System Shock is Back…with your help!

Nightdive Studios, the same people who brought us the Enhanced Edition for Looking Glass Studios’ classic PC game System Shock and own the rights to the series, including the stellar sequel—and one of my favourite games of all time—System Shock 2, are now doing something even more amazing. They’re remaking the first System Shock, bringing it to a whole new generation, but they need our help to make it true. Yep, they’re on Kickstarter, asking for help to make this game a reality and I am going to back it, I want this!

I’m usually pretty critical and cynical when it comes to remakes, but this is one I can get behind, because it falls under the category of games that can’t be played in current systems, at least not in the same way as they used to. True, the Enhanced Edition for System Shock that Nightdive released make it work on current operating systems and hardware and upscale some of the textures to make them readable, but the age of the game is such that many new gamers will back away from it because it doesn’t match this generation’s accepted aesthetics. The games are amazing, but they’re incredibly dated and the visuals are enough to put people off who would otherwise enjoy what System Shock and its sequel have to offer.

That’s why I’m going to back this project—as soon as I get paid—and I hope you do too. System Shock and System Shock 2 are two of the most influential games in the industry’s history and they deserve to come back in full splendor for new generations to appreciate them and fall in love with them as we did so many years ago. And after playing the demo, not only does it look fantastic, proving once more that when you love something and aren’t just flipping assets, you can make some spectacular stuff on Unity, but it also plays great and I can see the potential for the full game, for the whole experience. And I can only hope that if this one is successful, it won’t be long until we see the remake for System Shock 2, and when that happens, you’ll have to hold me back because I will go insane!

The Kickstarter campaign for the System Shock remake sits, at the time of writing this, at over $600.000 of their $900.000 goal with 27 days left to go. There’s ample chance for this to get funded, but they still need help and I hope my words and my little playthrough of their Pre-Alpha demo can convince you. And if not, I hope they at least convince you to get the demo for yourself—you can get it on the campaign page, Steam and GoG as well—and see just how good it can and most likely will be!

I still remember my time aboard the Rickenbacker in System Shock 2, the twists in the story and the delicious maliciousness of our dear lady SHODAN. I never had the chance of playing the first title, I never could get behind the lenses of the hacker as he made his way through the Citadel Station on a quest to undo his mistakes, to disable the insane artificial intelligence he let loose.

But if this project succeeds, then I’ll finally be able to. I could pick up the enhanced edition for System Shock and while I would most likely enjoy it, now that I’ve played a segment of the game looking this good, I probably won’t be able to tolerate the original’s low resolutions. And this is coming from someone who doesn’t really give a damn about graphics, but there is such a thing as “too old,” particularly when it comes to first person shooters. Wolfenstein 3D, a game I enjoyed when I was a kid, now makes me nauseous with its pseudo-3D and bright blue-coloured walls.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598858095/system-shock/widget/video.html

Now, stop reading here, watch the video, go to the Kickstarter campaign for System Shock by Nightdive Studios, get the demo, play it a few times, get your ass almost kicked like it happened to me and then back this project. ‘Tis worthy!