System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster Will Arrive On PS5 And PS4 In June 2025
As promised last month ahead of the Future Games Show today, developer Nightdive Studios announced the release date for System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster.
Previously called the System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition, the remaster will be on PS5 and PS4 consoles this coming June 26, 2025.
The news was also announced with a brand new trailer that players keen to return to the Von Braun and take on Shodan can check out below.
Nightdive also published a PlayStation Blog post with the news, that dug into what went into this remaster, compared to its other remaster/remake projects.
“Nightdive has been chipping away at its remaster of System Shock 2 in the years following its announcement, working on it in conjunction with other projects,” communications manager Morgan Shaver wrote on the PS Blog.
“While many of these harbored their fair share of challenges, System Shock 2 was unique in regards to the number and type of complexities the team encountered.
One of the biggest according to Nightdive developer Alex Lima was a lack of access to the game’s complete source code. To piece everything together, ‘extensive reverse engineering was required’.
‘The codebase is a complex amalgamation of various legacy libraries developed by Looking Glass, along with some more recent contributions from both Irrational Games and Looking Glass,’ Lima explains.
‘There’s virtually no consistent coding standard. As a result, we had to depend extensively on debugging and breakpoints to understand its functionality.’”
Another Nightdive developer, Lexi Mayfield, also dives into the issues Nightdive had with the original game’s engine.
“The game engine that System Shock 2 uses is large and complicated. It was originally designed for PCs from the late 1990s with a mouse and keyboard, and was only used for three games. As a result, porting the game to PlayStation was a long and arduous process, from both a coding and interface perspective.”
Nightdive has been known as the remaster and remake studio for a while now. It’s the team’s bread and butter, so if they’re calling it a challenge, then it surely was something they wanted to take their time with, in the hopes of getting it absolutely right.
“I’ve closely been watching the development and have been particularly close with the art team to ensure the original art direction and designs are brought to their horrifying conclusion,” said chief executive officer of Nightdive Studios Stephen Kick.
“I cannot wait to share what we’ve been working on and hope fans and newcomers enjoy their time aboard the Von Braun.”
Source – [PlayStation Blog]
