System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition gets a fully playable VR mode

by

System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition gets a fully playable VR mode. IGN can exclusively reveal that Nightdive Studios is working on the fully fleshed out VR mode, complete with its own VR-focused development team. It started when Nightdive Studios posted a tweet in January in which Stephen Kick, CEO of Nightdive Studios, uses a VR controller to play System Shock 2. The tweet served as a hint as to what Nightdive Studios was already looking for for the improved version of the sequel, namely whether or not VR could work for System Shock 2.

“During the reverse engineering process of the missing libraries for System Shock 2, we had the opportunity to play with the idea of ​​creating a standalone VR version,” Kick said in an interview with IGN. And so we brought one [VR] expert to look at the cod and give us a brief idea of ​​what sorts of things we could do. “With this blueprint, Nightdive discovered that there was a solid foundation in System Shock 2 to work out a full VR version. Kick says System Shock 2 Enhanced Edition will be fully playable in VR, along with the game’s multiplayer mode. Co-op can thus be played in VR in cross-platform, with one player playing in VR and the other on a standard PC.

Kick was also clear that VR is not just a perk, but a fully fleshed out feature. Nightdive works with an overview of how to create a “truly remarkable VR experience made from the ground up”.

System Shock: Enhanced Edition Screenshots

Nightdive cites the immersive potential of VR as one of the main reasons for pursuing this special mode for System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition. “When you’re in VR, you’re the one who swings the guns, reloads you [the guns] yourself, you don’t just press a button and let the character automatically reload the gun. “

The team has studied other VR games, and one title that has set the bar for immersion is Half-Life: Alyx, which Nightdive says is a great source of inspiration.[Half-Life: Alyx has] just become essential to create that feeling of being there … Things like being able to pick up items from a distance is something that was very important in Half-Life: Alyx, and it’s something you can do in System Shock VR also. “

Currently, System Shock 2 VR is in the prototype phase, so the VR version will not be released alongside System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition, which is slated to run alongside Nightdive’s full remake of System Shock.

Matt TM Kim is a news editor for IGN.

Source