During GDC 2019, Warren Spector, who created the System Shock series and was brought on by the development team to work on the third entry, gave a keynote presentation that not only revealed that System Shock 3 would be utilizing the Unity engine but also showed off the first in-game footage.
While the trailer is very brief, it should be enough to whet fans’ appetites, who have been waiting for actual footage of the title since its announcement three years ago. The System Shock 3 trailer also gives us our first glimpse at the returning SHODAN, the iconic and antagonistic AI that plagued players in the previous two games.
This is the first bit of big news about System Shock 3 to come out in a while, as development has been particularly quiet, especially since the original publisher Starbreeze dropped the project due to its recent financial struggles. Spector, however, assured that development on System Shock 3 would still move forward, and that it’s more than halfway to being completed.
Some fans may also remember that a full-fledged System Shock remaster was announced roughly around the same time as the sequel - this one being developed by Nightdive Studios - but information on it has been even scarcer. The last we heard about it was in 2018 when it was confirmed that remaster development was being put on hold due to it suddenly becoming a much larger project than initially intended. Nightdive CEO Stephen Kick and director of business development Larry Kuperman stated that they were aiming to focus on the promises they made with the project’s Kickstarter and they hoped to release the title in 2020.
System Shock 3 currently has no release date.
