It's almost here, folks – pre-orders for the System Shock remake go live at the end of next month.
Available from Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG, pre-orders will open "near the end" of February and come bundled with the game's "final demo", said to include the medical level, cyberspace level, "full dismemberment, all newly recorded voice lines, and a ton of additional features and polish".
"We will still improve on the experience as we get closer to launch so please check it out and share your feedback with us on Discord," Nightdive Studios said in a recent update on the Kickstarter. "The feedback we’ve received for the previous demos has been invaluable to us and we greatly appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts. Console versions of the demo will come later."
But that's not all.
"We’d like to announce that anyone who pre-orders System Shock remake will receive System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition for free and all Kickstarter/Backerkit backers who backed at the $30 level or higher will also be receiving SS2:EE for free," the studio added.
"It’s our intention to release both System Shock remake and SS2:EE around the same time. SS2:EE has evolved into more than what we were intending. This will be a complete source port to our KEX engine. All the character and weapons models are being remade, and we’ve received permission from the Shock community to include many of the mods that have become standard for many Shock 2 veterans."
ICYMI, System Shock 2 Enhanced Edition will include VR support, as Nightdive recently confirmed with a brief clip of VR gameplay. 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.
As for the beleaguered third instalment of the franchise? Our last update was in May 2020, when System Shock 3 developer OtherSide Entertainment announced that publishing giant Tencent "will be taking the System Shock franchise forward".
As Austin reported at the time, while OtherSide's announcement was vague, many assumed this meant a total buyout. However, Nightdive Studio CEO Stephen Kick subsequently confirmed on Twitter that Nightdive still owns the System Shock franchise and IP itself.
Nightdive Studios it was also re-releasing System Shock 2, too.
Looking for something new to get stuck into while you wait? Here are the best PC games right now.
