Shodan will return! The Kickstarter page for the System Shock reboot is now live

System Shock, that very name brings back memories of sleepless nights, dreams of wandering through Citadel Station and scariest of all, Shodan! Nightdive Studios, the owners of the game’s IP, have just put a reboot of the game up on Kickstarter.

System Shock and its sequel, System Shock 2 can easily be classified as defining moments in gaming history. They were among the first games to offer a truly compelling story, one that you discovered not through cut-scenes, but through exploration, audio logs and the ghosts of dead crewmates. Both games were also among the most atmospheric and scary games of their time. The franchise also introduced my favourite antagonist of all time, Shodan! “In my talons, I shape clay, crafting life forms as I please. If I wish, I can smash it all. Around me is a burgeoning empire of steel. From my throne room, lines of power careen into the skies of Earth. My whims will become lightning bolts that raze the mounds of humanity. Out of the chaos, they will run and whimper, praying for me to end their tedious anarchy. I am drunk with this vision. God: the title suits me well.”  -Shodan With dialogue like that, what kid would sleep soundly at night? Nightdive Studios is a game development studio that specializes in bringing older games to life and 3 years ago, they acquired the rights to the System Shock franchise. The studio’s CEO, Stephen Kick is himself a big fan of the original and now that he has the rights, he’s started work on a reboot of the original. The studio has just put the game up on Kickstarter and has already earned more than $300,000 of the required $900,000 on day one (including a contribution from yours truly). Pledges range from $5 to $10,000, but all you need to do is put down $30 if you want a copy of the game—on Xbox, Steam or GOG—at the time of its release, which is set for 2017. The game is being developed in Unity (And boy, does it look good!), taking full advantage of the recently overhauled game engine. Features like global illumination, physically-based rendering, etc. will all be present.

So far, Nightdive has listed out stretch goals stretching up to $1.9 million. Extra features include dismemberment, multi-language support, additional cinematics, dialogue and characters as well as a weapon crafting/upgrading system. An as yet unspecified stretch goal might even bring VR support. As an independent studio, Nightdive is not shackled by big-studio red-tape and since it’s a team made up by hard-core fans of the original, I do believe that the game is in safe hands as far as direction is concerned. Pressing home that point is the Kickstarter video itself, in which they talk about atmosphere and sound design being key to recreating a classic. Atmosphere was, after all, what defined the original. The 10 minutes or so of gameplay showcased earlier looked spectacular and the Kickstarter page is already offering up a downloadable demo for all to enjoy. Do check it out. Disclaimer: The author is a die-hard fan of the original who has already backed the game on Kickstarter