Being, as I am, a fashionable man with his finger on the pulse, interested in only the latest and greatest that the videogame world has to offer, the game I’m probably most excited about this year is System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition. That’s Nightdive’s remaster (not remake, let’s be clear) of the original 1999 classic, one of my favourite games of all time. If Nightdive can do for SS2 what it did for System Shock 1 in its enhanced edition of that, I’ll be very happy.
Except it’s not called System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition anymore, apparently. It’s just unveiled itself as System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster, which is a pretty nice way of spinning the six years since it was announced all the way back in 2019. When life gives you lemons, make the lemonade look like it was your plan all along.
Not only that, but Nightdive has finally announced a date… on which it will reveal the release date. Those rapscallions. We’ll get to hear when the game will make landfall on March 20, during the Future Game Show Spring Showcase at GDC 2025. (The Future Game is run by, well, Future, which also owns PC Gamer).
Of course, given that System Shock 2 was a 1999 game, this year will actually mark its 26th anniversary, but that doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as nicely, so it’s either stick with 25th Anniversary Remaster or wait another four years until it can come out as the 30th Anniversary Edition. I prefer this option.
Aside from the date for its release date, Nightdive doesn’t have much more info for us just yet on its dolled-up SS2, save that the March 20 announcement will be accompanied, naturally, by a new trailer.
Nevertheless, I am excited. Every fragment of info the studio has dropped about the remaster makes it look like it’s taking very special care with it, preserving its brilliant System Shock-iness while making it run spick-and-span on modern, high-res machines.