System Shock 2 Returns after nearly 14 years
Originally released in 1999 System Shock 2 is the granddaddy of the Dead Space and Bioshock games. You can also see where the movie Event Horizon got its inspiration from.
When Looking Glass Studios closed EA still held the rights to the name and a law company held the other rights which put the game in limbo and it has never had a re release on disc or digitally to this day.
A new company by the name of Night Dive Studios (only 3 months old roughly) said they had secured the rights to SS2 and it would be landing on GOG soon and Steam shortly afterwards. Thing is though it kind of looked like a hoax with a minimalistic website and a rather empty Facebook page.
Today RPS posted up an interview with regards to SS2 :
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013...-comes-to-gog/
Also on the GOG homepage you now have a timer stating System Found which ends at 11AM tomorrow morning, a GOG staffer (The Enigmatic T) has also confirmed on their forum System Shock 2 is landing. The price according to the RPS article is going to be $9.99 and it will have loads of extras with it which is around £7.00 sterling.
So is everyone ready for one of the scariest games ever released onboard the Von Braun and to go up against Shodan, I for one wish I never sold my boxed copy back in the day. I have a score to settle with Shodan and it starts 11AM tomorrow.
Re: System Shock 2 Returns after nearly 14 years
SS2 is all very well but the real question is what, if anything, does this mean for Thief and Thief2? Although in legal limbo, the enthusiast community did recently manage to update the Thief2 graphic engine and that would be a good basis for Steam re-release.
Re: System Shock 2 Returns after nearly 14 years
Is this an update or a straight port though??
SS2 was updated with high resolution textures though by the community,so TBH anything more than £5 for a straight port of the original game is too much IMHO.
Re: System Shock 2 Returns after nearly 14 years
From what I understand, they have included the various fixes from official patches and also ironed out the rest of the bugs that remained. There is nothing "port" about SS2 with it being a PC only title, there was talk of a Dreamcast version at the time but it never happened.
Basically it now works on XP, Vista 7 & 8, no messing having to disable processor cores so it runs straight out the box as it were.
You can use the community mods if you so wish with this version also which means updated textures, creatures etc
I am buying it regardless and will update shortly after 11AM tomorrow.
@Kompucare : Thief 1, 2 & Deadly Shadows are already fixed and readily available on Steam, GOG, Gamersgate and a few other places.
Re: System Shock 2 Returns after nearly 14 years
Great news, the creepiest game ever made.
Re: System Shock 2 Returns after nearly 14 years
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ferral
From what I understand, they have included the various fixes from official patches and also ironed out the rest of the bugs that remained. There is nothing "port" about SS2 with it being a PC only title, there was talk of a Dreamcast version at the time but it never happened.
Basically it now works on XP, Vista 7 & 8, no messing having to disable processor cores so it runs straight out the box as it were.
You can use the community mods if you so wish with this version also which means updated textures, creatures etc
I am buying it regardless and will update shortly after 11AM tomorrow.
@Kompucare : Thief 1, 2 & Deadly Shadows are already fixed and readily available on Steam, GOG, Gamersgate and a few other places.
I meant a straight port to newer operating systems.
If they can't even bothered to include the high res textures or failing that even test compatibility,but then we don't know if it will break something else.
Its sad when the community makes more effort then the companies selling the games.
Re: System Shock 2 Returns after nearly 14 years
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ferral
@Kompucare : Thief 1, 2 & Deadly Shadows are already fixed and readily available on Steam, GOG, Gamersgate and a few other places.
Right so they are but those fixes are the bare minimum. What I meant was if the could get the Thief 2 v1.19 mod as part of the standard steam game install. ATM the Steam screenshots look rather poor compared to what v1.19 is able to do. Guess these re-releases are just a quick way to make money and don't have any budget.
Re: System Shock 2 Returns after nearly 14 years
System shock 2!!!
system shock 2!!!
System shock 2!!!
System shock 2!!!
Re: System Shock 2 Returns after nearly 14 years
The thing with these old games is the licensing, they are allowed to fix bugs and sort out compatibility but not allowed to add mods that fans have made. So it will work on modern systems but if you want to mod it you have to do it yourself.
Gothic 3 for example on Steam is patched up to 1.60 I believe it is, thing is though, there are fan patches after that and some of the fixes in 1.60 are actually from the fan patches. The devs though were the ones that released the 1.60 patch and authorised the fan stuff in it.
With System Shock 2 Looking Glass closed its doors in 2000, so any patches they made will be included. Night Dive may have done some work with regards to widescreen and higher resolutions, they have also stated that it is now compatible with modern hardware and operating systems and they have fixed the bugs that the community have had a go at fixing with varying degrees of success. The Night Dive team have completely sorted them out.
This isn't a HD remaster like what you have been seeing as of late, this is SS2 as it was back then. Personally I don't like some of the fan texture mods for the characters, just don't like the way they looked and wouldn't like to think I was forced to use them. Each to their own with this one though.
SS2 runs on The Dark Engine, 2 main things with this on modern systems. First off it is the processor affinity, so it you have anything more than a single core then the game locks up, so you had to start the game, then alt - tab out and disable all but a single core. Secondly some of the background stuff used 24 bit color which lead to color bleed on dark colors (kind of looked like 256 color mode), so this will have also been fixed.
The biggest thing here though is Night Dive managing to secure the game from limbo after all these years, apparently the past 5 years have been spent looking and for info, dead ends etc, its a feat in itself.
Its a classic game, absolutely amazing in every sense of the word. If you want to mod it go for it, there will be something for everyone (same goes for the Thief games). But don't let old school not changed put you off if you have never played it or you will be missing out.
At least Hexeh is as stoked as I am :)
Re: System Shock 2 Returns after nearly 14 years
My computer was never good enough for it :(
Il have to give it a bash now
Re: System Shock 2 Returns after nearly 14 years
Come ON it's gone 11am already!
Wheres the update's telling me how awesome it still is, and to buy it the SECOND I finish work?
My company blocks all sites that are remotely game focused otherwise I wouldnt be refreshing this page hourly :)
Re: System Shock 2 Returns after nearly 14 years
Its there now, GOG has Shodan looking at you when you hit their homepage.
Started playing it vanilla and it does actually look really nice for its age. I am running it in 1920x1080 32 Bit color. It has full widescreen support which I am happy about, you can widen your FOV if you so please via one of the config files.
I have now just installed the SS2tool and installed 4 mods. I have Space which makes looking out the window nice, 2 environment / world texture mods (signs, screens and the likes now look razor sharp) and also the higher quality music. So at least it is the same game at core, just looks even nicer.
Rebirth reskins the enemies and gives them new AI patterns which I don't like personally and there are quite a few others available looking on TTLG forums.
I have chosen Navy as you start with a point in standard weapons, also done research, weapons and hacking as my choices. Once on Von Braun used the given upgrade points to up Hacking and Cybernetics which also ties in to hacking success.
So far, hooked again!!!
Re: System Shock 2 Returns after nearly 14 years
Still sounds awesome then! Cheers for the update, and also Curse You for the update! This will definitely be bought in 3 hours 23 minutes, but now I'm too excited to carry on working :/ Maybe I should outsource my afternoon workload to india??
What are the recommended specs? I'm using the Intel HD 4000 until I get a 7870 next weekend... Im praying I can play this at least on low settings.
Re: System Shock 2 Returns after nearly 14 years
It came out originally in 1999 so the requirements are low.
You should be able to run it smooth as silk maxxed out in the same resolution as me :)
Re: System Shock 2 Returns after nearly 14 years
Quote:
Originally Posted by
CAT-THE-FIFTH
Is this an update or a straight port though??
SS2 was updated with high resolution textures though by the community,so TBH anything more than £5 for a straight port of the original game is too much IMHO.
However you need the game to apply the community textures and mods. They can't include them for legal reasons, but at least you can now buy the game. Sure, £5 is too much if you already own the game and can be bothered to deal with getting it running on a modern OS yourself, but for most people this is great news!
