Game News First Look at Night Dive's Unity-powered System Shock Remake

[mindx2]

That's actually... not bad. SS 1 is one of my all time favorite and I still play it every few years. Don't mind them doing this as long as it's a straight up remake and not some "re-imagining" or "dumbed-down for today's kiddos" version.

 

[Excidium II]

Chromatic aberration is the new bloom.

 

[Durandal]

Can't be worse than the Syndicate reboot in terms of abusing post-processing effects.
I do wish they kept more color in the levels, instead of turning everything into BLUEEEEEEEE

 

[ortucis]

That's actually... not bad. SS 1 is one of my all time favorite and I still play it every few years. Don't mind them doing this as long as it's a straight up remake and not some "re-imagining" or "dumbed-down for today's kiddos" version.

The classic cyberpunk adventure, which went on to spawn a sequel and inspire Irrational Games' BioShock franchise, received a high-definition makeover, which is now available for purchase. But as Night Dive Studios' CEO Stephen Kick told Fast Company earlier this month, the company's next big project is to take the original game and completely reimagine it.

To be fair, from the screenshots it looks like they are just remaking it with slightly higher quality textures and slight less shit lighting. You have nothing to fear... unless they plan to make a console port, in that case whole UI will be re-imagined, among other things.

 

[Excidium II]

You have nothing to fear... unless they plan to make a console port, in that case whole UI will be re-imagined, among other things.

Isn't that the plan? Or just for System Shock 3? I remember reading about that.

 

[Crescent Hawk]

Hmmm... maybe this will make the game a bit more... playable.
I consider SS2 one of the best games ever made, but I could never get more than a few minutes into the first part.
The controls are just too cringeworthy, at least to me. Unfortunately.

What the hell is wrong with the controls? Missed the fucking options?

 

[CreamyBlood]

Looks good enough to me if they're just updating the graphics and UI to run on modern systems. Not sure why people go out of their way to say how the 'graphics look like shit' on a few prototype screenshots. Who really cares at this point? Oh right, it's the edgy newfags trying to fit in to this shithole.

 

[ZodoZ]

I had this unpleasant flashback after reading this article:

Fast forward in time.

Then some amateurs jumped on the "love letter" bandwagon peddling shovelware and begging for $$ because they are the faithful prophets of old school remakes Incline.

And gave the world this shit:

Weird. I just last night read article about Night Dive guy securing rights to SS then putting it up on GoG after some revising.
Stephen Kick, whoever he is.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/02/13/many-questions-system-shock-2-comes-to-gog/

Bros gotta kick kick's ass if he fucks up SS

quote from this "kicker"

What's your favorite game and why?
It’s a three way tie between System Shock 2, Dishonored and Beyond Good and Evil.

His game shelf looks okay..I guess

A few questionable products in this Bro's pad..."Homeworld"??? 1 & 2??
Some little plastic army men in the boxes? The virgin geek smell is strong on this one.

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt..for now.
I'll be watching.

 

[Invictus]

Couldnt agree more with Rexor; why use Unity instead of Unreal? Even if it is easier to program it is still worse in almost wvery aspect to Unreal plus since they plan to have it on consoles I bet Unreal will run way better

 

[Fairfax]

"Unity-powered".

 

[Excidium II]

Couldnt agree more with Rexor; why use Unity instead of Unreal? Even if it is easier to program it is still worse in almost wvery aspect to Unreal plus since they plan to have it on consoles I bet Unreal will run way better

Ask on this thread: http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/unity-vs-unreal.104237/

 

[Melan]

I'll give him the benefit of the doubt..for now.
I'll be watching.

...scum.

 

[Archibald]

I like how most of the talk is about unity and not about actual content.

 

[Shaewaroz]

Let's see how faithful they really want to stay, I can't see them implementing everything that was in the original - crawling, 3D cyberspace, severed heads, all the different ammo and grenade types, no journals or quest arrows etc.

 

[Jack]

Ah yes, I've always wanted to play SS running on unity with plenty of bloom and chromic aberration slapped on like it always was intended to be played.

 

[mindx2]

His game shelf looks okay..I guess

Amateur collector...

 

[Durandal]

I like how most of the talk is about unity and not about actual content.

Most peoples' qualms with Unity have to do with Unity games tending to be unoptimized as fuck, even though the graphics on screen of your usual Unity game do not differ that much from a 2004 game, yet it still somehow takes up more processing power.
Framerate for turn-based games on Unity like Pillars of Eternity or Shadowrun Returns doesn't matter that much, compared to a first-person action adventure game like System Shock 1 where you have to respond fast to threats or die trying.
It's true that it is mostly up to the developers to properly optimize their games regardless of what engines they use, although easier-to-use engines like Unity tend to lack control over the finer aspects of memory management. Which doesn't help if Unity is mostly used by novice programmers. Nor does it help that the studio in this case, Night Dive Studios, is only known for acquiring old IPs and re-releasing them on GOG after making them work on modern computers through DOSBox, which doesn't say that much about their mad coding skillz.

But look on the bright side, even if the remake turns out to be an unoptimized piece of shit, you'll experience it with the same framerate gamers had back in 1994!

 

[Fairfax]

The only Unity game that looks good and runs smoothly is Endless Legend. I couldn't believe it when I read it was using Unity, but that just shows how good Amplitude's programmers are, and makes you wonder what it'd look/run like if they used UE4.

 

[darthaegis]

His game shelf looks okay..I guess

dat xbawks 360 version of Bioshock 2 on the top shelf

 

[m_s0]

I like how most of the talk is about unity and not about actual content.

They haven't shown anything.

 

[Astral Rag]

Ah yes, I've always wanted to play SS running on unity with plenty of bloom and chromic aberration slapped on like it always was intended to be played.

They've also totally Remastered™ STRIFE. Thanks to these wizards that game now runs on modern computors, they also enhanced the product by adding a plethora of much needed next-gen features such as damage indicators, bloom, achievements etc.

Spoiler

http://store.steampowered.com/app/317040/

 

[Durandal]

OpenGL sourceports.
Not even once.

 

[Fairfax]

Dynamic lighting and bloom

They actually advertise bloom as a feature.

 

[DawnrazorDCLXVI]

I agree, the engine choice is shyte.

Otherwise, the screenies capture the tone and architecture well.

 

[Alchemist]

Too much bloom and too monochromatic - the old graphics are much more readable, and have better art direction.

Sometimes I wish bloom was never invented. It's far too often used to cover up flaws, poor texture work and slapped on just to make stuff look "new" and atmospheric. It can be used sparingly to good effect - but far too many devs seem incapable of using it with subtlety.