System Shock remake pre-orders arrive alongside a 'final demo' next month

Holding a pipe as a weapon in a spooky space corridor. — (Image credit: Nightdive)

Four years after a $1.3 million crowdfunding campaign (and a subsequent total reboot), Nightdive Studio's ambitious System Shock remake is one step closer to release. In a Kickstarter update this week, the developer announced that System Shock pre-orders will go live on Steam, GOG and the Epic Games Store by the end of February.

Accompanying the pre-order launch is one last pre-release demo. Going from medical through to an EDM cyberspace nightmare, this build will feature full dismemberment, new voice acting, and a fresh pass of smaller features and bug fixes over previous demos. The update post includes a sneak at other parts of the game, showing properly menacing robots and blood gushing from computer terminals. All normal space stuff.

Nightdive also announced some major changes coming to System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition. While not a ground-up remake like the first game, the studio writes that the scope of SS2:EE has "evolved" into a more substantial remaster than initially intended.

Porting System Shock 2's source code into its in-house engine, Enhanced Edition will feature completely remade character and weapon models. But Nightdive has also wrangled in at least 10 fan-favourite community mods (including new models, textures and quest notifications) and is still gunning towards an impressive standalone VR version of the 90s im-sim.

SS2: Enhanced Edition will be included for free with pre-orders for System Shock remake, or for folks who backed at the $30 tier or above.

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.