Developers at Nightdive Studios will be the first to tell you no two projects are alike. Nowhere is this more true than the soon-to-be-released remaster of System Shock 2. Announced six years ago as System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition, Nightdive reannounced the project under a new name—System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster. This name change offered eagle-eyed fans a clue as to the remaster's release window, which is only accurate preceding August 11 when System Shock 2 celebrates its 26th birthday. Sure enough, during today's MIX Spring Showcase, Nightdive shared the exciting news that System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster will release on June 26. As exciting as it's been for System Shock fans to hear they'll soon be able to play Nightdive's long-awaited System Shock 2 remaster, one key question remains: why did it take six years?

Good things take time
Nightdive has been chipping away at its remaster of System Shock 2 in the years following its announcement, working on it in conjunction with other projects. While many of these harbored their fair share of challenges, System Shock 2 was unique in regards to the number and type of complexities the team encountered. One of the biggest according to Nightdive developer Alex Lima was a lack of access to the game's complete source code. To piece everything together, "extensive reverse engineering" was required. "The codebase is a complex amalgamation of various legacy libraries developed by Looking Glass, along with some more recent contributions from both Irrational Games and Looking Glass," Lima explains. "There's virtually no consistent coding standard. As a result, we had to depend extensively on debugging and breakpoints to understand its functionality."

System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition was created with the goal of reverse engineering the original code to port SS2 (1999) to the KEX Engine and made available on next-generation consoles for the first time. Nightdive Studios has also partnered with the systemshock.org community to integrate all the best mods and updates. All cinematics, textures, characters and weapon models have been updated, and the Co-Op Multiplayer has been overhauled to create a seamless experience.

"Remember, it is my will that guided you here. It is my will that gave you your cybernetic implants, the only beauty in that meat you call a body. If you value that meat... you will do as I tell you." The cult classic sci-fi horror FPS-RPG has returned...