Nightdive Studios has launched their Kickstarter campaign to remaster and update the classic cyberpunk RPG System Shock with modern gaming technology.
The campaign is looking for $900,000 to fund the game’s revival using the modern Unity 5 game engine technology bringing with it all kinds of impressive visual updates while maintaining the character and atmosphere of the 1994 original.
System Shock was one of the great releases of the nineties with a claustrophobic atmosphere that few games have managed to match even today. It received one direct sequel which was an amazing game in its own right as well as inspiring both the Bioshock and Deus Ex games series. System Shock’s influence can also be seen in the wonderfully claustrophobic Alien: Isolation and the newly-announced Prey which is due out in 2017.
The launch of the Kickstarter campaign comes alongside the arrival of a demo that’s available to download for PC through Steam , GOG.com and the Humble Store.
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The studio is using all of the tools at their disposal to recreate the game’s setting of Citadel Station, a corporate-owned space station in orbit around Saturn to life in as much detail as modern technology will allow. From the footage so far it looks pretty impressive.
The game’s soundtrack is getting a bit of an overhaul as well with composer Jonathan Peros working on creating a reimagining of the game’s soundtracks combining orchestral music with electronic elements to modernise the soundtrack in rather impressive way as the samples they’ve posted on Soundcloud show. There is also a stretch goal (the $1.5 million mark) that includes working with the Prague Film Harmonic Orchestra whose work includes the soundtracks of games like Thief, and Civilisation V as well as movies like Hostel and even collaborations with Dream Theater.
Other stretch goals include additional game locations and expanded story at $1.3 million, the inclusion of vending machines, weapon crafting, new mini-games and puzzles and a more in-depth character levelling-up system for $1.4 million and additional death cinematics and a new scenario for $1.7 million along with enemy limb dismemberment.
The initial plan is to launch the game on PC and Xbox One in December of 2017 with Mac and Linux versions coming if funding manages to reach $1.1 million. The Kickstarter campaign has just launched and will run until July the 28th.
