Remembering the 30-year-old computer game that introduced me to Star Wars

Here's something that might surprise you — my first real dive into Star Wars wasn’t through the movies, but a 90s video game called Shadows of the Empire. Growing up in a strict Christian household, I wasn’t even allowed to watch the original films. My parents saw Star Wars as dangerous, full of mysticism they wanted to avoid. Instead, I got my fix through video games, and this one, according to Samuel Axon writing in Technology, was a real treasure. It captured the feel of the universe pretty perfectly — action, adventure, and all the iconic characters — way before the movies became a cultural juggernaut. Axon points out that Shadows of the Empire is a relic of a lost era, a time when games were simpler but still packed with imagination. And here’s the thing — what’s fascinating is how a game can shape someone’s whole view of a franchise, especially when the movies aren’t accessible. So, get this — sometimes, the games become the real gateway to a universe, even decades later.