Nightdive Studios has announced, via its Kickstarter page, that the latest System Shock remake release window will be in March 2023. Its official Steam store page has also been updated with the new release window. It has been roughly ten years since rumors about a System Shock remake game began surfacing that eventually led to a formal announcement in 2016 with a 2018 planned release. Since then there have been many delays, pushbacks, and new launch windows announced. It seems that Nightdive Studios prefers to provide updates regarding this project towards the end and beginning of the year as the last project updates happened in December 2021 which included a 2022 release window and screenshots. A new official trailer featuring in-game footage was released this past June for the PC Gaming Show.
Nightdive Studios’ update clarifies that the remake is in fact “a faithful reboot of the genre-defining classic from 1994 built by a team of industry veterans,” and has provided a few more visuals for the upcoming release.
January 2023 Update Announcement
“Welcome to a New Year, Hackers
After our return from Gamescom, we’ve been hesitant to share anything so as not to spoil any remaining surprises we have in store. However, we’ve picked a few last things to share before our quickly approaching launch window of March 2023.
As some of you have already pointed out this is not our first time announcing a tentative launch window, but over the past few years much has changed – the scope and scale of the project have evolved dramatically and with Prime Matter joining the project it’s enabled us to focus on quality-of-life improvements, bug fixing, and localization support – the last major steps towards releasing a game we’re all incredibly proud of. This has also given us time to go back and polish various aspects of the game that needed that extra shine.
Variants, Effects, and Features
When accessing a locked area, you’ll now scan the appropriate card to gain entry.
• Citadel has gone through a bit of a makeover and is ready for her big finale.
• We’ve created some Enemy Variants to provide new challenges to the player in later levels.
A new enemy type that is a call-back to an original we initially omitted, but decided to include.
• Diego will be making numerous appearances throughout the game – here is a sneak peek at one such incarnation.
Updated effects for the weapons, like the Plasma Rifle, provide a final level of polish.
As you know dismemberment has been a high priority for us and every enemy is receiving a completely custom dismemberment model – there are a lot of enemies and the amount of effort being spent on this is staggering. Here’s a look at how the Avian Mutant will perish.
Until next time –
The System Shock Team
Discussion (4 replies)
Join Discussion →Latest? F these people, I have zero faith left that they'll ever deliver a game, and even less faith that they deliver a decent game.
I'll believe it when I see it. Coming up on 7 years since the Kickstarter. Have they been using Chris Roberts as a consultant?
As I often will browse developer's and publisher's social media pages in a hunt for new official images, besides their own website, I was a bit bummed by a post I saw on their FB page. Someone commented on how they'd preordered the game on Steam but there was no mention there that the game was still in the Kickstarter phase and only found out through this update announcement. They felt deceived in pre-ordering something that's had so many release date changes.
I know a lot of Kickstarter games get listed on Steam but can't say how many I've seen that made it to pre-order status while still on Kickstarter, but honestly it's not something I really track. There's a bit to consider with these dynamics since even AAA studios will often put up pre-orders and then push release dates back multiple times. Sometimes it even gets so bad they refund it all so when it comes to these smaller teams it can get even more tricky.
It's not that pushing back the date is the end of the world, but they were clearly stringing people along with their dates. It's a deceptive and scummy tactic to get more people to pre-order.