Six years ago Nightdive Studios announced they were doing a remaster of sci-fi sequel System Shock 2, which they were calling System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition. But back then they were also busy working on a full-blown remake of the original System Shock. Turns out that first outing to Citadel Station took priority. But now that they’re done with that, the studio has finally revealed a release date for the sequel’s remaster, which they’ve sneakily renamed System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster.
It’s coming out June 25th this year, as revealed by Nightdive in the above trailer shown during the Future Games Show’s spring showcase. As you can see this is definitely “remaster” territory as opposed to a full remake. Resuited, but not rebooted. Watch as an HD-ifying line sweeps over the screen to show before and after shots of Citadel Station and its hostile inhabitants. The changes seem fairly light-handed, too.
There’s widescreen support, remodelled enemies, “enhanced” reload animations, and “optimized controller support” among other small improvements, we’re told. Some similar improvements can already be achieved for free thanks to the game’s long-standing mod scene, which lessens the impact of these tweaks a little for anyone who has already done that. The remastering studio were “paying particular attention to the co-op multiplayer” wrote news poster Craig back in 2019, after talking to Nightdive director Stephen Kick. There doesn’t appear to be any mention of co-op in the Steam blurb but the studio has previously confirmed it’s still intended to appear.
“Multiplayer and co-op is currently in development,” said the studio in a tweet last year. “We will share more info on these and other features as we get closer to launch day.”
System Shock 2, while beloved by many, can be quite clunky to play from a modern perspective. It’ll be interesting to see whether the changes make one of the best RPGs on PC more approachable. Nightdive have earned a lot of trust with the series – Jeremy expressed much love in his review of the System Shock remake, calling it “a breathtakingly beautiful and astonishingly faithful remake.” And this upcoming remaster will be free to anyone who pre-ordered that first remake, say Nightdive. So that’s nice.
