System Shock 2’s remaster is delayed for everyone but you and me

Bad news: after over six years in development, Nightdive’s remaster of System Shock 2 has been hit by one last delay, for old times’ sake. Good news: since you’re reading about it on this website, it almost certainly doesn’t matter to you.

System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster has been pushed back from June 26 to “the first two weeks of July,” but only for console players. Anyone playing it on their desktop, laptop, Steam Deck, or what-have-you is still getting it on June 26—the PC version isn’t getting any delay at all.

Per a post from Nightdive on Bluesky, the studio has “encountered issues that have prevented us from launching System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster on consoles, including Xbox, Switch, and PlayStation, on June 26 as originally intended.” But have no fear, it’s got a crack squad at work ironing out the wrinkles that have caused SS2’s console delay, so it should only take a couple of weeks.

Nightdive adds that, in spite of the delay on console, it made the “difficult decision” to go ahead with the game’s planned June 26 release on Steam, GOG, Epic, and Humble, and promises a more precise date for console users in the near future.

Maybe I’m reading too much into a quick social media announcement, but it sounds as if there was some consideration at Nightdive about delaying the PC version to match console too, which I suppose I kind of get; no one wants to feel like a second-class citizen, but (for obvious reasons) I’m glad it didn’t happen.

I remain very excited for the System Shock 2 Remaster. I think Nightdive did a very good job with its full-on remake of System Shock 1, but as I wrote (heretically) in my System Shock Remake review, it was a little over-conservative for my tastes: I would have liked Nightdive to take bigger punts at changing the game up in a full-on, capital-R Remake. For a remaster, though, conservatism is just what I want: the game I love in a slightly spiffier package. All signs are pointing to the SS2 remaster being just that. I couldn’t be more excited.