Publisher(s): Nightdive Studios
Platform(s): PC (Steam, GOG, Epic, Humble Bundle), PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One & Xbox Series S/X, Nintendo Switch
Release Date: June 26, 2025
If you’re as old as me, then you remember picking up System Shock 2 back when it first came out in 1999 (though I didn’t get to play it until 2000!). Developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios (and published by Electronic Arts), System Shock 2 was an action horror game with role-playing elements set on a spaceship called the Von Braun. I don’t want to spoil the story for you, but I will just say that the story, gameplay mechanics, and atmosphere are why this game is heralded as a must-play title, even a quarter-century later. At GDC 2025, I was lucky enough to go hands-on with System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster for an extended demo from the start of the game courtesy of Nightdive Studios.
I am ecstatic to report that even though System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster is labeled a ‘remaster’, it is still very much the game you know and love from way back when. The gameplay mechanics are still the same as before, complete with having to bring up your inventory and equipping weapons or dragging and dropping items down into the gameplay realm. The various military classes you can play as (Marine, Navy, OSA) are back with all their complementary skill trees, and you can still run an OSA Agent on Impossible if you want a real challenge. Even the way you move and the sound effects from whacking your wrench on a random computer seem like they are the same.
What HAS changed is that the graphics are given a modern overhaul to bring them into 2025 while staying absolutely faithful to the concept of what they were in 1999. The character models are smoothed out, and the Von Braun has honestly never looked more terrifying. I picked the OSA military class in my demo time with System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster, and I felt that incredibly familiar rush from the past as I ran through the basic and advanced training and dove straight into the game proper. The puzzles still do not hold your hand, as the game expects you to figure things out and solve them on your own. When I picked up a wrench, I swung it around with gleeful abandon until I wound up in my first encounter…and I ended up dying. That was definitely my fault though, and it was only because I wanted to get into the System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster and I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream interview portion (which will be going live hopefully in the next week or so!) that I didn’t go back for another round.
I was told by Nightdive Studios that multiplayer is making a return, and it will be cross-platform. I was also assured that one of the biggest issues I had with the game, the smaller enemies’ hitboxes (such as monkeys) being incredibly bad, has been fixed. Finally, System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster is coming with full mod support for PC and they will be implementing the ability to include community-made missions in the game at launch.
I really think that if you haven’t played System Shock 2 before, then System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster is going to be the definitive way to do it, and I cannot wait for it to come out on June 26, 2025. My time with this game was just a gleeful, and faithful, return to childhood gaming.
Did you play System Shock 2 when it first came out, or when Nightdive Studios remade the original System Shock game?
Are you excited for System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster’s cross-platform multiplayer mode?
Let us know in the comments below!
