System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition Will Bring Major Visual Upgrades

While the System Shock remake is just around the corner it’s important to remember that the game’s developer Nightdive Studios is also currently working on an update for System Shock 2. While the System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition isn’t set to be a full remake like the upcoming System Shock remake, Nightdive Studios have been working on making the Irrational title play and look as good as possible.

Even though System Shock 2 was released originally back in 1999 the game wasn’t tremendous looking for that time of release either. While the sequel to System Shock didn’t necessarily make a lot of money its influence on the immersive sim genre and the gaming space as a whole is still felt today with various gaming series such as BioShock.

System Shock 2 is no stranger to the modding community either as fans have been updating visuals for many years. However, the main issue was down to collecting all of these mods and installing them without any major difficulty. That’s where the Enhanced Edition hopes to help out as it would instead take all of these updates and slap them into one nice package.

Speaking to PC Gamer, Nightdive CEO Stephen Kick said, “System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition was created with the goal of reverse engineering the original code to port SS2 to the KEX Engine and made available on next-generation consoles for the first time. Nightdive has also partnered with the systemshock.org(opens in new tab) community to integrate all the best mods and updates. All cinematics, textures, characters, and weapon models have been updated.”

Our artists maintained the silhouettes of the characters while adding additional polygons to smooth out some of the sharp edges and the textures were all repainted using the originals as a base. We’re by no means removing the original game either, so if you want to go vanilla and install the mods you want that will always be an option.

Stephen Kick – CEO of Nightdive Studios

Alongside this, Kick also noted that System Shock 2‘s multiplayer “has been overhauled to create a seamless experience.”

System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition doesn’t have a full release date yet but the System Shock remake is set to drop on May 30th, 2023 – just two weeks away! Alongside this, if you repurchase the System Shock remake on either Steam or GOG you’ll also get access to System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition for free when it eventually hits the online store fronts.