Not only does the remake seem to be incredibly faithful to its source material, but it's also downright impressive just how far Night Dive Studios pushed Unity graphically. The System Shock remake also has the support of industry veterans such as Warren Spector (Deus Ex, Thief: The Dark Project), Paul Neurath (Thief II: The Metal Age, System Shock 2), and Brian Fargo (Fallout, Wasteland 2). Night Dive Studios have also contracted Chris Avellone (Fallout: New Vegas, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II) to help better translate the narrative of System Shock for the modern industry. If all that wasn't enough for you, Night Dive Studios have also employed Robb Waters, the original concept artist for System Shock (1994) and the BioShock series, to re-imagine his own work from 22 years ago.

If you are interested in trying this re-imagining of System Shock for yourself, you can download the Pre-Alpha demo for free from Steam, GOG, or Humble Bundle. If you are interested in checking out the Kickstarter campaign, or even backing it, it can be found here.

We've done it! With the help of our thousands of dedicated, passionate, and generous backers we've raised over $1.3 million dollars to bring System Shock back to life!

These last 30 days have been a wild ride but we've enjoyed every moment of it. From reading your comments, answering your questions, and interacting with you on Discord and Twitch it's been an experience we've enjoyed more than anything else. It's clear from the overwhelming outpouring of support that System Shock means so much to so many people and we're extremely honored that you've chosen us - and entrusted us with the monumental task of remaking one of, if not the greatest game of all time. No
pressure!

From everyone here at Nightdive...Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! We couldn't have done it without you and look forward to having you join us as we embark on our return voyage to Citadel Station!

Again...from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!

Stephen Kick CEO - Nightdive Studios

After over 20 years of waiting, perhaps this is the System Shock remake fans deserve. System Shock is expected to launch by December 2017 for PC, Xbox One, and PS4. Stay with us for future news on System Shock.

It may only be September, but it's Halloween to me! And it seems I'm not the only that feels that way. Developed and published by Minor Key Games, Slayer Shock is the latest game in their collection of criminally underrated titles such as Eldritch and Neon Struct.

As soon as you start up Slayer Shock, you're thrust into a tutorial that intentionally misleads in its tone. Beginning with a dark track accompanied by creepy ambiance, it seems this another dark and gritty horror game. It's not until you kill your first vampire minion, the "Slayer Shock" title logo appears, and the song changes into a more fun and campy track that you realize Slayer Shock is a horror comedy in the same vein as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Evil Dead 2.

As for the actual story, there isn't much to say. You play as a nameless vampire huntress battling droves of vampires and other ghouls of the night out of your coffee shop HQ to save a fictional representation of Lancaster, Nebraska. The characters that work with you from your HQ don't really serve any purpose besides selling you weapons and abilities. You have the option to talk to them, and most of the time they will tell you what they are thinking or how they are feeling, but it's pointless when they are just walking vending machines.

The exclusion of a traditional narrative actually didn't bother me. The atmosphere and gameplay it had to offer is what kept me hooked. Of course a story, regardless of how campy it could have been, would have been nice, but Slayer Shock is a game that lends itself more to the actual gameplay rather than the story. You can actually customize your huntress a bit. Inside your coffee shop headquarters, there is a mirror that allows you to change your hand skin color and nail color. Not quite as in depth as Eldritch, but a welcome addition nonetheless.

Slayer Shock's graphics are stylized similarly to Eldritch and Neon Struct. That isn't bad, but it isn't anything impressive. Minor Key Games remembered that they were developing a game, and not an interactive movie, so photo-realistic visuals were not necessary. The gameplay is why you're here and it does not disappoint.

If you've played Eldritch, you'll feel right at home with Slayer Shock. If you haven't played Eldritch, shame on you. Slayer Shock expertly combines stealth, shooter, and RPG elements into one well made package.

Having adopted the surprisingly in depth stealth mechanics from Neon Struct, Slayer Shock can be completed entirely in stealth. Being able to hear not only your footsteps, but your enemy's footsteps as well should be a staple of any stealth game. Sadly, that isn't the case for most games that claim to be stealth orientated. Luckily, Minor Key Games knew better. Some missions even recommend using stealth and even encourage it by offering more rewards for completing the missions stealthily. Stealth is always optional though, so there is no need to fret if stealth isn't your thing.

Perhaps a bloodbath is more of your style? Fear not, Slayer Shock features enough blood to make even Sam Raimi jealous. To achieve this, you've gotta go on a loud assault. Instead of traditional firearms, you are equipped with some unique weaponry. Instead of a handgun, you have a nail gun. Instead of an assault rifle, you have a repurposed child's dart gun. Vampires hate holy water, but how are you supposed to spray them with it? With a squirt gun, of course! There are still weapons you'd come to expect like a stake, a crossbow, and even a katana. You start off with only one weapon slot for your stake, but can later upgrade to four slots using Slayer Shock's currency: vampire dust.

Lite RPG elements often find themselves into almost every game nowadays, but are usually pointless. That is and isn't true for Slayer Shock. The skills you acquire from your mentor are well thought out and necessary to better yourself as a vampire slayer, but other skills and accessories you can buy from other vendors are usually pointless. I only found myself buying these unnecessary skills after I bought all of the useful skills and all the weapons when I kept accumulating large amounts of vampire dust. It was still a nice option though.

The mission structure is well done and allows the player to tackle missions in whatever order they like. This adds a level of strategic managing because if you decide to put off a mission for too long, the threat level will rise and cause the enemies to become stronger and more plentiful. Slayer Shock does feature boss fights and does so in a unique way. Eventually, a boss will begin to appear in the missions you are tackling and force you to fight them, but will quickly disappear before you can kill them. You will need to pay one of your crew members a large sum of vampire dust to track down the boss. From there you can fight and kill him. The actual boss fights are unimpressive and are essentially just fighting a stronger version of the enemies you've been fighting for hours.

My only real complaint about Slayer Shock is the respawning enemies. It makes sense for some games to have respawning enemies, but not ones like this. Respawning enemies are what kept games like System Shock and its sequel from being perfect. It may not seem like a huge issue, but it gets incredibly frustrating trying to finish a mission stealthily when the room you just cleared out keeps getting repopulated every time you turn around. It's not really a problem if you plan on disregarding stealth altogether though.

It took almost 20 years, but Buffy the Vampire Slayer finally got a good video game in the form of Slayer Shock. 2016 has been a disappointing year for gaming, and the fact that an indie game such as this is able to give the AAA industry a run for their money in terms of quality is really saying something. Nevertheless, Slayer Shock is actually one of my personal contenders for game of the year. Despite a few hiccups, Slayer Shock is definitely worthy of your time.