System Shock 3 is now in development, led by two leads of the first, original 1994 classic -- Paul Neurath, who led the studio that created it, Looking Glass, and veteran game designer Warren Spector, who was its producer. (Neurath's new studio is Other Side Entertainment, which is also reviving Looking Glass' Ultima Underworld.) Spector just confirmed his involvement in a social media post (above), and for any fan of the classic, incredibly influential first-person, immersive roleplaying game, this is awesome news indeed.
"I think it's safe to say SHODAN and Citadel Station will be involved," Warren tells me, mentioning elements from the first game. "Though maybe not in the ways people expect. We'll just have to wait and see."
System Shock 2's lead designer was Ken Levine, but after the IP rights to the franchise were tied up -- for nearly 20 years, let's note -- he went on to lead design its "spiritual successor" -- the three BioShock games. Warren tells me they have fans of both franchises in mind:
"It's early days but I think we'll be able to put a unique spin on things that will make old and new fans of System Shock happy as well as all those BioShock fans out there," Spector tells me.
Early days, but there's a lot of anticipation already. Interestingly, a lot of the technology depicted in the first game from 1994 now exists in practical form in various degrees. Even more notable, System Shock and then BioShock have influenced so many subsequent games -- including Spector's own Deus Ex franchise -- the challenge with this third game is feeling fresh and innovative even while reminding so many people of so many games that have been created in their wake.
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