Highly anticipated: It’s finally happening. After a whopping five years of occasionally-troubled development, System Shock’s first-ever remake finally has a proper, set-in-stone release window. The moody immersive sim will finally be arriving this summer — provided the Covid-19 pandemic doesn’t delay development any further.
Since this is a remake and not a remaster, everything from the gameplay, graphics, and user interfaces to the levels and acquire-able gear have been revamped, updated, or outright replaced. While exploring the game, you’ll find entirely new areas that never existed in the original System Shock, though your core goal is still the same: you need to take down Shodan, the rogue AI that has taken over the derelict Citadel Station.
Notably, Shodan’s original voice actress — Terri Brosius — will be reprising her role in the remake and was even allowed to offer feedback on the design direction of the game.
At any rate, System Shock’s remake will be an immersive sim through and through, as we mentioned before. The level design has been updated, but players will still be given multiple ways to solve the various challenges the game throws at them.
You can use your tools and weaponry to get past obstacles or find alternate paths. For example, crawling through a vent to bypass some particularly tough monsters (of which there will be many, thanks to Shodan’s tendency to genetically mutate the station’s inhabitants).
If you aren’t sold on the idea of a System Shock remake, don’t fret. The developers, Night Dive Studios, aren’t expecting you to shell out any money on the project sight-unseen. They’re offering a free demo of the game to anyone who wants to try it, across all major PC platforms: The Epic Games Store, Steam, and GOG.
If you like what you see (and play), you can optionally pre-order the game for $44.99 on the platforms mentioned above. Doing so will give you a free copy of System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition, whenever that launches.
We don’t have a precise release date for the System Shock remake yet. GOG lists it as August 31, 2021, but that’s likely a placeholder, since the studio itself only lists the game as a “summer” release on other storefronts.
Regardless, we’re excited to see what Night Dive Studios has accomplished here, and we can’t wait to see how it looks and runs on PC.