Do you like deep, character-driven first-person adventure games like BioShock and Deus Ex? Well, the genre may never have happened if it weren’t for the influence of System Shock.
Created in 1994 by the now-defunct Looking Glass Technologies, System Shock is a cyberpunk-flavored action-adventure game, in which you play as a nameless hacker who must do battle with a malevolent AI aboard a futuristic space station. The game tried to get away from the simple run-and-gun gameplay of early ’90s first-person games like Duke Nukem and Doom by focusing more on storyline, customization and non-linear progression. The game was produced by Warren Spector, who would later create Deus Ex as a spiritual follow-up to System Shock. In 1999, Ken Levine and Irrational Games would put their stamp on the series with System Shock 2, and BioShock was originally intended to be System Shock 3. So yeah, turns out System Shock is the secret prequel to a lot of pretty great stuff.
Well, it seems as though this influential classic is getting the full remake treatment. The System Shock series was recently acquired by new publisher Night Dive Studios, who released an “Enhanced Version” of the game in September, but now they plan to go further, rebuilding the game from the ground up. Apparently, Night Dive Studios will be working with Robert Waters (concept artist for the original game) and several other System Shock team members to make sure the remake stays true to the look and feel of the original. If this remake of System Shock is successful, there’s even talk that Night Dive may try to make a System Shock 3 happen.
There’s no word yet on when we can expect the System Shock remake, although it will likely be a while, as it’s a complex game that won’t be terribly easy to recreate. What do you folks think? Anybody out there played the original System Shock? If you haven’t, are you intrigued by the notion of a remake?
(via Screen Rant)