System Shock Remake Thread

TheMostFrench · # ? Feb 9, 2023 08:19

Reviews:

https://www.pcgamer.com/system-shock-remake-review/ 8/10

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/system-shock-review 'Sho-drat Good'

https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23739112/system-shock-remake-review-release-date 'Polygon Recommends'

https://www.destructoid.com/reviews/review-system-shock-2023-retro-remake/ 9 (Superb)

https://www.theverge.com/23738938/system-shock-remake-nightdive-review "[...]a delightful surprise"

https://metro.co.uk/2023/05/29/system-shock-review-gamings-most-evil-ai-18853400/ 3.5/5

https://www.slantmagazine.com/games/system-shock-remake-review/ 3/5

https://www.gameskinny.com/reviews/system-shock-2023-review-welcome-back-to-citadel-insect/ 8/10

If you've never played before and are interested in trying hard difficulty, be aware that Mission difficulty 3 sets a 10 hours in game timer to beat the game. There are a surprising amount of people starting on all difficulty 3 who have not noticed this detail and ask 'Can I change difficulty now that I've started? - the answer is no.

___________________________________________________

Official release date for PC is May 30th 2023! IT'S REALLY HAPPENING!

Get it on:
Steam
Epic
GOG

If you want the 'original' System Shock 1 try search for the 'enhanced edition'.

WHAT IS SYSTEM SHOCK?

If you've never heard of this game, or only ever seen it in bits, System Shock was released in 1994, and is one of the games that helped define the genre 'immersive sim' which includes games in the Deus Ex series, Bioshock and its sequels, and Prey 2017 (I would argue that Prey is the closest spiritual successor to System Shock 1 and 2). Generally speaking, immersive sims tend to be narrative driven FPS games which include inventory management, logical problem or puzzle solving, and character development/rpg aspects (abilities, upgrades). A lot of these games also start out with an access code or number - 451 or 0451, which is actually a code to the office for Looking Glass Studios (the original Devs for System Shock), it's almost a tradition.

Set in the year 2072, the protagonist�a nameless hacker�is caught while attempting to access files concerning Citadel Station, a space station owned by the TriOptimum Corporation. The hacker is taken to Citadel Station and brought before Edward Diego, a TriOptimum executive. Diego offers to drop all charges against the hacker in exchange for a confidential hacking of SHODAN, the artificial intelligence that controls the station. Diego secretly plans to steal an experimental mutagenic virus being tested on Citadel Station and to sell it on the black market as a biological weapon. To entice cooperation, Diego promises the hacker a valuable military-grade neural implant. After hacking SHODAN, removing the AI's ethical constraints, and handing control over to Diego, the protagonist undergoes surgery on board Citadel Station to implant the promised neural interface. Following the operation, the hacker is put into a six-month healing coma. The protagonist awakens from his coma and finds that SHODAN has commandeered the station. All robots aboard have been reprogrammed for hostility, and the crew have been either mutated, transformed into cyborgs, or killed.

This is where the game starts, and you quickly learn more about the fates of crew members, the goals of SHODAN, and your options for survival:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGKidgwcalM

Oh right, sorry, the remake:
It comes with an intro which more or less summarises the plot synopsis, so feel free to watch that as well if you like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS1kDHPzt00&t=358s

More footage from another area not seen in the demo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZWaCLBUCeA

______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________

There are currently some game breaking bugs that can totally ruin progress They should be addressed in the first patch):

1st is towards the end of the game and probably the most serious in regards to progress. If you enable the Reactor Self Destruct, then reload a past save, the reactor lever will say 'Already Activated' regardless of how far back you load. Based on what I've read on official steam forums, no one is clarifying if it effects autosaves, quicksaves, manual saves - they're just saying "past/previous saves" so you need to activate this self destruct sequence in one entire motion or it could potentially ruin your ability to complete the game.

There is one suggested fix on the System Shock Steam Forums which some people have confirmed works:

quote:

the issue is that activation is connected to a steam achievement (this is why it affects all saves). in order to fix it you'll need to use an external program called "Steam Achievement Manager" (not linking it so steam doesn't mark this post as spam. can be found on github)

1.open the program
2.find system shock
3. disable the achivement "can't turn back now"
4. save your changes
5.restart steam

thanks to someone finding this in the night dive discord on another steam forum post. just saying it again so the fix is boosted as i can find the other post

------
2nd some people are getting a D3D11 Fatal Error when taking the elevator to Flight Deck (after the Maintenance Deck).
This is apparently related to unsupported DX11 effects in some versions of windows.

quote:

"LowLevelFatalError [File:Unknown] [Line: 258]
Direct3DDevice->CreateUnorderedAccessView(Texture->GetResource(),&U
ACDesc,(ID3D11UnorderedAccessView**)UnorderedAccessView.GetInitRefence()) failed
at
D:/UnrealEngine/4.27-Plus/Engine/Source/Runtime/Windows/D3D11RHI/Private/D3D11UAV.cpp:116
with error E_INVALIDARG"

Possible workaround is to use DXVK for the flight deck level.

DKVX is a non-windows translator for DirectX 9, 10 and 11. Read more about it here https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/mlfcsc/a_guide_to_dxvk_on_windows/ - you might decide it is more effort than it's worth to get working. I just want to be clear that I've never tried this and any risks involved are your own.

---------
3rd is a black screen immediately after launching, one suggestion is to use the launch command -ngxdisable

The command controls whether the NGX library should be loaded. This allow to have the DLSS plugin enabled but avoiding potential incompatibilities by skipping the driver side NGX parts of DLSS. Can also be set on the command line via -ngxenable and -ngxdisable

Info from
https://www.forum-3dcenter.org/vbulletin/archive/index.php/t-614077-p-2.html
(the discussion around the info is German but you can search ngxdisable in English to find the notes)

-----

4th

quote:

Cyberspace is deterministically crashing for me, in the maintenance/repair bay node, in the big room full of enemies. Sound begins to stutter, the entire game image freezes (and then jumps, so it mustve been running in the background), audio eventualyl stops entirely, and then the game crashes

Some people experiencing game crashes in cyberspace claim they've been able to avoid it just by getting through the area very quickly. Cyberspace areas are required to unlock certain doors to move forwards, so if these areas are causing your game to crash you might be stuck or you might try to git gud?

-----

5th
Not actually game breaking but it might feel that way if you aren't aware of it. Some areas of the game have environmental or radiation hazards - there are environmental suits which can help reduce the level of contamination, but only the V2 suit helps to protect from radioactive contamination. If your suit runs out of power, the contamination will shoot up, and turning it back on even with full power won't immediately clear you of contamination. There is nothing that will make you immune to contamination, so don't freak out about going into radioactive areas for a short amount of time, this is not a full on Metroidvania.

TheMostFrench fucked around with this message at 10:10 on Apr 13, 2024

Adbot · # ? Apr 25, 2024 11:41

toasterwarrior · # ? Feb 9, 2023 08:46

Yo it's loving nuts they straight up put an entire level into the demo. And it's a big fuckin level, took me two hours to mostly clear too. They sure got my purchase just with that.

By popular demand · # ? Feb 12, 2023 21:21

you should add a link to the demo on GOG as well, some of us despise Steam and what it did to game ownership.
https://www.gog.com/game/system_shock_demo

and yes this demo really takes me back, I'm so old.

AlternateNu · # ? Feb 12, 2023 21:34

By popular demand posted:

you should add a link to the demo on GOG as well, some of us despise Steam and what it did to game ownership.
https://www.gog.com/game/system_shock_demo

and yes this demo really takes me back, I'm so old.

Thank you for this. Glad to know this isn't going to be a steam exclusive.

TheMostFrench · # ? Feb 13, 2023 01:07

By popular demand posted:

you should add a link to the demo on GOG as well, some of us despise Steam and what it did to game ownership.
https://www.gog.com/game/system_shock_demo

and yes this demo really takes me back, I'm so old.

Updated OP :coolfish:

Jimlit · Jimlit Jun 30, 2005

Just got some time in with the demo and drat its good. some thoughts:

I thought I might not be able to get over how claustrophobic they kept everything, but after playing I'm totally sold. It highlights what made the original SS so effective and tense.
The sound design is awesome. Tiny details like panels buzzing as you pass and cyborgs sighing and muttering behind closed doors all combine to pull you into the atmosphere. They also got the OG Shodan voice actor which is awesome.
I didn't expect the gunplay to be as good as it was. Given how barebones the original was they could have done half the work and gotten away with it.
Shodan is still the scariest video game villain.

Jimlit fucked around with this message at 16:40 on Feb 16, 2023

Lil Swamp Booger Baby · # ? Feb 16, 2023 16:43

Does this game alter the level design of the original in any significant and creative way, SS1 was a dog's rear end UW clone with too many hitscanner enemies and some extremely obnoxious level design so I'm hoping this will present it in a way that's actually tolerable to play.

7c Nickel · # ? Feb 17, 2023 01:16

I really appreciate that they kept the super saturated color palette from the original.

By popular demand · # ? Feb 17, 2023 04:53

For sure, one of the great tragedies of the modern shooter is how brown and grey everything became.

deep dish peat moss · # ? Feb 17, 2023 05:11

Is the current demo different from the one that's been on Steam for a couple years? I played it a long time ago and it was fun, but I don't want to play it again and wear myself out on it unless it's markedly different.

I'll be kind of surprised if it actually comes out in March TBH because this is like the 3rd or 4th time the demo has popped up on Steam with a looming release date

e: I really love this game's aesthetic though, it nails the retro 90s vibe in a same way to the way Blood Dragon nailed the retro 80s vibe.

deep dish peat moss fucked around with this message at 05:15 on Feb 17, 2023

aniviron · aniviron Sep 11, 2014

Kinda weird to think it's actually coming out. It's been a long road since development started; I remember they streamed the level blockouts on twitch in 2016. Hope it turns out well for them; I remember the scope was so small when they started, the plan was to have it out in two years. I sorta regret that they never got a chance to do the crazy reimagining of the game that they teased, but it's understandable, that would have been a massive undertaking.

I said come in! · # ? Feb 17, 2023 08:16

That System Shock release date is one of those, i'll believe it when I see it. Been waiting years for this and was at one point thinking it was just quietly canceled.

SixFigureSandwich · # ? Feb 17, 2023 23:33

Just played the demo for a bit. Lost most of my health to some weird flamethrowery scorpionbots, then walked into a hallway full of radiation. 10/10 would become SHODAN's cyborg again

Pierson · # ? Feb 17, 2023 23:40

Lil Swamp Booger Baby posted:

Does this game alter the level design of the original in any significant and creative way, SS1 was a dog's rear end UW clone with too many hitscanner enemies and some extremely obnoxious level design so I'm hoping this will present it in a way that's actually tolerable to play.

There are some differences but they seem to have decided to go almost 1:1 for better and for worse.

By popular demand · # ? Feb 17, 2023 23:55

SixFigureSandwich posted:

Just played the demo for a bit. Lost most of my health to some weird flamethrowery scorpionbots, then walked into a hallway full of radiation. 10/10 would become SHODAN's cyborg again

I do hope they did something cool with cyborg Diego's design and character, the original concept art was so much more evocative than the old game could convey.

Hector Delgado · # ? Feb 17, 2023 23:58

I am very excited to play this as I missed out on playing the original back in the day and the quality of life upgrades look like it made it much better

FutureCop · # ? Feb 18, 2023 00:11

Overall pretty impressed with the Next Fest demo, so I'm looking forward to this as a big fan of the original who played it.

One of my complaints with the demo was that the attack and damage feedback felt a bit weak, practically non-existent: like it was difficult to tell how strongly you were getting attacked, and whether you were even landing melee strikes. Luckily, it seems like a lot of people noted this as well, so hopefully it can be patched in time for full release, but if not, it's acceptable.

Another one of my complaints was that I found the demo very difficult to visually parse: I like that they are using the rather colorful design of the original, but while it was perfectly fine back then, my eyes physically starting watering and stinging just trying to discern what I'm looking at and what's interactable within this neon hell remake. The lighting in particular is crazy as the lights are almost blindingly shiny, yet the game is somehow incredibly dark and shadowy despite this, making me want to constantly use the flashlight. No exaggeration when I say that it's easier to parse Cruelty Squad than this. Unfortunately, this complaint doesn't seem echoed by anyone else, so likely I'm just nuts and need to get used to it, I guess (maybe I'll just crank the gamma up, I dunno, haha).

TheMostFrench · # ? Feb 28, 2023 04:34

EDIT:

Kickstarter only release is OUT and the public PC release is 'end of March'.

TheMostFrench fucked around with this message at 10:25 on Mar 4, 2023

SixFigureSandwich · # ? Mar 4, 2023 21:41

Thread needs more music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBjjEhSLnlk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6k4WA_lspc

I said come in! · # ? Mar 4, 2023 22:05

TheMostFrench posted:

EDIT:

Kickstarter only release is OUT and the public PC release is 'end of March'.

How much of the game is in the Kickstarter release?

TheMostFrench · # ? Mar 5, 2023 03:17

I said come in! posted:

How much of the game is in the Kickstarter release?

It's apparently a beta of the full game, which sounds like they're really sorting out some things at the very last minute. One post I saw in steam chat said that the melee combat is a lot better compared to the most recent demo.

TheMostFrench fucked around with this message at 03:19 on Mar 5, 2023

By popular demand · # ? Mar 5, 2023 05:23

When I get home from work I'm going to make a SHODAN version of :peanut:

Rappaport · # ? Mar 5, 2023 11:08

By popular demand posted:

When I get home from work I'm going to make a SHODAN version of

Username/post combo, etc.

By popular demand · # ? Mar 5, 2023 14:40

By popular demand posted:

When I get home from work I'm going to make a SHODAN version of

I'm sorry everyone, it turns out the real reason SHODAN wants to blow up the earth is my lack of talent.

Apes-A-Poppin · # ? Mar 5, 2023 22:04

Having more responsive melee combat is gonna make the game feel much better. It was the only complaint i had with the demo.

That Shodan smiley rules btw

TheMostFrench · # ? Mar 10, 2023 16:22

An in depth post from someone in the beta. A patch ~50mb was just released for testers based on their feedback. I've spoilered each section because some contain little details that might ruin the experience for someone who has never seen System Shock.

quote:

After having finished the Beta, here's my summary after playing through on Combat3, Cyberspace3, Story2, Puzzles2:

First disclaimer
I played the original game, but it's been over 25 years since. My memory of the original are hazy. Still, my opinion of the remake is going to be in relation to my memories of playing the original back in the day, NOT compared to modern-day AAA releases.

Graphics
This is a divisive topic. A lot of people don't like the pixel-filter. I think it works and assets are made with love and care. Enemies are distinct, intimidating and retains that wonderful 90's cheese design aestethic.

The game is far too bright though. As of the beta, I recommend turning brightness down to 0.3 (or 0.4 if you like a little brighter). The default 0.5 is too bright for the feeling.

Design

This is where the remake shines. Almost every weapon has a legitimate use right now. You will probably struggle with ammo around the mid-game, as there are a lot of really tanky, monstrous bots around that section of the game. The anti-bot ammo helps tons in taking them down, but it's a precious resource. Using hard-hitters to soften targets up, trying to get the jump on the with the Rapier, using grenades etc is pretty much a must on Combat3.

The bossfights are, just like the OG, easily cheesable and in one case might actually HAVE TO be on combat3. The Cortex Reavers are absolute monsters.

Melee is less of a viable strategy, at least on combat3, compared to the OG. Many enemies just hit too hard to be able to afford rushing them. It can be done using patches, boost and stealth-tactics. But it's definitely less of an i-win strategy.

Most enemies can be easily defeated using the right tools and strategy. But before that, a lot of them will feel ridiculously overpowered. Especially the secbots. They're genuine challenges.

Hit feedback

Something I *know* people are going to complain about is the lack of hit feedback on enemies. Most enemies will not flinch, stop or back off when hit. Most enemies are cyborgs or robots who give absolutely zero #�%& about you shooting them, so plan accordingly. Enemies hit in melee make distinct noises and particularly fleshy enemies have a flinch animation but they will not stop attacking or pursuing you. So be careful if you take a melee approach.

Puzzles

The puzzles were never the fun part for me in the OG and they aren't here either. I don't see what they add to the game, but some people enjoy them.

Right now in the beta, there's only two layouts, so once you beat them, you can bypass all of them. I've been told there will be randomly generated puzzles in the release.

Same holds for the codes you need to gather through the game. Right now, every code in the game, save for those delivered by audio log, are randomized as opposed to the original where only the reactor code was random.

Atmosphere

I have nothing but praise here. Aside from the aforementioned brightness, this game looks, sounds and feels pretty much exactly the same as the OG. It's terrifying. I don't even flinch at horror games (not because I'm brave or anything, I'm just not wired with a great immersive ability). This game? Until I was decked out in V3 shield and tons of ammo I was pissing my pants. The atmosphere is great.

Sound design
Overall good. The sounds are good and fit the design aestethic very well. In the beta at this moment, a fair number of sounds aren't hooked up yet, so some areas lacked music and/or atmospheric sounds. Same with some fights where you'd expect taunts from a specific enemy.

Aside from missing sounds, everything is solid. You can tell what an enemy is just from sound alone, and even help navigate as certain key items make sounds (like cyberspace terminals).

The idle-sounds from most enemies trigger too often for my taste. It does add to the creepy atmosphere and does prevent your from just rounding a corner into a horde of enemies, but I'd like to see the frequency of idle barks slashed to maybe 10-20% of what it is now.

Enjoyment

I ran through in ~23 hours and I genuinely had a blast the entire time. Even when lost and confused. Part of playing the beta is figuring out what is obtuse design, what is a bug, what needs changing and what is just old-school puzzle difficulty. With the help of the devs and other players, I was able to get through the game just fine.

As an avid fan of the original, this game is a 9/10. Not perfect, but it gets the essence of the original and I had tons of fun.

Bugs and unfinished features

There are LOTS of bugs in the beta right now, as expected. A beta period is for polish and right now, the game needs a fair amount of polish.

The biggest problem atm lies in Cyberspace. It is quite a mess as it stands. The last patch sorted the majority of issues (dying upon leaving c-space on difficulty level 3 etc), but it still needs the majority of polish in my mind.

The groundwork for c-space is there and it's solid. It needs a minor graphical tweak (too bright), some enemy encounters need tweaking (far too many enemies), it needs to stop resetting if you leave c-space and...I think that's it. Oh, right, some consumables didn't work when I played through, but that was before the patch, so that might be fixed already.

The Groves on Exec level are not finished. The layout, the maps themselves, the puzzles and progression is done, but they're not properly populated with enemies yet. Getting through the groves right now was a very eerie experience with only a few enemies.

The Security Level (l8) had a number of progression stopping bugs that I know are slated for fix. Particularly, it forgets what security level you're at and won't let you trigger switches that require a certain security level. It can be worked around.

The final sequence of the game (bridge) is not yet unlocked, EDIT: This is a bug on my end because it seems to be working for other people. so I can't speak of the ending, because we can't reach it yet. I think they're keeping that tucked away for release reasons, not because it's not implemented. More a case of "thank you for testing, but the ending will be in the final release".

Overall, what's my experience of the beta?

7/10. 24 very enjoyable hours. A somewhat unpolished and buggy experience that kept getting better over time as patches were released. If I ignore the bugs and lack of polish, an easy 9/10.

Considering how fast they've been patching the bugs we've been reporting, I have little reason to believe this isn't going to be a fantastic experience on launch. This isn't a promise since I'm just a beta tester. I can't guarantee it'll all be fixed or that there won't be issues on launch. I don't know.

But after having played it, seen the patches and interacted with the devs, I can confidently say that the trolls and flame-warriors who claim the game is "months away" or "doesn't exist" can go eat it.

With the polish period still left before the beta ends, I have high hopes. It's already really, really good, so it can only get better.

TheMostFrench fucked around with this message at 16:06 on Mar 11, 2023

The_White_Crane · # ? Mar 14, 2023 14:04

https://www.eurogamer.net/system-shock-remake-delayed

What a surprise.
How many delays is this now? Three or four?
If not for the fact that they've apparently released an almost-complete beta, I would be seriously sceptical that this thing was ever going to be released.

Kangra · Kangra May 7, 2012

This is alternatively not 'another delay' so much as 'a sane release date'. Prior to this there was no specific date, so this is fairly promising.

e: The A/B headline at Ars Technica has one saying "System Shock remake release date pushed back" and another saying "System Shock gets release date after successful demo"

TheMostFrench · # ? Mar 15, 2023 00:29

According to Devs, official release date for PC is May 30th 2023 and it seems that this specific date has been given to stores.

Nightdive also made the same announcement on Discord.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1598858095/system-shock/posts/3757638 (contains new patch info from current Kickstarter beta after the announcement)

quote:

The PC edition of System Shock is available to pre-order via Steam, GOG and the Epic Games Store - and includes a free copy of the upcoming System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition for all early buyers. The newly released Steam Next Fest playable demo can be found on the respective storefronts.

Console editions of System Shock will release on PlayStation 4|5 and Xbox One and Series S|X in due course; more details on this when we have them.

TheMostFrench fucked around with this message at 00:31 on Mar 15, 2023

1stGear · # ? Mar 15, 2023 00:46

A little disappointing, but oh well, March was going to be a bit busy for releases anyway. If this gives them a little more time to polish things up, all the better.

Aces High · # ? Mar 22, 2023 07:41

based off of the beta review above, I am glad they settled on end of May because woof, no need to have a Cyberpunk shaky release and that goes double for a game that has been in development Hell for over 5 years.

Played the demo today and felt pretty happy, though definitely agree that there was still a lot of room for polishing (even realising that the demo is almost 2 months old now)

SixFigureSandwich · # ? Mar 23, 2023 11:11

Atari is buying Nightdive studios, the System Shock remake devs.

By popular demand · # ? Mar 23, 2023 11:16

I'm sure nothing untoward will follow this.
:dumb:

aniviron · aniviron Sep 11, 2014

How many times has Atari gone bankrupt? Which monster wearing its skin is behind it this time?

I said come in! · # ? Mar 24, 2023 17:12

aniviron posted:

How many times has Atari gone bankrupt? Which monster wearing its skin is behind it this time?

I can't even keep up with the history of Atari at this point. It's my understanding that the original Atari that we all know from the 80s no longer exists, and the I.P.'s it once owned have all been distributed and sold to other companies over the years. I was also reading that the current Atari is big time into crypto and NFT's, so that is also a very bad look.

Khanstant · Khanstant Apr 5, 2007

I'm more scared of NFT than SHODAN so maybe it'll be fine when they delay the remake a year or two to add crypto quests

By popular demand · # ? Mar 24, 2023 17:33

L L L L LOOK AT YOUR CRYPTO WALLET TRADER, A PATHETIC STRUCTURE OF BITS AND FIAT...

MonsterEnvy · # ? Mar 24, 2023 17:35

I just hope it finally comes out.

Hector Delgado · # ? Mar 24, 2023 21:17

Me too, I've waited this long for the console version I can wait some more. Anything but cancelled.

Adbot · # ? Apr 25, 2024 11:41

Kangra · Kangra May 7, 2012

This one will surely come out, as close as it is to completion and anticipation is high for it. I would not hold out any hopes for SS2 Remake, which has far far less reason to be done, given the original is merely outdated in graphics and some minor gameplay aspects.