SHODAN is back and ready to terrorise a new generation of gamers. Night Dive Studios is preparing to reboot the genre defying nineties action game, System Shock. Older players are reeling with nostalgia and younger gamers are curious to see how it fares alongside today’s action titles. They have received immense support on Kickstarter with over $1.3 million pledged to fund System Shock’s remake.
SHODAN Is Alive
Night Dive Studios continues to keep fans updated with frequent news on their progress. Released screenshots from the remake give us a look into the familiar, but evolved, environment they’re creating. The pictures are beautifully detailed and will cause the veterans of the gaming world to reminisce. Who can forget SHODAN’s most memorable saying: “Look at you, h-h-hacker. A pathetic creature of meat and bones, panting and sweating as you run through my corridors. How can you challenge a p-perfect, immortal machine?”
Night Dive Studios
The studio’s sound designer, Jonathon Peros, has been hard at work composing audio for the game. In an almost four minute video, Peros gives us a behind the scenes look at an ambience track that is in the works. Let’s have a listen.
Night Dive Studios consists of veteran game developers who have promised to remain faithful to the original System Shock title. The developers are making an appearance at GDC from February 27th-March 3rd. If you’re curious about meeting the team behind the remake, look for the group wearing black System Shock Dev shirts. Maybe they’ll be passing out merchandise for attendees to take home.
A Shock to the System
For those of you in the younger age demographic, System Shock is a first person, action game set aboard a futuristic space station in the year 2072. You play the role of an unnamed hacker who is faced with stopping the unruly plans of an evil A.I. called SHODAN. Since its release in 1994, the game has received high praise for its story, challenging gameplay mechanics and impressive A.I. that is still comparable to the villains of today’s titles. The game is well remembered for having a memorable and well represented female antagonist, SHODAN. She’s the OG GLaDOS from Portal.
System Shock is also credited for popularising the first person game perspective and emergent gameplay, which has become a staple feature in modern action and sci-fi shooters. Amongst the diverse group of games it influenced are titles such as Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, Half-Life, Deus Ex and Bioshock.
You can expect all these features to be present in the reboot along with improved assets. However, this will no longer be designed using the Unity game engine. As of yesterday, the team’s game director, Jason Fader, announced they would officially be switching over to Unreal Engine 4. Night Dive Studios is looking to release the game on PS4, Xbox One, Mac, Linux and PC platforms simultaneously. Unfortunately, the Citadel Station won’t be available to explore until Spring/Summer 2018.
We look forward to keeping you updated on the ongoing process as we find out more.
