Nightdive Studios, the team behind the upcoming System Shock remake, announced that the game will not make its previously promised March 2023 release window. The System Shock remake has suffered something of a hellish development cycle, with this recent two month delay coming as the latest disappointment to fans of the classic cyberpunk title.
Development on the remake was originally announced in 2015, only for the team to then announce in 2018 that development on the game had to be restarted from scratch. Following a lengthy KickStarter campaign, the System Shock remake was expected to be completed by sometime in 2020. After failing to meet this target, a tentative release window of late 2021 was announced. The game was then pushed back to 2022 then again to March 2023.
Now a further two month delay has befallen the project, with Nightdive Studios announcing that the System Shock remake will now release on May 30th 2023 for PC. The statement also specifically highlights the game’s PC release on May 30th. This is because the console versions of the remake are not expected to be released until later on in the year.
Nightdive Studios has promised that the remake will come with a plethora of new features. Some of the new components of the game that have been previously announced include brand new enemy types, fresh voice performances, a new hacking system, upgraded high definition visuals, an updated control scheme, an updated UI, and a new dismemberment mechanic which will undoubtedly come in handy when dispatching enemies. While there is no doubt that it will have taken the team a great deal of time to implement and perfect all of these new mechanics, it was stated by the studio via a Kickstarter update in early 2022 that the game was playable from start to finish.
Recent years have seen the release of several of critically and commercially successful remakes of games from decades ago. Capcom’s upcoming Resident Evil 4 remake is highly anticipated by both fans of the original RE4 game, as well as fans of more contemporary Resident Evil titles. Additionally, EA released the Dead Space remake at the beginning of this year to near universal praise and since that release, many have wondered whether EA will proceed with adapted the sequels in the Dead Space series.
Nightdive Studios will undoubtedly be hoping that the System Shock remake is received in a similarly positive fashion, and it could well be the case that the studio also end up remaking System Shock 2 in the future. However, it may not be able to work on any System Shock titles beyond that despite critical acclaim received from across the industry. This is owed to the fact that the Chinese conglomerate Tencent acquired the rights to develop the long dormant System Shock 3 last year.
System Shock is out on May 30th for PC, and will come to PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S later in the year.
Source: Nightdive Studios