System Shock 2 Remake

[SwE]

Hello.

I understand that Nightdive Studio was going to make, in addition to this remaster, a remake of System Shock 2 if the remake of System Shock 1 was a success, so I wanted to open this thread so that someone could tell me if System Shock 1 has achieved the expected success and if there is news about the remake of SS2, I can post here to know if someone know anything about it and keep us informed of future news about it that can be post in this thread.

I've read more threads about it here on Steam and I know that there are people who don't see the need for a remake of SS2 but the truth is that I wouldn't mind at all, I'm a big fan of the saga and although my dream was the remake of SS1 (it's my favorite game) it's already fulfilled, I would like, in addition to the remaster, a remake of SS2... it's just that after the remake of SS1 a remaster is not enough for me i guess haha.

[BR B-263-54]

I actually don't know how successful it was overall.

I know it received high critical acclaim (it really was good) but how that translated to sales I do not know.

::Edit::

Grok says it sold over 80k copies in the first week on Steam and was considered a success for the studio.

[SpacemanJayFrancis]

outside of "people are saying" type rhetoric, I haven't seen anything with my own eyes from the studio stating they were considering a 'remake' of ss2. would love to be wrong about that, and I would be 100% behind a remake of ss2.
do you have any articles or statements or dev-blogs where the studio themselves made this claim? again, not trying to be a contrarian and would love to be wrong.

[SwE]

I read it a while ago and I kept that idea in mind haha, but I couldn't tell you where, I did a quick Google search and I didn't find anything but I'm sure I read it :S

[Megabyte [RSSD]]

If they do a complete remake later, I will be down... but I wont get super excited at the concept.... unlike the first game, it wasnt really necessary... For now, Im just happy to get a version with the co-op working, my brothers getting a chance to play on Playstation, and just hoping for the co-op to be cross platform

[SimonSays]

I would love to see a remake of Shock 2 but I would love to see it carry on the visual design aesthetic of the System Shock remake (chunky pixelated textures, etc.).

Because there is no real stylistic unification in the design aesthetics between the classic Shock and System Shock 2 - I think it would make sense for the remake to follow through on the ones implemented in the first remake.

That being said - I would want them to change Shock 2 a bit as well. I wouldn’t mind if the level design got some iteration to make it feel even more like a real place - but more over I would like to see the Rickenbacker, Body of the Many and ending sequence given a proper makeover to bring them in line with the game before those levels.

It would have to still include the RPG mechanics but I wouldn’t be sad if they were refined a little - but they couldn’t be gotten rid of because it is such a key part of the pacing of the game.

[Olaf]

Originally posted by SwE:

Hello.

I understand that Nightdive Studio was going to make, in addition to this remaster, a remake of System Shock 2 if the remake of System Shock 1 was a success, so I wanted to open this thread so that someone could tell me if System Shock 1 has achieved the expected success and if there is news about the remake of SS2, I can post here to know if someone know anything about it and keep us informed of future news about it that can be post in this thread.

I've read more threads about it here on Steam and I know that there are people who don't see the need for a remake of SS2 but the truth is that I wouldn't mind at all, I'm a big fan of the saga and although my dream was the remake of SS1 (it's my favorite game) it's already fulfilled, I would like, in addition to the remaster, a remake of SS2... it's just that after the remake of SS1 a remaster is not enough for me i guess haha. :rage::HangingController:

they never said remake of second, they said an enchanced version of second which this is which is also supposed to be the one we get for free if we pre-oredred the remaster of first game

[SwE]

This week, another news story came out where Larry Kuperman (Director of Business Development at Nightdive Studios) said at least the following on March 23, 2025: "I've been asked twice today why we didn't do a remake (referring to the System Shock 2 remaster), and I said, 'Do you think that by doing a remaster, we can't do a remake in the future?'" (statements to VGC during GDC (I have no idea what VGC or GDC is, haha))

I still can't find the news story I was referring to at the beginning of this thread, which I remember was much more specific. This news, however, is much less so, and I'm aware that they're just insinuations that may or may not have a solid foundation, but I guess it's something...

Here's the link to the news story, which, while it talks more about System Shock 3, mentions what I said. It's in Spanish, if you're interested in reading it with any translator, I'm sure you'll find it. you manage.
https://vandal.elespanol.com/noticias/pc/system-shock-3/35074#p-13

[aeglosistarion]

VGC = Video Games Chronicle, the website Kuperman was talking to
GDC = Games Developer Conference, an annual dev convention

[SwE]

Originally posted by aeglosistarion:

VGC = Video Games Chronicle, the website Kuperman was talking to
GDC = Games Developer Conference, an annual dev convention

Thanks!!

[Manuches]

Doesnt need a remake. SS didn't need a remake. It's ok but the original is better. I didn't even grow up with the original.

[BR B-263-54]

Apparently it's been heavily hinted at by the ND team that a Remake is being looked into and more will likely be announced within the next 12months.

Personally I'd love to see a SS2 remake.

[aeglosistarion]

The only thing they hinted at was that there would be some form of "content" for SS1 or SS2 in the foreseeable future, which is in itself a pretty nebulous statement - could be an in-game thing, could be some cross-media stuff, could just be a trailer. Everything else was pure "maybe, maybe not" hedging: No hints, no timetables, no commitments of any kind.

Even that 12 months thing (with regards to a possible SS3-related announcement, not a SS2 remake) was like "maybe within 12 months, maybe later, it's out of our hands". (Tencent own the rights to SS3 and further SS sequels.)

Long story short, the article is just clickbait meant to get some System Shock related headlines out there to bolster hype (or at least IP awareness) around the announcement of the remaster.

VGC also ran a story about how Nightdive "remain optimistic" to get a NOLF remaster deal done even after Monolith got shut down that was just as much of a fluff piece. "It might still happen, never say never!" is true of literally anything. "Possible" is not the same thing as "likely" though, is it?

Generally speaking, you can't read these sorts of statements from a perspective of what you want them to be saying, you gotta look at what they're actually saying. In most cases, that's a whole lot less, and in this case it's basically nothing.

The most optimistic read is that it's some Inception-style 4D chess scheme to try and implant the idea of such a deal in some Tencent or WB exec's head. "Are we in talks with these people? Maybe we should be." But even that just highlights the fact that they have nothing to announce currently.

[BR B-263-54]

Originally posted by aeglosistarion:

The only thing they hinted at was that there would be some form of "content" for SS1 or SS2 in the foreseeable future, which is in itself a pretty nebulous statement - could be an in-game thing, could be some cross-media stuff, could just be a trailer. Everything else was pure "maybe, maybe not" hedging: No hints, no timetables, no commitments of any kind.

Even that 12 months thing (with regards to a possible SS3-related announcement, not a SS2 remake) was like "maybe within 12 months, maybe later, it's out of our hands". (Tencent own the rights to SS3 and further SS sequels.)

Long story short, the article is just clickbait meant to get some System Shock related headlines out there to bolster hype (or at least IP awareness) around the announcement of the remaster.

VGC also ran a story about how Nightdive "remain optimistic" to get a NOLF remaster deal done even after Monolith got shut down that was just as much of a fluff piece. "It might still happen, never say never!" is true of literally anything. "Possible" is not the same thing as "likely" though, is it?

Generally speaking, you can't read these sorts of statements from a perspective of what you want them to be saying, you gotta look at what they're actually saying. In most cases, that's a whole lot less, and in this case it's basically nothing.

The most optimistic read is that it's some Inception-style 4D chess scheme to try and implant the idea of such a deal in some Tencent or WB exec's head. "Are we in talks with these people? Maybe we should be." But even that just highlights the fact that they have nothing to announce currently.

Surely if they have the rights for an SS2 Remaster they have the rights for an SS2 Remake where they could add additional story elements etc?

[aeglosistarion]

Yeah, sure. But that was not what he was talking about (when the 12 months thing came up, specifically).

With regards to a remake all he said was "just because we made a remaster doesn't mean we can't make a remake in the future." - which doesn't mean a thing. All it confirms is that they CAN do it, which everyone already knows. It's non-news.