If Nightdive Studios were a home, it would be built upon the foundation of System Shock. As one of the studio's formative projects, the Kickstarter campaign for its acclaimed System Shock remake put Nightdive on the map. But it wasn't System Shock that inspired Nightdive's creation, rather its sequel, System Shock 2. With the recently announced June 26, 2025, release date for System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster fast approaching, some have wondered: why a remaster instead of a full remake? To answer this, let's look back at Nightdive's origins, remasters as a form of preservation, and the many enhancements that make System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster a worthy tribute to a beloved classic!

Where It All Began
"Like many others, my first experience with System Shock was the sequel," begins Nightdive Founder and CEO Stephen Kick, who recounts being introduced to the game while eating lunch with his friends at school. After sharing how much he loved Half-Life, his friend Marshall suggested giving System Shock 2 a try. "The next day, he came back to the table and handed me the Big Box. That night, I installed the game and was instantly captivated. Every aspect of it congealed into an unforgettably immersive experience that still gives me chills every time I think about it."

Hi everyone, I'm Julius Fondem, Community Manager here at Remedy Entertainment. Today I'm very excited, jazzed even, to talk to you about a brand-new feature in our upcoming game FBC: Firebreak—Altered Augments. If you're not familiar with FBC: Firebreak, it's a cooperative first-person shooter for three players set within a mysterious federal agency under assault by extradimensional forces, in the iconic Control universe. Battle through hordes of otherworldly monsters with up to two friends, customize your gear and level up as you fight back against this ever-growing threat.

This being our first multiplayer, we're very excited to bring it to you, the community, and to that end, we've designed FBC: Firebreak to be as easy as possible to get into. This is a game best played together with your friends, having a great time laughing while chaotic and wacky things happen! This isn't a new hobby that you need to log onto every day for rewards. None of that FOMO stuff here. Just get together with your friends over the weekend for a good time.

The next evolution of Rainbow Six Siege was revealed today at the Siege X Showcase. Launching on June 10, Siege X will introduce Dual Front, a dynamic new 6v6 game mode, as well as deliver foundational upgrades to the core game (including visual enhancements, an audio overhaul, rappel upgrades, and more) alongside revamped player protection systems, and free access that will allow players to experience the unique tactical action of Rainbow Six Siege at no cost. Plus, from now through March 19, a free Dual Front closed beta is live on PC via Ubisoft Connect, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, giving players a first chance to play the exciting new mode. Read on to find out how to get into the beta and try Dual Front for yourself.

Dual Front
Taking place on an entirely new map called District, Dual Front is a new mode that pits two teams of six Operators against each other in a fight to attack enemy sectors while defending their own. Players can choose from a curated roster of 35 Operators—both Attackers and Defenders - that will rotate twice per season. During each match, two objective points are live at all times, one in each team's lane; teams must plant a sabotage kit (akin to a defuser) in the opposing team's objective room and defend it in order to capture the sector and progress towards the final objective: the Base. Sabotage the Base to claim victory, but don't forget to defend your own sector, lest your foes progress faster than you and beat you to it.

Dear Spectre Fans, it's been two weeks since we launched Spectre Divide Season 1: Flashpoint. We're incredibly grateful for the positivity and support that you've shown over that short time. Unfortunately, the Season 1 launch hasn't achieved the level of success we needed to sustain the game and keep Mountaintop afloat. We were optimistic about the first week. We've had ~400,000 players play, with a peak concurrent player count of ~10,000 across all platforms. But as time has gone on, we haven't seen enough active players and incoming revenue to cover the day-to-day costs of Spectre and the studio. Since the PC launch, we stretched our remaining capital as far as we could, but at this point, we're out of funding to support the game. This means Mountaintop will be closing its doors at the end of this week.

We expect to take Spectre offline within the next 30 days, but we plan on disabling new purchases and refunding money spent since Season 1 launch via the platforms. We'll be following up with more information on this soon. We pursued every avenue to keep going, including finding a publisher, additional investment, and/or an acquisition. In the end, we weren't able to make it work. The industry is in a tough spot right now. This is a painful update to share. We love Spectre, and we're incredibly proud of what we built with this community. From the entire team at Mountaintop, I want to thank the Spectre community for all your support these past few years. We've loved every minute, and we're sincerely going to miss you. Special thanks to our incredible investors too, without which Spectre wouldn't have been possible.

The Rainbow Six Siege X Showcase will be taking place in Atlanta, Georgia on March 13th, 2025 at 10am PDT / 1pm EDT / 6pm CET and will be broadcast live. This event promises to be an immersive and one-of-a-kind Siege experience, where players, creators and developers come together as we unveil all the evolutions coming with Siege X, and many more surprises! Tune in live with your friends over on our Twitch Channel and enjoy exclusive Twitch drops! Make sure to link your Twitch account to receive the rewards!

Witness the start of Siege's new era—Don't miss the R6 Siege X showcase
A new era is on the horizon for Rainbow Six Siege—one that sets the stage for the years to come of tactical and unique gameplay—and we'd like to invite you to be a part of it: welcome to Siege X! The R6 team has been working tirelessly to bring to life the biggest transformation in the game's history and its purpose is to reinforce Rainbow Six Siege's position at the top of tactical first-person shooters by introducing new ways to play, deepened tactical gameplay, refined game feel and major upgrades all around. To celebrate this new age of Siege, we are holding an exclusive event that you're invited to attend; The Rainbow Six Siege X Showcase.

A former Respawn Entertainment employee has revealed the recent cancellation of an "unannounced incubation project." The ex-team member's LinkedIn profile post/job-seeking alert (now removed) was widely reported on by games media outlets; leading to speculation regarding the mystery title's origins and identity. The Los Angeles, California-based company created a "new game incubation team" not too long ago—recruitment information from last year pointed to a role description that demanded: "significant professional experience designing multiplayer FPS experiences." Respawn Entertainment operates as a multi-team and multi-location development studio—with branches working on Apex Legends, Star Wars and mystery IPs. The Electronic Arts-owned firm is masterminded by Vince Zampella; a veteran developer of popular first-person shooter franchises. Based on recent official account disclosures, the EA executive is currently tasked with the challenging revival of Battlefield's fortunes.

In 2023, Zampella indicated that he was open to revisiting Respawn's long-dormant Titanfall intellectual property. The second entry in the series underperformed sales-wise when it first launched back in October 2016. Despite a fantastic critical reception and vocal support from Titanfall 2's audience, EA leadership decided to put the franchise on ice. Last March, insiders started to make speculative noise about a revival—Steve Fukuda was mentioned in leaks. His CV lists the helming of development on both Titanfall 1 and 2; as game director. The latest talk of a canceled project was soon linked back to Respawn's rumored "unannounced Titanfall IP" prototype. Respawn's website still advertises the existence of their "new game incubation team," but links lead to recruitment posts for other "active" projects. EA officially announced the shelving of the studio's "Star Wars FPS Action game" around early 2024. Respawn and EA are likely focusing on core franchises for the foreseeable future; their Star Wars Jedi: Survivor sequel seems to be a safe bet.

Reburn, formerly known as 4A Games Ukraine, today announced its new IP, La Quimera. Featuring talent from across the award-winning Metro series, this new story driven sci-fi shooter set in a futuristic Latin America has kicked off. Wishlisting is now available on Steam. La Quimera takes place across a breathtaking Latin American megalopolis and lush jungle setting, where the player steps into the customizable exosuit of a down-on-their-luck PMC soldier battling against rival factions.

The world and narrative of La Quimera is written and created by Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive, The Neon Demon) and E.J.A. Warren. Combining Latin American folklore with highly advanced weaponry and technology, La Quimera will be playable in single-player or with up to two friends in co-op - for a total of three players. Fans of the team's past work will enjoy familiar tense gunplay and intimate storytelling combined with new game experiences through unique and highly detailed environments, characters and weapons.

Mogadishu, 1993. Operation Gothic Serpent. What began as a routine mission to capture enemy lieutenants descended into chaos when two Black Hawks were shot down. U.S. forces found themselves trapped and outnumbered, fighting for survival in the heart of enemy territory. Now, you can experience the intensity of that fateful day firsthand.

Black Hawk Down is coming completely FREE on February 21! As a gesture of gratitude to all the Operators for all the support during the Open Beta, one of the most iconic military operations will be available to all for free. Squad up, stay sharp, and overcome! Remember...no one gets left behind! Delta Force is a definitive free-to-play modern team-based tactical shooter coming to PC, consoles, and mobile. As the latest installment of the classic series that has defined the genre for 25 years, Delta Force is back with four main game modes: large-scale multiplayer PVP—Warfare, next-gen extraction shooter—Hazard Operations, PVE mode—Raid, and classic PVE campaign mode—Black Hawk Down.

Over the years, Destiny 2's popularity has waxed and waned, once peaking at over 300,000 players per month and subsequently settling at around 35,000 players, with annual updates often resulting in an influx of returning and new players. Now, according to a blog post from Bungie, the developer claims that Destiny 2 will adopt a new content delivery strategy and look to a combination of non-linear narratives and new game formats, like "rogue-likes or survival shooters" for future content updates.

In the blog post celebrating the Destiny franchise's 10th anniversary, Bungie details how the company will be moving away from large, yearly explanations containing one-shot stories. Instead, with the new content delivery strategy, which Bungie calls Codename: Frontiers, the free-to-play RPG will get two expansions per year and four major free content updates every year.

Season 2 of The Finals launches on March 14, and strange things are happening in the arena. The game show has been compromised by the rogue hacking collective CNS, and showrunners are scrambling to decipher their cryptic messages—but one thing is clear: the show must go on! Throughout the jam-packed season of this free-to-play game, contestants can experience new weapons for each class, the hacked new map SYS$HORIZON, the all-new 5v5 game mode Power Shift, a new skill-based League System, rewarded weekly career progression, private matches—for now in a feature-limited beta version—and the new Hacker Playstyle, which adds several ways for contestants to alter the arena to their favor.

THE Finals' new Hacker Playstyle lets players step into the shoes of CNS, with a set of new gadgets and a new specialization that can be mixed and matched with players' existing toolset. Remove walls, defy gravity, tunnel across the arena, and transform items—become the glitch in the system, the ultimate cyber tactician, and bring a new dimension to the game.

Electronic Arts revealed a workforce reduction program last week—reportedly impacting around 670 employees—alongside announcements regarding a number of major development project cancellations and reassignments. Laura Miele, President of EA Entertainment and Technology, disclosed that Respawn Entertainment's mysterious "Star Wars FPS Action game" had been axed, with staffers moving onto "new projects based on our owned brands" instead of licensed material. Industry insider reports suggested that an internal Respawn team—not assigned to a "Star Wars: Jedi" sequel—had started work on a Mandalorian/bounty hunter-themed first-person shooter IP. The official announcement of a renewed focus on Respawn's "rich library of owned brands" has generated plenty of internet speculation—Titanfall franchise fans have long demanded a proper third entry in the series. Studio boss, Vince Zampella, has teased revisits in the past—an Axios interview revealed that veteran Titanfall game director, Steve Fukuda, was incubating "something new" with a very small skunkworks-type team.

Earlier this week, Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb addressed rumored goings-on at Respawn. His "Game Mess Mornings 03/04/24" videocast—co-hosted by Emma Fyffe—included a segment dedicated to EA's adjusted development strategies. Grubb reiterated insider information about "Titanfall Legends" getting canned early on last year—allegedly a single-player Apex/Titanfall crossover experience. Giant Bomb's News Editor has reached out to his network of moles—he shared this inside info during Monday's broadcast: "They're not making Titanfall 3. They just straight up aren't. They do have another team that has been kicking around a project that is very early. There's been a very small team in the prototyping phase and now they're going to go to wider. This is a real project now, but still in the prototyping phase. This game, as it stands today, as far as I understand, is a Titanfall game. It's in the Titanfall universe. But everyone I talk to keeps saying, don't get in your mind that it's Titanfall 3, a game with online multiplayer and a single player campaign."

Grab your gear and your controller, soldiers. It's time to return to the battlefront. During yesterday's Nintendo Direct, Aspyr and Lucasfilm Games revealed Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection, which will see the beloved Star Wars Battlefront (2004) and Star Wars Battlefront II (2005) introduced to a new generation. Coming March 14 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC via Steam for $35.01.

Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection features restored online play for up to 64 players, expansions to Hero Assault mode, and all previously released bonus content for both titles. Steam users will also enjoy Steam Deck support. Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection includes a galaxy of content inspired by the original and prequel trilogies, from famous battles across Episodes I-VI, to playable heroes and villains like Asajj Ventress, Darth Vader, and more, to unique modes and challenges.

Job listings posted by Respawn Entertainment last summer indicated that their Star Wars Jedi: Survivor development team had moved onto an unsurprising project—the ideal candidate(s) would help: "create an incredible Star Wars experience for our players in a fun, third-person action-adventure setting." Games industry watchers believe that a third Star Wars Jedi title is in the works, given that the franchise has—so far—generated a large paying audience. Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson reckons that another Star Wars IP has been bestowed upon Electronic Art's action specialist studio—the report posits that this rumored project is in an early stage of development. Veteran developers at Respawn Entertainment have a long history of producing blockbuster first-person shooter titles, although Apex Legends signaled a slight change in course. Their deviation into third-person with 2019's Jedi: Fallen Order also surprised a segment of longtime Respawn fans.

It is possible that the Electronic Arts and Lucasfilm Games partnership has incubated a new first-person title semi-connected to a popular Star Wars television series IP—Henderson has gathered a few tidbits: "according to sources, the game will see the player take control of a Mandalorian bounty hunter (unclear who) set during the time when the Galactic Empire is dominating across the galaxy. It's your job, as a bounty hunter to capture bounties dead or alive for cash rewards." Rumor mill wires were crossed when it was claimed that a former Apex Legend director was heading up development on the unannounced "Mandalorian" project, but an Insider Gaming update reveals that the former Respawn member was involved in development of a cancelled Apex title.

Tune up your boltgun and prepare for the hoard, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is swarming onto Xbox Series X|S today. A spiritual successor to Warhammer: Vermintide, Darktide takes developer Fatshark's ferocious, co-op-focused combat and drops you right into the blistered heart of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

Alongside its Game Pass launch, Darktide is also set to drop its biggest and most game-changing update yet. Patch 13 will introduce new class systems for each playable archetype and a ton of other game-play refining updates. This is the ultimate version of Darktide, so ahead of its console release, we had the opportunity to chat with three developers from Fatshark about why now is the perfect time to get stuck in.

The scheduled maintenance carried out last week has fixed the initial matchmaking issues that occurred during Payday 3's first few days after launch. Matchmaking has been stable and has had good performance after the completed maintenance. In the past five days, PAYDAY 3 had a peak concurrent players (CCU) of 124,254. In September 2023, the game had 3,167,938 unique players (MAU). Starbreeze Nebula has a total of 4,538,702 registered users across all titles.

Starbreeze will now intensify the commercial activities around Payday 3, after partially pausing these during the previous week. In early October, the first update to Payday 3 will launch, focusing on improving the game experience. The coming months include planned updates for PAYDAY 3 that address both content, Quality of Life-improvements, bug fixes and new functionality.

The free Update 2.0 for Cyberpunk 2077 is being rolled out on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S! It brings an overhaul to a number of gameplay mechanics and core game features (such as the police system and Perk trees) along with various fixes and improvements. These changes apply to the base game and are available to all players on PC and current-gen consoles, free of charge. There's more to come on September 26th for owners of the Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty expansion!

You can continue playing from existing saves, but in order to have the best experience of the extensive changes we made, we recommend starting a new playthrough. Come September 26th, owners of Phantom Liberty will also have the option to jump straight into the story of the expansion by starting a new game with a new character that is already adequately leveled up. Because changes to crucial game systems are extensive, we strongly recommend uninstalling pre-2.0 mods until the modding community has a chance to update them. Outdated mods can disrupt the experience in many ways and, in some situations, may cause critical errors.

"The witchfire in my blood had cooled, with most of it having already evaporated. Were the last drop to have gone, so would I be too, awakening in Hell. The rescue, unlikely as it was, came thanks to human greed and stupidity." This line—taken from a short story called The Preyer written by The Astronauts' Creative Director Adrian Chmielarz—sets up the world of Witchfire, releases today (September 20) in Early Access on the Epic Games Store. Just before launch, we interviewed Chmielarz and The Astronauts Game Designer Karol Krok and asked them what to expect from Witchfire, how it came to be, and what the development process was like. Read on for more details...

Swapping sci-fi for fantasy
If you haven't heard much about Witchfire, it's because The Astronauts is a small studio and unwilling to share spoilers—and every reveal they make feels like it could be a spoiler. Not too much is known about Witchfire, as a result. "We want the players to have that beautiful experience of discovering things on their own, to be surprised," Chmielarz said. "We promise to show more near the Early Access release day, so everyone can make an informed decision." The Astronauts released a trailer during Summer Game Fest back in June that demonstrated how Witchfire will have an element of exploration and discovery, of planning and thinking. At the same time, it offers plenty of action as well. It's a dark fantasy with spells—and it's also a first-person shooter with guns, as you can see from the trailers. It's technically a roguelite, or similar to a dungeon crawler, with harsh death conditions for the player. And The Astronauts also advertise Witchfire as having multiple ways to win.

Hello heisters, we want to inform you that Denuvo is no longer in Payday 3. We look forward to seeing you in New York City! Payday 3's release is coming very close, and it's been a long time since we announced that Payday 3's release date is on the 21st of September, with Silver/Gold owners being able to Play Early starting on the 18th. However, one popular reoccurring question has been; At what time?

To best answer this question, our creative team has made us this fantastic asset with a world map, and the release times listed in several popular time zones all over the world. Check it out, for a fast glance at when you need can get in-game.

Focus Entertainment and Dream Powered Games are thrilled to announce that Warstride Challenges v1.0 is now available on PC, as well as on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series! The high-octane fast-FPS in which you blast demons in satisfying one-minute massacres has left early access after over a year of continuous improvement. The small, close-knit team of passionate devs thanks the community of Warstriders wholeheartedly for its amazing involvement. Want to give it a try and test your skills? A free demo is available for both newcomers and challenge lovers on Steam.

RACE AGAINST THE CLOCK
In hellish challenges, blast hordes of demons at lightning speed with powerful abilities and weapons. Slow time to pull off impossible headshots, bunny hop to pick up speed, slide around corners and shred your enemies into pieces with destructive shockwaves!

There appears to be a faction of hardcore PC gamers within the Microsoft Windows software engineering team—as evidenced in a developer blog post from late May. The section relating to "Reduced game stutter with high report rate mice" provided an early preview for improvements recently rolled out in a Windows 11 update (KB5028185 issued on July 11th). This week's fix "improves your computer's performance when you use a mouse that has a high report rate for gaming." Gamers running PCs on Windows 10 (or earlier) are—unfortunately—missing out on this latest and greatest feature.

Microsoft's blog stated: We know gamers hate stutter, and we're fixing issues throughout Windows so that an untimely frame-freeze won't take gamers out of their immersive experiences. Gamers love to push their systems to the limit in search of the best experiences in-game. Many also use sensitive, high DPI, high report rate mice to shave milliseconds off their response times and increase precision. At the same time, the world of gaming is more connected than ever with gamers relying on an increasing number of background apps while playing, like voice chat, streaming, apps for configuring your keyboard, mouse, or graphics card, and more. The Windows input stack was being pushed to its limits with high report rate mice and their input being delivered to not just the game, but also multiple background processes. In turn, that caused a significant amount of time processing input rather than providing as many cycles as possible for rendering the game experience."

BattleBit Remastered, a low poly alternative to EA's Battlefield franchise, was released two weeks ago via Steam Early Access. Developer SgtOkiDoki has announced that their massively multiplayer online first-person has sold a respectable 1,800,000 copies (at $14.99 a pop) in a relatively short span of time. The game has been in the works since 2016, with its early access launch occurring on June 15 (2023). BattleBit received some attention following the poor launch state of Battlefield 2042, with long term fans suggesting that their money would be best spent on the less visually appealing indie title. Streamers and influencers also focused more community eyes on BattleBit early last year.

Feedback on Steam—"Very Positive" from over 40,000 users indicates that first person shooter fans are enjoying the BattleBit Remastered experience, despite its primitive and blocky art style—SgtOkiDoki recently revealed some insights to How to Market a Game: "Players have an assumption about your game...And if the screenshots don't match the gameplay you have a problem. Our game played like Squad but looked like Roblox. That was a terrible move." Apparently BattleBit had a more military simulator approach earlier on in development, which clashed with its simplistic aesthetics. "We had to make a decision...(the team) had to pull back and make the game more open for arcade. It wasn't a decision I enjoyed, but I had to do it. It turned out it was a good decision." SgtOkiDoki's operation is expanding thanks to the BattleBit's success, but additional staffers will be dealing with an increase in DDOS attacks and a growing number of cheaters within the game's very active population.

Greetings everyone! I'm Jovan, Technical Artist at Ebb Software. The whole team here found joy in bringing you nightmarish experiences that will fully immerse you into somber tapestries. And today we're excited to reveal that our first game, Scorn, will come to PlayStation 5 later this year. Many of you here may be new to Scorn, so for those less familiar with the game, you are about to experience a horrific adventure like no other. Trapped and stranded in a strange biomechanical world, you must make your way through a civilization in decay, now inhabited with twisted and grotesque creatures. While you will be able to wield various weapons in the game, Scorn is not a shooter, and each encounter can quickly turn deadly. Ammo and life are scarce, and your wits will often advise you to avoid direct confrontation. Instead, to progress through this mesmerizing labyrinth, you will have to revive and activate abandoned contraptions, part machine, part flesh, all horror.

We like to compare it to the experience of a nightmare. Most often, nightmares are described as strong subjective experiences that can be intensely distressing and frightening, eliciting emotional responses in dreamers, and causing feelings of fear, anxiety, and terror. Scorn tries to offer these emotions to its players in a very subtle manner through a somber atmosphere and its gloomy corridors.

As of September 21, 2023, Call of Duty: Warzone Caldera will shut down, as our teams focus on future Call of Duty content including the current Warzone free-to-play experience. We all have had incredible Warzone experiences across the Call of Duty franchise since its first launch, including those in Warzone Caldera. For those players who haven't jumped over to the current Warzone activities, expect a vast number of gameplay choices across three Battle Royale maps (including Season 04's new map Vondel), as well as Ranked Play, the DMZ Beta featuring five different Extraction Zones, BlackCell offerings, and more.

Players should prepare for even more Warzone content across consoles and PC, as well as a new era of Battle Royale on the go with the launch of Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile, which includes a shared Battle Pass and cross-progression. The Call of Duty team and Studios look forward to sharing more details soon. Regarding purchased content in Warzone Caldera - from Modern Warfare (2019), Black Ops Cold War, or Vanguard - that will continue to be accessible in those specific games.

Homies, it's time! Trepang2 is OUT NOW on Steam and GOG! We can't believe we're finally typing out those words. What a rollercoaster of a journey for the devs here at Trepang Studios. Thank you for the endless support and determination to help us see Trepang2 through to release, we thoroughly appreciate every single one of you.

Please don't hesitate to share your feedback with us, we're so excited to see what you think of your voyage with the relentless Subject 106. Enjoy the carnage. Enjoy reprimanding those that have the gumption to contend with your abilities; your unwavering, unadulterated focus to getting the job done. Retribution awaits…BREAK. THE. CYCLE.

DEMO OUT NOW - It's time to GET LUDICROUS (for free). Shareware Lives! Just in time for Steam Next Fest we've released the Shareware Demo (it's just a demo) for...Rise of the Triad: LUDICROUS EDITION.

Join the H.U.N.T., an elite squad of special forces, and investigate mysterious activity off the California coast to unravel the mystery of the Triad cult. Select from five operatives, each with their own hit points, speed, and accuracy statistics, and blast a path back to Los Angeles. Play through five separate campaigns, including new episodes, expansion packs, and never-before-seen Rise of the Triad content from previously-lost beta builds.