After a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign, personnel and engine changes, and years of painstaking labor, Nightdive Studios says theSystem Shockremake is “largely complete.” In a seemingly golden era of game remakes across numerous franchises, this upcoming remake ofSystem Shockis shaping up to be a much-needed rendition of an aging classic.
System Shockwas originally released in 1994 and developed by LookingGlass Technologies, the team also behindSystem Shock 2, Thief: The Dark Project,andThief 2.A dark cyberpunk shooter with innovative immersive-sim and RPG elements, the game paved the way forfuture icons likeHalf-Life,Deus Ex,BioShock,andPrey.Set in 2072 aboard the orbital Citadel Station, players take on the role of a nameless hacker seeking to stop a rogue AI from destroying life on Earth.
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In 2016, Nightdive Studios had taken on the difficult task of recreatingSystem Shockfrom the ground up after raising an impressive $1,350,700 of their $900,000 Kickstarter goal. After some initial development using the Unity engine, it became clear that the project wasn’t living up to its full potential. After a switch to Unreal Engine along with a new development team including veterans of heavy-hittingRPG shooters likeFallout: New Vegas,Mass Effect,andBioShock,Nightdive Studios has reached the pre-beta point in development and is on track for a release later in 2022.
Nightdive Studios has an impressive array of remakes under its belt already, having beentasked with remakes forTurok,DOOM 64, and 2021’sQuake Remastered. Its focus is on faithful remakes that preserve as much as possible from the original games, rather than strictly photorealistic graphical updates. However, that’s not to say theSystem Shockremake isn’t an extreme makeover when compared to the outdated early 3D era graphics of the original. Rather than the clunky semi-point-and-click controls of the original, the remake has streamlined the game’s controls to be more in line with what modern gamers are accustomed to.
It’s uncertain exactly what else is in store for theSystem Shockremake, as the playable demo on Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store is from an extremely early alpha build. Other demonstrations have made their way onto YouTube, where fans can take a look at some of the remake’s content. PC versions of the game are also already available to preorder for $45 USD on Steam, GOG, andthe Epic Games Store, and console versions are expected to launch as well. From what Nightdive Studios has shown so far of the remake, fans ofSystem Shock, as well as newcomers who haven’t had the chance to play the original, will have a lot to look forward to later this year.
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