Two servings of System Shock goodness in simply sooner or later? Why sure, I’ll have cyber-seconds. Following up after OtherSide’s System Shock 3 trailer, Night Dive have shared twenty minutes of uncut exploration from their upcoming remake of the primary game. It’s taken some time to get right here, by way of a detour into a since-cancelled redesign, however I can’t grumble concerning the outcomes. If their purpose is to replace the unique System Shock, chunky stage geometry, acquainted puzzles and all to fashionable spec, then they’re heading in the right direction. Take a wander via Citadel Station’s acquainted medical deck beneath.
If there’s one grievance I can stage at this new footage, it’s that it seems to be probably too correct to the unique System Shock, tasty fashionable lighting results apart. On the opposite hand, I really feel I ought to applaud Night Dive for completely recapturing the look of the unique, proper right down to a number of the steeply parallax-mapped wall textures wanting slightly pixellated. The largest change over the unique is the enemy fashions. Before, they had been sprites that at all times seemed too blurry for the environments they stood in. Now, they’re detailed and generally disconcerting to have a look at. The dying animations on the mutants are particularly grisly.
The variations over the unique are refined, however logical. You can now discover gadgets on cabinets, that are precise 3D areas now as a substitute of simply wall textures. The new cybernetics recharge station is an intimidating piece of equipment that retracts into the ground when you’ve drained it, and the puzzle panels are actually interacted with as a part of the game-world. Instead of popping up slightly puzzle window to click on on, you manipulate particular person panels on the puzzle board direct, as you’d in Prey or Doom 3.
The stage format itself is sort of solely unchanged from the unique, however the brand new texture element and elevated solidity of the enemies goes a great distance. I’ve performed the unique System Shock to dying already, so I’m slightly unhappy that they’re not diverging extra from the unique design, however I can perceive why. When it’s completed, I can see this changing into the accepted place to begin for gamers new to the sequence. Wouldn’t thoughts a equally styled remake of System Shock 2, both – simply saying.
There’s nonetheless no launch date for the System Shock remake, however you may comply with its improvement by way of its official page here.
