For most, Shodan is scary enough. But that’s not enough for some people. So why not take on System Shock 2 in VR?
System Shock 2‘s VR support isn’t via a mod, but an official part of Night Dive Studios’s upcoming remaster. In a tweet on Monday morning, Night Dive showed off in-engine Unreal footage of swinging a wrench with what looks like a Valve Index controller.
Our Notifications: “Is System Shock 2 EE still a thing?”
Us:???????? pic.twitter.com/nYgX0xnVBa— Nightdive Studios (@NightdiveStudio) January 10, 2021
The System Shock remakes and reboots haven’t had the smoothest time over the last couple of years. System Shock 3, which was being developed by Otherside Entertainment, was officially picked up by Tencent last year after being dropped by Swedish publisher Starbreeze. Layoffs at the studio left fans concerned about the state of the game’s development, especially after a former developer cited how issues within Starbreeze had affected the project.
The System Shock 2 remaster has had its own struggles. The game was originally launched through Kickstarter, but scope creep meant the game strayed too far from its original vision. Night Dive’s CEO said that this was partially due to “positive feedback” from a potential publisher, although that deal would fall through several months later:
It was soon after the Kickstarter when the team offered many suggestions that seemed great on their own, but in aggregate represented too much of a departure. However, I approved the proposed changes in scope after receiving positive feedback and a verbal commitment from a publisher to fund the game and the new design we submitted.
We promised a bigger, better game and we were told that the game was going to be funded beyond the amount we raised on Kickstarter. Unfortunately, that deal fell through 7 months later for reasons we are still not clear on. To put it bluntly, we were left high and dry after making crucial, consequential changes in staff and scope.
Night Dive then went back to basics, swapping out Unity for the Unreal Engine 4 and working on more of a “1:1 remake” instead of a reimagining.
The VR footage is the first news from Night Dive about System Shock 2 in the new year. There should be much more noise as the year carries on: Night Dive Studios, after all, was originally founded solely for System Shock 2‘s re-release. Night Dive is also working on remasters of Blade Runner, SShadow Man: Remastered, Machines: Wired for War and SiN: Reloaded, the latter of which is a joint project with Slipgate Ironworks (Rise of the Triad 2013, Ghostrunner) and Ritual Entertainment (SiN, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, Star Trek: Elite Force II).
If you want to play System Shock 2 in VR now, however, fans are working on it. One user on YouTube posted a video of their efforts to port System Shock 2 via Unity3D, and there’s a beta build available here.
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