In November of last year, Night Dive Studios revealed that legendary PC shooter System Shock will have a full-on remake.
The remake will not only be a digital remastering, which was launched by the company for the game in September 2015. Instead, the new title will be a complete do-over of System Shock "from the ground up."
Following through on its plans, Night Dive has now launched a Kickstarter campaign for System Shock, which looks to reach a goal of $900,000.
The campaign page for System Shock reveals more details regarding the remake of the 1994 classic title, which will be rebuilt using the Unity Engine. The remake will keep the story of the original game, with players looking to fight through mutated crew members and cyborgs in a corporate facility known as the Citadel Station. The facility has been taken over by SHODAN, a maniacal and ruthless AI who has gained self-awareness and is one of the most iconic villains in the video game industry.
According to Night Dive, the remake will be a modern take on System Shock. While there will be many improvements and changes to the title compared with the original, such as reimagined enemies and weapons, a modernized user interface and game mechanics, and a new musical score, the remake will look to maintain the feel of the original System Shock and capture its spirit.
Upon reaching the $900,000 goal, the new System Shock will include modern inventory management, modern controls, updated yet faithful levels, new puzzles and different difficulty modes. There is also a stretch goal of $1.7 million, which will add more puzzles, enemy limb dismemberment, ammo types and weapon settings, basic components and research, vending machines, RPG progression, weapon upgrading, hardcore mode where there is no respawning and ironman mode that will delete the savegame if the player dies.
Probably the best part about the campaign is that is includes a proof-of-concept demo, which is an almost-perfect copy of the opening section of the 1994 title, with updated controls and graphics. The demo can be downloaded on Steam and does not require that gamers first back the crowdfunding campaign.
The inclusion of the demo would go a long way in earning the trust of gamers, especially after the Mighty No. 9 debacle. After an enthusiastic crowdfunding campaign, the title failed to live up to the hype, leading to negativity surrounding the once-hyped spiritual Mega Man successor.
Early bird slots for System Shock's crowdfunding campaign are all gone, so gamers looking to snag a digital copy of the game by backing the campaign will have to pledge $30 or more. There are several tiers for pledges, though, with a pledge of $5,000 allowing users to get their own customized System Shock gaming laptops.
It seems that the campaign is well on its way to getting successfully funded: at the time of writing, with 29 days to go, System Shock has already received pledges of nearly $380,000 from 5,945 backers.
The target delivery date of the System Shock remake is on December 2017. While that's more than a year away, it seems like the wait would be worth it.
