System Shock remake in the works!

Mal-Adjusted

Intiresting development. Night Dive studios have aquired the rights to the System Shock franchile, long thought lost in legal limbo and are apparently at work on a remake, along with the original concept artist.

Night Dive specialize in unearthing old classics and putting them out on modern systems. They were the ones who managed to sort out the rights for SS2 about two years ago and SS1 more recently, one of their own in-house games, Spirits of Xanadu, is heavily inspired by the System Shock games.

Obviously the prospect of a SS3 is tantalizing but Night Dive themselves say that they don't have the resources for a big triple-A title, but this is good news regardless, especially as a remake is on the way. :pac:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/11/12/system-shock-remake/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rockpapershotgun%2Fsteam+%28Rock%2C+Paper%2C+Shotgun%3A+Steam+RSS%29

Zillah

Good candidate for a Kickstarter I would imagine.

Robert ninja

Interesting considering I'm hacking my way through SS2 right now and loving it. It's the only game I'm playing consistently and feel like I'm going to actually clear. I want to finish it so I can get around to SS1 which looks a few million times better.

I want to be excited for this news but these remakes, remasters, HDs etc etc... where does it end? And what is the point most of the time other than to make money off people who aren't bothered to play the originals? I was streaming SS2 last night and the only comments I got were people saying the graphics sucks why would anyone ever play it etc. Trolls for sure, but I can't help feeling that's probably what your average gamer will think of SS. If that's the reason they're making a remake... to tap into this audience... then I honestly don't have much faith in the outcome... it's almost always casualised and loses its appeal. But there are a few remakes/remasters I can think of that have done a lot to better the original game and actually improve the game to the original niche audience, unshakling it from the limitations of their budget, hardware etc. I can only hope it's that kind of remake.

Zillah

HD Homeworld remake was great!

steve_r

Excuse my vague ignorance on this, but I remember at the time SS2 came out, people were saying it fixed a lot of problems with the original? Never played the original with this bias in mind, but is it worthwhile?

Retr0gamer

I played through it a few years ago well after playing SS2 and once you get over the ropey visuals and just how tough it is it's an absolute classic.

The interface is 'shocking' bad.

Retr0gamer

M!Ck^ wrote: »

The interface is 'shocking' bad.

It is indeed legendarily awful.

mewso

Looks like Otherside are going to be developing SS3. Very good news.

mewso wrote: »

Looks like Otherside are going to be developing SS3. Very good news.

A sequel excites me.

The developer?? Not so sure...

Retr0gamer

M!Ck^ wrote: »

A sequel excites me.

The developer?? Not so sure...

There's some ultima underworld veterans on the team so I remain hopeful.

Retr0gamer wrote: »

There's some ultima underworld veterans on the team so I remain hopeful.

Are they up to scratch from a narrative perspective?

mewso

Considering Otherside is run by the founder of Looking Glass you have to hope they have the credentials for it and if it is kickstarted (since the underworld game was) maybe they will go looking for other veterans from the system shock past.

At this present moment.. what would SS3 need to do to stop apart from other games like Dead Space?

Emilio Numerous Tea wrote: »

At this present moment.. what would SS3 need to do to stop apart from other games like Dead Space?

Dead Space needs more monkey :pac:

James74

M!Ck^ wrote: »

Dead Space needs more monkey :pac:

Creepy electrified brain monkeys?

Retr0gamer

Emilio Numerous Tea wrote: »

At this present moment.. what would SS3 need to do to stop apart from other games like Dead Space?

Dead Space is system shock for dudebros. It's a dumb shooter with nothing but jump scares and M Night Shyamalan twists that runs out of steam after the 3 hour mark. Not bad games but hardly on the level of System Shock.

Mal-Adjusted

Emilio Numerous Tea wrote: »

At this present moment.. what would SS3 need to do to stop apart from other games like Dead Space?

I haven't played Dead Space...yet. All i know is it's a horror-shooter with zombie-monsters and a guy with a blowtorch and that it eventually got ruined by microtransactions (?).

Is it an RPG? Does it have a singular enemy/A.I. like Shodan.?

Retr0gamer

Mal-Adjusted wrote: »

I haven't played Dead Space...yet. All i know is it's a horror-shooter with zombie-monsters and a guy with a blowtorch and that it eventually got ruined by microtransactions (?).

Is it an RPG? Does it have a singular enemy/A.I. like Shodan.?

It's just a poor man's Resident Evil 4.

Mal-Adjusted wrote: »

I haven't played Dead Space...yet. All i know is it's a horror-shooter with zombie-monsters and a guy with a blowtorch and that it eventually got ruined by microtransactions (?).

It wasn't ruined by micro-transactions, it was ruined by becoming more shooter and less survival horror. Or, as Retr0gamer so elquantly put it, more dudebro.

As for what SS3 would need to do to differentiate itself from Dead Space, just being a true System Shock game would be more than enough.

One thing is for certain, this is going to need one hell of a Kickstarter with a fairly significant investor and/or tail end for backers in order to raise enough funds. Underworld Ascendant hasn't even broken a million dollars yet post-KS but I'd wager the SS fanbase is probably somewhat more willing to back a new game from this team.

Kiith

A System Shock kickstarter would easily hit it's target, even if it's a multi million target. It's got a huge fanbase, and it'd be brilliant to see it come back. It's a far better game then Dead Space as well (and i loved Dead Space). Easily one of my favourite games of all time, and one of the creepiest games i've ever played.

Robert ninja

Retr0gamer wrote: »

It's just a poor man's Resident Evil 4.

"Your song is not ours..."

Zillah

Kiith wrote: »

A System Shock kickstarter would easily hit it's target

Especially given that a very large percentage of that fanbase are going to be gamers from the 90's who are now 30+ and A) have money to spend, and miss the good old days.

They'd walk into their target I'd say.

(Although on the topic, I did finish SS2 and I have to say that the ending was a bizarre event that clashed with the entire experience of the rest of the game - it's by no means perfect)

Zillah

Robert ninja wrote: »

"Your song is not ours..."

Gosh, they had good sound design.

Kiith wrote: »

A System Shock kickstarter would easily hit it's target, even if it's a multi million target. It's got a huge fanbase, and it'd be brilliant to see it come back. It's a far better game then Dead Space as well (and i loved Dead Space). Easily one of my favourite games of all time, and one of the creepiest games i've ever played.

My point was more that there has been no AAA-standard game fully crowd funded based on just its Kickstarter campaign alone. They've either reached viability via further crowdfunding after the KS campaign, like Star Citizen, or via third party investors who used the campaign to gauge interest in the project, such as Shenmue III.

On the assumption Otherside used the latter approach with Underworld Ascendant I'd be fairly confident they could do the same with SS3, I'd just hope they can get the money required to really do the game justice.

Robert ninja

https://archive.is/t7BDj

Zillah

Robert ninja wrote: »

https://archive.is/t7BDj

What's that and why does it look so cheap?

Edit: this is what it currently shows
http://www.othersidetease.com/dd36tr.php

Robert ninja

Seems like a barebones countdown for an announcement or something. The link is an archive of the page.

Mr Freeze

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Dead Space is system shock for dudebros. It's a dumb shooter with nothing but jump scares and M Night Shyamalan twists that runs out of steam after the 3 hour mark. Not bad games but hardly on the level of System Shock.

Ah thats a bit unfair on Dead Space 1 which was a great game and a game I would not compare to System Shock either.

DS2 and 3 are definitely games for dudebros as you call them, it just got more and more dumbed down.

Captain Chaos

Mr Freeze wrote: »

DS2 and 3 are definitely games for dudebros as you call them, it just got more and more dumbed down.

That's when EA got involved with the IP too.

TomCo

I really like the mock ups they've released showing their intended approach to the SS1 remake:

http://www.polygon.com/2015/11/25/9801434/system-shock-remake-first-look-art

Not so thrilled with the concept art though, especially this:

"Genetically engineered beings created by triop corp to serve as heavy maintenance workers aboard citadel station"

The mutants in the original game were the crew who Shodan decided to experiment on with mutagens developed in the garden groves. I think that's a lot more horrific than the above.

Also, the serv-bots were supposed to be lab assistants not mobile vending machines.

Maybe not a big deal to some, but it grates on me given how long I've been waiting for something new from my favourite game series.
I hope they treat the source material with reverence.