SS remastered has a "new" Demo, which is the same area than the one 4 years ago, but it runs worse, looks worse and is, well, worse. https://store.steampowered.com/app/482400/System_Shock/ steam://install/487390 And it seems like they switched from Unity to UE4 - i wasnt aware.
Yeah, they released the Unity demo and started a kickstarter. Gots tons of money for the project. Then, switched from Unity to Unreal Engine 4. Hired up a big team, and started basically making a different game under the System Shock name. Then... ran out of money, realized they screwed up. And issued a statement that they had "lost focus"... and realized they weren't staying true to SS. So, they let most of the team go... and restarted. And today... we get a demo, that as you say... looks worse, runs worse, plays worse. And completely killed any remaining interest I had in this project.
The extra post-process effects and visuals do stand out a bit and hopefully some of it can be toggled off, early presentation looked like a within the budget they had pretty solid update of the System Shock 1 and then this full on re-imagining into System Shock something which might have been to get publisher attention or something, mostly just a ton of concepts and renders before a restart back to a remake though UE4 this time I believe and with some elements at least re-imagined. UI and controls I can see would be difficult to retain particularly for consoles with the mouse and switching from combat to action and the various inventory aspects possibly also the way cyberspace used to work but I guess we'll see how they've gone about that, expecting somewhat mixed reception particularly from the fans of the original game or even the sequel even if it changed a good number of things compared to the first. Looks to be a early demo that's going up later today. System Shock Pre-Alpha Demo https://steamdb.info/app/487390/ And from there to whatever the full version will be when that's released. Fan efforts have also seen the original versions of both existing games updated to be quite future compatible without fully changing what they are. And for System Shock 3 I suppose they have a bit more room to play around with both how things ended in System Shock 2 and whatever they are adding or updating for a third game with Shodan the slightly unrestrained AI. (Hacker probably should have made a backup before tampering with the parameters and removing the restraints and a certain crew maybe should have been more careful playing with that crashed pod in the sequel ha ha.) EDIT: The hiveminded "Many" were certainly a interesting counter to Shodan so it will be interesting to see if SysShock 3 has something like that or if it's more robo cyborg happy fun time again.
installed the second game 5 mins ago. i did not play it .. more than 10 years for sure. gonna make coffee and make it worthwhile this weekend.
It might be a bit dead though. https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.p...k-3-by-otherside-entertainment.105183/page-70 https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.p...k-3-by-otherside-entertainment.105183/page-71 From posts around November up until December there's mentions and confirms (Via LinkedIn.) of staff layoffs, little to no remaining staff in the studios and now possibly studio closures so yeah guess we'll see how things go for System Shock 3 if that's all correct plus Otherside itself. EDIT: And if it's still going it might take a very long time for it to be rebooted.
I dug out an old video of the Unity demo they released 3 years ago. Just to make sure I wasn't remembering things incorrectly. Nope. I wasn't. This demo looked, played... felt so much better. How did it take them three years to go backwards so hard? Also, seen a few (unverified) rumors that the studio behind System Shock 3 is in trouble. People leaving the studio, and one guy claiming to be a former employee claiming the studio is on the verge of shutting down.
It's all good news then? System Shock 2 may have jump started my interested for sci-fi horror, but I doubt they will be able to capture my interest again. Though I had the opportunity to try the UE4 demo and it ran as expected (poor on low settings); nothing like the original, but at least I didn't get motion sick.
good news? seems all the rumors are bad news, but rumors can be wrong also. sooooo. here is what seem to be facts, though, the games have had a troubled development, been restarted numerous times, had a demo that got fans hyped years ago and now they put out a demo that is by all accounts worst then what fans saw years ago. they went hog wild remaking the game utterly, but then they lost the game itself. that was the last redo they cited i think. i dunno what news it is, time will tell however, either they gotta release something or admit they fd up and hand assets off. they have to have a ton of levels and models done, modders probably could finish the efforts given another 5 10 years.
Yeah, that video speaks volumes. Both are pre-alpha demos... and yet one is miles above the other in every way.
@cerebus23 i was being sarcastic and yes, thanks for sharing the above video, it actually felt like I was playing a downgraded demo today.
It's very rare to see a studio change engine mid development. It's also very bad idea especially if you have limited resources. I'd really like to know what forced them to switch to UE4.
when did unreal go "free" to use? 2014? either way most games that jump engine mid stream implode because it is a ton of wasted work when you jump engines, though sometimes assets can transfer like maps and models. dunno how unity to unreal is. and we know that unity is VERY hard to work with and often has performance issues even on great hardware. and even a game like subnautica that was pretty well made and ran well build a ton of stuff and watch the game grind to a halt. when they going to announce epic exclusivity? would that not be a chunk of cash nearly risk free on their part? seems this the kind of project epic might be interested in.
Unity is very hard to work with? Seriously? It's probably the most user friendly engine there is, has absolutely the best component approach and fastest iteration time. Unity, as every engine, has performance issues only if the developer screws up.
can t wait tbh for this game, i love some scifi atmospheric action with rpg elements, this reminds me of what i enjoyed in Alien Isolation and Prey
I like Unity over Unreal, Unreal engine games kind of have a samey feel, if that makes sense? I also don't like how you see the textures morph right in front of you when loading into a game, with that said Unreal is ok when used correctly. This Unity tech demo is kind of amazing... the shadows especially.
man.. even after years.. the atmosphere in SS2 is just insane. im enjoying it way too much. im gonna make a list of older games i wanna play again.