Growing up, I was never on the cutting edge of computer gaming, or console gaming for that matter (I got a Pong setup right before the 1984 video game crash). I was rocking a Color Computer II when my friends were playing on Commodore 128, Atari ST, etc. I did what most gaming fans did and followed along in magazines covering the latest games to come. Wing Commander was one that I absolutely adored and wanted to play (partly because of the Video Games & Computer Entertainment coverage). I think it was early 1998 when I had a “moderately” new PC and tried Wing Commander out for the first time. Now fans are working to improve that classic using the Unity Engine.
A Mix of the Old with the New
They are calling this Wing Commander Reloaded, similar name as the YouTUbe channel and so far, that is a very fitting name. Before you get too excited, the game is more like a recompilation – it will require you to supply the original files to play. This is an interesting method of avoiding copyright and trademark issues.
The actual gameplay once you are in space appears to be where most of the “new” comes into play. Enemy ships as well as friendly ships you can dock with are in full 3D and look great and clearly recognizable.
What the Future Holds
According to a YouTube Community Post all 40 missions from Wing Commander’s Vega Campaign have been tested and are working.
Another YouTube content creator, damsonn, states there are plans to include all the Vega missions, Secret Missions 1 and 2 and add a skirmish/multiplayer mod as well as a campaign builder.
There is a Discord for the games development. Considering there is no public links to download the necessary game files I presume they are only available to members of the Discord community group. Link is available on Wing Com Realoaded’s YouTube channel, linked above.