Nightdive Studios, a development team known for remakes and remasters, has now said that the upcoming remake of System Shock is entering the final stages of development and is still aiming for a March 2023 launch. As a classic sci-fi horror game known for its difficulty, the original 1994 release by LookingGlass has gone down as a cult hit, and while it didn't quite achieve AAA acclaim, its 1999 follow-up did make an enormous splash with both titles continuing to influence to this day.
Not long ago, it was announced that System Shock Remake would be delayed, with the new launch window being March. However, some fans may have been a bit doubtful. Development on the game was already supposed to have been in the last stages. In April 2022, Nightdive said the team was nearly finished, so many may have been taking this information with a pinch of salt. However, it looks as though the studio is finally confident about when the game will release as it makes a recent announcement.
Over on Kickstarter, a new post from the studio says the remake of System Shock has now entered the "last major steps" and that the March 2023 release window is the date the developer is confident about, though there is no exact launch day yet. The post goes on to say that the team is aware that this is not the first time a "tentative launch window" has been announced, but now that there's been some changes, Nightdive has been able to put more focus on things like localization support, quality-of-life tweaks, and bug fixes, with these essentially being the final few bits before the game is complete.
The team is responsible for a number of remasters and remakes, such as Doom 64, the original Quake, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, and the Enhanced Edition of System Shock 2. Nightdive Studios has also shown interest in remastering Eternal Darkness, the cult Nintendo GameCube horror title that pretty much introduced the world to sanity meters popularized by games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
In general, the original 1994 release has had an impact on the gaming industry. System Shock 2 inspired the likes of BioShock, and while the world has moved on over the years, the fact that the first game is now getting an official remake shows there is still a lot of love to give. Maybe this time around, System Shock will get the full recognition it deserves, or perhaps even spark new entries in the series.
System Shock is in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: PCGamesN, Kickstarter