Night-dive have recently released a pre-alpha demo for their remake of System Shock, available on GOG and steam. It’s very brief, just a few rooms and corridors, probably less than 20% of the first deck. So there’s not a lot to comment on so far.

What we see keeps to the blocky level geometry of the original, although there’s detailing like pipework addedd to the maintenance corridors. Currently the textures are unfiltered and  it has been suggested there should be an option to keep them that way. The retro pixelly effect adds to that mixing of old and new that we have here, returning to a 90s game in a 2010s engine.

Only two weapons are present – the trusty lead pipe, and the Sparq. The latter retains its variable power settings. You fight the server bots, which are sort of like dustbins with flailing arms. There are also a few humanoid mutants and insectile repair bots. They all look like decent updates of the old sprites, although the mutants strike me as a bit more “undead abomination” than “science gone horribly wrong”.

…and that’s about it. Of course even what little we see could change a lot by the time this sees release. This is really just of interest to we hardcore Shock fans, keen for any scrap of information as to how this compares to the original. If you’re a newcomer, curious about this old game that we incessantly laud as one of the greatest classics of the 90s then… no need to rush out to download this. The kickstarter looks on track to pass its funding goals with ease, and then hopefully next year you can find out what all the fuss is about.