Fans of System Shock are having a field day today. Rumors have been going around since E3 about a huge Bioshock announcement. Well it seems the rumors weren’t about Bioshock but its spiritual prequel System Shock. A game that almost single handedly shaped the current action role-playing genre and storytelling, System Shock is a staple in classic video games. Not only is the game coming back but it is getting a complete overhaul from the ground up using Unity. Fans who thought the game was creepy and dark before haven’t seen anything yet. While a good amount of work on the remaster seems to be complete already the team has reached out to Kickstarter to raise nearly a million dollars to finish. This time around it won’t just be available on PC but Xbox One as well. So unfortunately for PS4 people it doesn’t look like we’ll be getting a system version any time soon.
This System Shock remaster isn’t being made by just any group. Much of the development team is made up by critical figures from similar games including Bioshock and Fallout: New Vegas. Such as Chris Avellone who worked on Fallout: New Vegas, Wasteland 2, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, Planescape: Torment and Fallout 2. Some of the lead developers from the original System Shock are part of the team as well and making sure the remaster stays true to the original; including the artist Robb Waters. Even the music is being entirely redone with an actual orchestra, including the original voice actress for SHODAN.
With such an incredible team working on such an important game it is no wonder the Kickstarter has earned nearly half a million in a day. We could be looking at the biggest video game Kickstarter ever but it would have to beat Shenmue 3 at over 6.5 million. Thankfully not everything will be the same. System Shock will update some aspects to be more modern like the HUD and hopefully the point system. Depending on how much money is raised beyond the $900,000 goal, Nightdive Studio has a lot of other plans. This includes more gameplay, enemy limb removal and even advanced difficulty modes for masochistic players like Ironman mode (die and the save is deleted). The demo is fairly rough still but for pre-alpha it makes sense but still needs a lot of polishing.
While parts of the game seem to be complete already, there is even a demo that everyone needs to try, System Shock still has a long ways to go with a December 2017 release. If I had the money I would donate 2 grand just to get that sweet original Big Daddy drawing. Not only do I love this game because it’s a classic but because it looks like some of my favorite open world games… which makes sense since most of the developers also made those games. A dark and gritty game, everyone needs to play System Shock in all its modern graphics goodness. If I had one gripe it would be WHAT HAS PS4 EVER DONE TO DESERVE THIS?! DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!
