Devil’s advocate: I’d have been much more enthusiastic about Otherside’s System Shock 3 if it didn’t have revered murder-computer SHODAN in it. ‘Shock, historically, has been about pushing issues forwards, not seeking to the previous, and what stronger assertion might there be than to ditch its godhood-seeking figurehead? Make the large dangerous a disgruntled janitor named Susan as an alternative, possibly.
But I received’t faux that I didn’t expertise a mess of teenage kicks after I heard the returned voice of unique SHODAN actor Terri Brosius, on this first teaser trailer for the belated third System Shock.
This teaser got here as a part of Unity’s trumpet-blowing about their shiny new options in final evening’s GDC keynote, as demonstrated by Wozza Specs hisself. I’ll share his Shock jabber additional down the put up, however let’s begin with the trailer itself.
This is a “pre-alpha state”, apparently, and clearly it’s very fastidiously curated micro-scenes on prime of that, so there’s solely a lot we are able to interpret concerning the closing game from it.
Thar she blows. Does it appear like System Shock 2? I imply, I suppose so: darker, moodier, however Shock 2 was by no means probably the most visually distinctive game within the first place. It was the unique Shock that had a extra outlined aesthetic, with its per-zone color palettes and the easy shapes and textures of the period.
That’s actually a high-end-lookin’ Shock 3, although, displaying off because it does among the subsequent main Unity replace’s new wizardry (they’re additionally planning on ray-tracing support, as Katharine reported yesterday).
System Shock Three inventive director Warren Spector – he of the unique Shock, Deus Ex, Ultima Underworld and a little bit of Thief – offered the trailer at GDC final evening – his bit begins at round 1hr 28m into the video beneath.
Always a deal with to listen to Wozza say “immersive simulations”.
If you’ll be able to’t or received’t watch the video, I’ve transcribed the few particulars he gave away for you:
“We need gamers to really feel alone in a wierd and harmful place, a station on the outskirts of our photo voltaic system. It’s a world which was as soon as alive with exercise however is now managed by a rogue AI named SHODAN. Living on this station, or unliving on this station, are solely robots, mutants and the lifeless.
“We’ve bought a bunch of gameplay techniques in thoughts that we’re completely not going to speak about as we speak. But from a visible standpoint, we wanted a setting that was noir-like, dominated by deep, darkish, problematic, disturbing shadows, and punctuated by areas of intense, centered gentle.”
No phrase of a launch date but, so the jury’s nonetheless out on whether or not we’ll see this or Night Dive’s sporadically-troubled remake of the original System Shock first.
