System Shock 2 Enhanced Edition VR support teased in new gameplay footage

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It's a literal monkey wrench situation

System Shock
(Image credit: Irrational Games)

System Shock 2 Enhanced Edition will include VR support for the storied survival horror game, as developer Nightdive Studios confirmed with a brief clip of VR gameplay released this week.

The clip shows one developer using the motion controls on a Valve Index VR joystick to attack one of the game's iconic Blue Monkeys with a wrench – naturally, while proclaiming "Die, monkey". The second half of that sentence is about as System Shock as it gets, but VR support is a surprise addition to the Enhanced Edition of System Shock 2.

Nightdive first announced that it's working on System Shock 2 Enhanced Edition in August 2019, and at the time said it would be "coming soon." Obviously, more than a few monkey wrenches (heh) have gotten in the way of "soon", but this long-awaited update shows that the studio's still actively working on the game. It also confirms that VR support is among the "other surprises" that Nightdive CEO Stephen Kick teased when we spoke with him about the project. 

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Kick also discussed some of Nightdive's other goals for the Enhanced Edition. "We're going to experiment with other platforms mostly to evaluate how the UI from [System Shock 2] would transition to a controller, but that doesn't guarantee you'll see [it] appear on console anytime soon," he said. "Our priority with the Enhanced Edition is to be able to deliver an updated co-op multiplayer component. As of right now starting a co-op campaign is needlessly complicated and we're going to address that by implementing features that will enable a more modern and streamlined experience." 

Nightdive is also working on a full-fat reboot for the original System Shock - here's the alpha trailer.

Austin Wood
Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.