System Shock remaster switches game engine, new trailer shows it in action

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Game Director, Jason Fader, explained the reasons behind changing from Unity to Unreal 4 by sharing a timeline of events with backers, who he also invited to leave feedback on the change.

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by Chris Brand

@pass_controller

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It all started back in August during the Kickstarter campaign. Console support was imperative to backers, so the team took a hard look at what Unity could do in that space, and whether that would meet their expectations in terms of visual quality and performance. After deciding it wouldn’t, they decided to make the switch to an engine that’d be more suitable to their goals, eventually opting for Epic’s Unreal Engine 4 over Amazon’s Lumberyard.

September was spent recruiting, as critical spots needed filling on the leads team. Most of the successful candidates were former colleagues of Jason, having worked with him on Fallout: New Vegas, which made getting everyone up to speed a breeze.

By the end of October, Nightdive were confident that switching to Unreal was the right decision. The team shied away from announcing the change immediately, instead choosing to give themselves time to prove to the backers that they could deliver a slice of the game in the new engine with the updated visual direction.

The following months were dedicated to producing something that does the title justice, and once the new year rolled around the focus was using this to produce a trailer.

That brings us to the here and now, where Nightdive Studios have completed their "vertical slice" (a small snippet of the game showing off what they - and their new engine - can achieve) and released a new trailer.

If you like the look of the project and want to chip in, or if you're just looking for more info, you can check out the official website here.

System Shock is due to release in 2018.

What did you think of the trailer? Have you backed the project? Let us know over in the forums or in the comments below.

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