Unfortunately, for every Kickstarter success story there seems to be a dozen controversies, and System Shock Redux has fallen firmly in the latter category. After nearly two years and well over $1 million in pledged funding, Nightdive Studios' CEO Stephen Kick has announced that development will be on hiatus until further notice. Although quick to assure backers that this is by no means a cancellation, nevertheless many backers are upset that this announcement comes with no real road map or detail.
Kick has, at least, taken full responsibility for the derailing of the project, citing a bloated and ever-expanding vision that strayed far away from the original plan:
Maybe we were too successful. Maybe we lost our focus. The vision began to change. We moved from a Remaster to a completely new game. We shifted engines from Unity to Unreal, a choice that we don’t regret and one that has worked out for us. With the switch we began envisioning doing more, but straying from the core concepts of the original title.
A brief glance at the backer comments underneath Kick's update reveal a community that is at the very least disappointed and concerned at the news. Plenty of them are angry, not just because this update provides no real answers as to how the studio plans to recover the project, but also because, as backer "Steve" put it, "I paid for a remaster, not a new product. This is a fundamental departure from the scope you sold to your project sponsors."
System Shock Remastered was due to be released on PlayStation 4. Whether we will ever see it on the platform, and in what form, remains a mystery.
We don't have them yet, but we'll publish a story as soon as we pick up the System Shock trophies.