System Shock Remake

Whoa, that should probably get its own thread.

Iā€™m panting and sweating all of a sudden.

Looks surprisingly good. I didnā€™t even realise this one was on the horizon, thought Nightdive were only doing remakes on Strife etc.

Changing over to U4 appears to be well worth it comparing the trailers. Perhaps theyā€™ll do the same for Underworld, which really was struggling going by the now long ago video release.

From the latest FAQ mailed out 11.7.17:

ā€œQ: When is the release date?
A: Weā€™re still early in development. Once we enter our Production phase, weā€™ll have more info for all of you.ā€

Jesus Christ, either they have a small team, or a team thatā€™s not all that good; i.e. modders. Theyā€™re still spinning their wheels in pre-production two years after announcement.

Iā€™d pull out of this, if I could. System Shock remake in 2019 just doesnā€™t sound that greatā€¦ if Nightdive gets there at all.

I just started Prey, and for me, this the System Shock remake Iā€™ve been waiting for.

I had second thoughts during the Kickstarter campaign and pulled my pledge. The scopeā€™s expanded so much beyond the initial pitch that this dramatically delayed production now runs the risk of competing with System Shock 3. The latter at least has a publisher, Starbreeze. Has the remake secured any external funding or support beyond backer pledges, or is the project solely supported by NightDiveā€™s digital re-releases?

They are working on Underworld Ascendant as well, which, according to their kickstarter, was supposed to be done over a year ago by now. I get an update maybeā€¦once every 5 months? I do not in any way believe either of these games will finish unfortunately.

Oh - thanks Krayzkrok - I had no idea there was a difference between the two.

Got an update today saying, basically, that they had stepped too far from the original vision as pitched in the Kickstarter and were taking a step back for a moment to reorient, but that they would still complete and deliver. As someone who wasnā€™t thrilled with the move away from the remake they originally pitched, I am cautiously optimistic about this but of course, it remains to be seen whether the direction they settle on is any better, and moreover, whether they end up releasing anything at all.

Itā€™s dead, Jim. The curse of the System Shock remakes continues to hold true.

Polygon has some more info about the current status of the project:

A source familiar with the project, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Polygon that ā€œmission creepā€ and unrealistic ambitions had eaten up the Kickstarter funds, something that Nightdive largely confirmed. In an interview with Polygon, director of business development Larry Kuperman said that a strategy to pitch the game to publishers, in order to secure more funding, had not been successful. He added that around 15 contract workers will no longer be working on the game, but that Nightdive is not laying off any full-time staff.

Despite being a big System Shock fan, I got cold feet at the last minute, and cancelled my pledge. When I saw the team announce they were switching engines and dramatically changing the scope of the game, I knew I had dodged a bullet.

Yeah, the key here is ā€œhiatus.ā€ I think I can count on one hand the number of times Iā€™ve seen a project go publicly on hiatus, then actually start back up and complete. Hiatus is normally the kiss of death, at least for whatever original vision the creators had for the project.

I think Starcraft Ghost is still theoretically on hiatus, for example.

Translation: at the rate we are spending money, there is no way on hell we can finish the game.

Iā€™d be more bummed about this if we didnā€™t just get Prey, which is an excellent spiritual successor to System Shock. Also, BioShock (all of them) is a pretty great freaking game. I feel bad for anyone that kickstarted it, but there is always a risk with KS a project, and thatā€™s why I (and most folks here, I suspect) am pretty selective about what I back. To date Iā€™ve only backed Pillars of Eternity, Pillars of Eternity 2, and Pathfinder Kingmaker. While the latter could potentially explode (unlikely, but who knows?) I felt pretty confident backing a game by a known publisher.

Iā€™m with Scott_luftkin. I think Prey did something different whilst staying with the core fundamentals that made System Shock 1&2 the classics that they are. As a game industry (and film industry), we need to innovate rather than replicate. Surely, thereā€™s enough creative passion out there to match the technological improvements that have been made. The limiting factor at the moment seems to be the publishers who donā€™t want to support anything that doesnā€™t already have an established name or a guaranteed consumer base. Kick Starter was supposed to be the way to get around that, but while itā€™s worked, itā€™s been for a very small percentage.

Well dammit, this is the one Kickstarter I backed at a higher tier to get a physical collectorā€™s copy. Normally Iā€™m just in for the minimum amount to get a digital one and have had 0 failed video game projects until this.

Maybe the worst part of this is that Nightdive had a good track record of reviving some classic games of the past (just updating them to run on modern machines, not rebooting them entirely). If this results in them going under, we might miss out on some great revivals.

I wouldnā€™t count this one as failed quite yet. Certainly itā€™s not a great sign, but projects have weathered worse. Iā€™d count it out once either theyā€™ve officially given up or several months have passed without any (verifiable) resumption of work and communication on their part. But I also wouldnā€™t hold my breath.