System Shock 3 In Development By Otherside Entertainment

[Conrad Zimmerman]

System Shock 3 In Development By Otherside Entertainment

//cdn.themis-media.com/media/global/images/library/deriv/1015/1015631.pngVenerated sci-fi franchise to continue.

OtherSide Entertainment recently launched a teaser site with the rather on-the-nose domain another page discovered on the site [http://www.othersidetease.com] featuring the title of System Shock 3, the OtherSide Entertainment logo and social media accounts, and a link to sign up for a mailing list.

Developed by Looking Glass Technologies and released in 1994, System Shock is among the most influential series in videogames, particularly in terms of story-driven, first-person shooters in science-fiction settings. A critically acclaimed sequel co-developed with Irrational Games, System Shock 2, followed in 1999 and the series would later serve as an inspirational foundation for 2007's BioShock.

The System Shock property was later acquired by Night Dive Studios, which issued an "Enhanced Edition" of the first game this past September. A more thorough remake is also in development, including a plan to bring the series to home consoles for the first time.

OtherSide Entertainment, a company which describes itself as, "focused on rebooting classic game franchises," already has its own relationship to the series. Founder Paul Neurath was a co-founder of Looking Glass and credited as Managing Director on System Shock 2. Tim Stellmach, Lead Designer of the studio's other currently known project, Underworld Ascension (spiritual successor to another Looking Glass series, Ultima Underworld), also contributed design work to the first System Shock.

Sources: Fast Company [https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/3vwo3d/system_shock_3_teased/]

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[SlumlordThanatos]

Never played System Shock, but I do know that if their business is reviving classic games, they need to remake Arcanum.

 

[Saulkar]

the series would later serve as an inspirational foundation for 2004's BioShock.

2007 actually: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioShock

OT: I never played the first but the second one was pretty fun, pretty scary until I got fed up by the stupid rate of weapon decay and reduced it at the cost of making the game surprisingly much less scary.

 

[Legion]

Oh no... I remember reading an article a few years back about why a System Shock 3 game would be a bad idea and it made a very good point. The gist of it being that SHODAN has already been the antagonist in two games so far and been defeated both times. To make her the villain yet again only to be defeated once more, would make it hard to take her seriously as an antagonist.

Especially as unlike antagonists such as The Joker, her main motive tends to ultimately involve the death of the main character. If she keeps on trying and failing she is not going to appear as this highly intelligent and manipulative AI any more. She will start to seem more like GLaDOS (who is largely a parody of SHODAN in the first place).

 

[Conrad Zimmerman]

the series would later serve as an inspirational foundation for 2004's BioShock.

2007 actually: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioShock

Brain do bad. Thanks.

 

[Biran53]

Best idea if they use SHODAN again: Have the game start in a situation where she has already one. She rules the galaxy with an iron fist.

Or: Just don't use SHODAN. Sure, the nostalgia factor is strong and it would be a major selling point, but there's no reason the game couldn't work as different story.

 

[craddoke]

System Shock (and Bioshock) games have all been about free will -- or, rather, an illusion of free will that gets dispelled with a reveal/turnaround part way through the game. At this point, players have come to expect that twist so the writers are going to need to be more devious than ever. A shortcut, though, would be to capitalize on (and undercut) the pre-existing assumption that SHODAN is the enemy and that it will be trying to manipulate the player.

 

[Level 7 Dragon]

Man, as much as I hate to admit it, I'm hyped.
I finished the second game multible times and currently digging though the first one. I loved the writing and the atmosphere. Certainly hope they will keep the interface. As much as people dislike it, it's an intergral part of the survival horror expirience.

Never heard of OtherSide Entertainment, they appear to be a new studio. After a brief search, they seem to be a collections of former Looking Glass gents and ladies. Quite upsetting that Ken Lavine isn't on board, though. The man knows how to create effective horror and doesn't know how to end a game propperly.

Good think the rights were given to somebody qualified and not to 2K or god forbid Gearbox. As much as I like SHODAN, her arc was complete in the second game, anything else will just cheepen the character.

Anyway, considering the developers it may be a more streamline Ultima Underworld system with better graphics, which is quite good. So many beloved horror franchises get turned into generic shooters (I'm looking at you, Resident Evil).

As much as I love the old masters, they could really use some fresh talent on board. One of the most important elements of the first games were the monsters. Because of the old tech, your imagination filled the blanks, now you really have to push the disturbing body horror factor though creative, yet subtle designs.

Let's hope this won't fall under the trillogy curse.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Well good for them.

It better be good and it better be hard.

Hard as nails.

 

[Erttheking]

I still haven't completed System Shock 2, I got stuck on that level where you're supposed to kill the worms blocking the elevator. I do want to try it again, it's one of the few games where I actually got lost. Here's hoping this game can compare.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Hmm...reviving old franchises, eh? Nothing like getting romantically acquainted with dipping into the ole barrel of nostalgia bait, is there?

Anyhow...Bioshock 3 has already been made and released years back! *Mic drop*

 

[Darth_Payn]

Weird, I always thought of Bioshock as "the 3rd System Shock". Are they going to try to link ALL the games with the word "shock" in their titles?

System Shock (and Bioshock) games have all been about free will -- or, rather, an illusion of free will that gets dispelled with a reveal/turnaround part way through the game. At this point, players have come to expect that twist so the writers are going to need to be more devious than ever. A shortcut, though, would be to capitalize on (and undercut) the pre-existing assumption that SHODAN is the enemy and that it will be trying to manipulate the player.

Here's what they can do for a twist on that old trope: just don't do it. Have SHODAN or whoever lie about controlling the player from the beginning, when actually they were making shit up on the fly to react to whatever the player did.
Like, who's in control of who NOW, *****?!

 

[Level 7 Dragon]

Hmm...reviving old franchises, eh? Nothing like getting romantically acquainted with dipping into the ole barrel of nostalgia bait, is there?

Anyhow...Bioshock 3 has already been made and released years back! *Mic drop*

*picks up mike*

Well, considering that most of the people making the sequel worked on the origional, it's quite a different animal

People tried to make the third game ever since the second one came out, but couldn't due to copyright issues.

Also, unlike Bioshock, System Shock has a stronger emphasis on survival horror, rather than action.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Hmm...reviving old franchises, eh? Nothing like getting romantically acquainted with dipping into the ole barrel of nostalgia bait, is there?

Anyhow...Bioshock 3 has already been made and released years back! *Mic drop*

*picks up mike*

Well, considering that most of the people making the sequel worked on the origional, it's quite a different animal

People tried to make the third game ever since the second one came out, but couldn't due to copyright issues.

Also, unlike Bioshock, System Shock has a stronger emphasis on survival horror, rather than action.

Pretty much this. The first Bioshock wasn't System Shock 3.

 

[Hawk eye1466]

Oh god please do a fantastic job I need a new survival horror game and system shock 2 was just fantastic. Especially when it wasn't going out of it's way to screw me over.

 

[Callate]

Might be good. Might suck. A title and a couple of people isn't much to go on. At this point, all I can say is this: drop the @#$%ing weapon degeneration like a hot potato, and we'll talk.

 

[Major_Tom]

Oh no... I remember reading an article a few years back about why a System Shock 3 game would be a bad idea and it made a very good point. The gist of it being that SHODAN has already been the antagonist in two games so far and been defeated both times. To make her the villain yet again only to be defeated once more, would make it hard to take her seriously as an antagonist.

Especially as unlike antagonists such as The Joker, her main motive tends to ultimately involve the death of the main character. If she keeps on trying and failing she is not going to appear as this highly intelligent and manipulative AI any more. She will start to seem more like GLaDOS (who is largely a parody of SHODAN in the first place).

Here it is.

Spoiler: The relevant part

There's never going to be a System Shock 3. We really should be glad.

This article is clearly prompted by Irrational's forthcoming Bioshock. A spiritual successor to the game, it's taking a selection of Shock's approaches - the closed environments, the brooding horror, the environment-as-storytelling - and applying it to a whole new situation. It's better this way.

If there's never a System Shock 3, Shodan, in a suitably perverse way, gets the immortality she's chased so desperately through both games. As she is, she's unforgettable. If there was another game. well, Shodan is a villain and villains are entirely unlike heroes. Heroes save the world repeatedly, and each repetition increases their status.

Every time a villain fails to destroy the world, it lessens them.

They become less of a threat, and more of a joke. A second try at storming the Godhead was both new and good for Shodan, with her initial weak position and striving for the impossible goal being striking. There's a determination there which is admirable, so lends her a little dignity. A third try and she becomes less the immortal, perfect machine and just another loser.

And, more than ice-picks to her processing terminals and EMP grenades in her face, the suspicion that she's in fact loser would destroy her - both in her own eyes and in ours. So if you love her, the best thing to do is let her go before she becomes another laughable pantomime dame. Spare her the fate of superhero comic archvillains whose threat is muted by infinitely recurring Pinky-And-The-Brain-esque attempts to conquer all existence. Let's bid Shodan adieu, be grateful that people appear to have learnt from her, are inspired by her and she managed to be the conductor through which lightning struck twice. In a real way, she was the electricity which Shock.

But, just for the record, if we had to choose which cybernetic jackboot pressed on the throat of existence for all time, we'd be perfectly unhappy with hers.

So yeah, please don't use SHODAN.

 

[DaxStrife]

Okay, I love, *LOVE* System Shock 2, but I will hold my excitement until we have details, and possibly demo footage.
This is an unknown studio with only one other project to their name that isn't even published yet... as far as I'm concerned, this might as well be a Steam Greenlight project.

 

[Metalrocks]

damn, i still coulndt finish part 2 because it was so overly complicated with its 20 windows popping up of some useless items no one needs and enemies that can hit you before they even swing or shoot. damn, even on easy i had a very hard time with this game.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Hmm...reviving old franchises, eh? Nothing like getting romantically acquainted with dipping into the ole barrel of nostalgia bait, is there?

Anyhow...Bioshock 3 has already been made and released years back! *Mic drop*

Actually no. Have you played System Shock 2? It holds up phenomenally well, and it ends on a massive cliffhanger, so there's more to this than just nostalgia bait. And as others pointed out, Bioshock was ultimately quite different, and much more simplified, from SS2.

I want this to be true, and I want it to succeed. But given the track record of revivals of old 90's PC gaming franchises, I'm not holding my breath. I would love to see the story continued, and to have that atmosphere succesfully created in modern graphics (or holy shit, imagine it in VR). Dead Space kinda tried it, but failed so hard it became almost comical.