The superb System Shock Remake was one of last year’s best games, and that’s really something, when you consider how loaded 2023 was. Now, developer Nightdive Studios is getting ready to release patch 1.2, which includes the female Hacker avatar and a revised final boss.
As per the short interview Nightdive Studios’ founder Stephen Kick had with PC Gamer, System Shock Remake version 1.2 is coming out in very short order, on April 11, and it may well warrant a whole new playthrough if you’re a fan. According to Kick, being able to play as a lady Hacker has been in the works for quite a while now: “[Hacker gender choice] was a stretch goal for Kickstarter oh, seven, eight years in the making,” he said. “We knew we wanted to patch that in, it was just one of those things that we knew wouldn’t have any kind of immediate effect on gameplay, but just having that option kind of adds to the immersive quality of the game.”
With the console build of System Shock Remake due to launch this May, this is the perfect time for Nightdive to finally make good on that particular Kickstarter promise. Of course, the female Hacker is just one of the upcoming goodies slated to be released in update 1.2.
System Shock Patch 1.2 is coming on April 11
Nightdive higher-ups didn’t want to spoil much of anything about the long-anticipated “Upgraded Ending” that’s coming to System Shock Remake with update 1.2, but they did feel that the game will be worth replaying, based on what’s being added. According to the PC Gamer interview, the upgraded ending and final boss fight were produced in response to the critique directed at the Remake‘s original boss fight, which leaned a tad too heavily on the VR/AR sections to be truly satisfying.
“A lot of the criticism that we received was: you spent this whole game collecting items, gearing yourself up for this big battle, and then all of your stuff was gone,” Kick explained. “You’re left with just this one weapon to play what boils down to a minigame. It’s just been completely reworked.”
Good tidings, then, but it’s worth remembering that Nightdive is knee-deep in System Shock even though the Remake itself is being properly wrapped up. Notably, the studio’s System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition promises to revitalize what is often considered to be one of the best and most important immersive sim experiences of all time. Upgrades include a retrofit into Nightdive’s flexible KEX Engine, improved visuals, and a selection of gameplay and quality-of-life improvements, though the specifics are still unknown. It’s not going to be a full-on remake, mind, but if we’re being honest, System Shock 2 doesn’t even need one, so it’s all good.
