An all-time classic immersive sim returns in June
Six years after it was first announced as System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition, the 25th Anniversary Remaster of System Shock 2 finally has a release date. Nightdive Studios has confirmed the game for June this year, and it's coming to Steam, GOG, Humble Store, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and the Nintendo Switch.
Developed by Looking Glass Studios, System Shock 2 belongs to their legendary repertoire of immersive sims that include classics like Thief and Ultima Underworld. The remaster is being handled by Nightdive Studios, a studio focused on making classics playable on modern systems.
They also gave the original System Shock the "enhanced" treatment back in 2015, and similarly, this remaster comes with many quality-of-life improvements, enhanced graphics, support for gamepads, high refresh rates, and up to 4K resolutions. The team also handled the remake of the first System Shock, released in 2023.
The original, released in 1999, is still considered one of the best examples of the immersive sim genre. Its open-ended level design and dynamic enemies encouraged experimentation. It has gone on to have a huge influence on many modern classics such as BioShock, Dishonored, and Prey.
As to why they chose to remaster the game rather than remake it like the first one, Nightdive told Xbox Wire they wanted to support community projects and mods made for the game and give them enhanced features to work with for future projects.
"We know a modding community has built around this game that'd benefit from the addition of advanced features," says Nightdive's Alex Lima. "A remake would also be great, but it wouldn't affect the modding community in as positive a way as this remaster will."
System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster releases on June 26, 2025, on PC and consoles.
