Enhanced System Shock 2 Will Be Playable In VR

It feels like it has been a lifetime already, though NightDive announced their Enhanced Edition of System Shock 2 back in August of 2019. We’ve not heard too much about the development or the details of what is, indeed, being enhanced with this coming release. In fact, it was only a few months ago we were talking about the rumor that surrounded System Shock 3‘s development. In that article, we noted the brief history of the upcoming third game and what led to it, with Tencent purchasing the rights to the series back in 2020.

While we’ve seen virtual radio silence surrounding the System Shock remake in the works by NightDive Studios, the second game’s Enhanced Edition, or the details of the third game, the teams have been working on the games. Well, you’d hope so, wouldn’t you? However, the team working on System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition have done something that would be beyond imaginable almost 21-years prior: Fully playable VR gameplay. No, I’ve not taken drugs; Well, none beyond over-the-counter painkillers.

Our Notifications: "Is System Shock 2 EE still a thing?"
Us:🐒🔧 pic.twitter.com/nYgX0xnVBa

— Nightdive Studios (@NightdiveStudio) January 10, 2021

When IGN spoke with the studio, they noted the team has a dedicated VR unit within the development for the release. This came following a teaser in a tweet (shown above) showing the developer’s CEO, Stephen Kick, having fun with a VR controller and a bit of the game. Through IGN, the developer notes that the game will feature a fully-playable VR mode, with Kick stating: “During the process of reverse-engineering the missing libraries for System Shock 2, we had an opportunity to play around with the idea of creating a standalone VR version.” He goes on to say, “And so we brought on [a VR] expert to look about the code and give us a brief idea of what kind of things we could do.”

Kick is also noted for stating that the VR-mode will not just be a little extra tacked on with the bare-minimum being done, I am looking at you Fallout 4 VR. The studio claims to be creating a “really remarkable, built from the ground up VR experience.” This comes alongside multiplayer, where you and a friend can play side-by-side, one in VR and one playing the standard PC port of the Enhanced Edition. “When you’re in VR, you’re the one actually swinging the weapons, you’re reloading [the guns] yourself,” Kick said. He continued with “you’re not just hitting a button and having the character reload the gun automatically.” Though don’t expect this VR mode to come until post-launch.

This is speaking of the true power of bringing this well-loved game into the very virtual realism that is VR, something many fans will be delighted about if it is executed properly. I spoke about it a moment ago, Fallout 4 might have an awfully dire port akin to Skyrim VR compared to other games. Though, as I’m sure System Shock 2 fans have equally done, after spending so much time in that world and loving it, I can look beyond the flaws to happiness. That is, until a group of ghouls jump out from under a car, explode the nuclear-powered retro-futurism, and I poo myself inside out.