and PC. Furthermore, if the combat also gets overhauled, then the final fight with Malak has the potential to be absolutely frightening with the sith lord siphoning life off nearby jedi. If the remake wants to nail the same sensation of wonder that gamers found in the original nearly two decades ago, then Darth Malak needs to be taken to his extreme. This could include some light appearance changes so he doesn't look as orange and blocky, as well as some more brief cutscenes so the player can learn to fear him; think Darth Vader's very first appearance in Star Wars. Major lighting and graphical changes also have the potential to make the Knights of the Old Republic remake one of the grittiest and tonally unique stories in the Star Wars universe, but the villain has to be at the forefront.
Knights of the Old Republic Remake is reportedly in development.