For a studio that cut its teeth reviving classic first-person shooters, this feels like the version of System Shock they've wanted to make all along.Īs for what other unrestored old games are still on Nightdive's wishlist, the studio says that Monolith's spy shooter series No One Lives Forever remains 'the holy grail' of first-person shooters to re-release for modern PCs. That might not be in the budget or scope of the project, but it also would make for a game that feels very different than System Shock, a path Nightdive has already gone down and walked back. Like old immersive sims, though, I don't think this remake of System Shock will have shooting or melee attacks with the impact and detailed animation of today's first-person shooters. 'We're going to emulate that with the characters we have at our disposal.'

'We love Doom 2016 and we think that's one of it's strongest aspects,' Kick says of the way Bethesda's shooter mixes different enemies into single areas.

We're in no danger of not being able to deliver the final game.'

'Major elements like the lighting aren't final but the pieces are all there,' Nightdive CEO Stephen Kick tells me as I'm playing. There's also a certain retro chunkiness to the graphics: Not a lack of detail, but a style of square corridors and sharp angles and big glowing buttons that all feel like they'd be at home in a '90s game. It felt like a game from that era, but with mouse support and an easy menu screen for managing items. I got clues from audio logs, found security keys to access doors that were previously closed off to me, and reflexively yelped 'shit' when I ran out of energy for a stun pistol I picked up along the way. I jumped straight into it, grabbing a pipe and a few supplies and exploring the spooky, mostly abandoned station with no clue where I was going. But after walking around freely in the latest build for half an hour, I can say that this feels like a Shock game in the ways that matter. I've played some of the original System Shock, but I can't speak to the minutiae of exactly how Nightdive's remake does and doesn't compare to that game. There's a certain retro chunkiness to the graphics: Not a lack of detail, but a style of square corridors and sharp angles and big glowing buttons that all feel like they'd be at home in a '90s game

System shock 1 review