For the past few years, indie developer Nightdive Studios has been associated with the long-awaited remaster of System Shock, a 1994 sci-fi first-person adventure game that served as an inspiration for both the original Deus Ex and BioShock. The System Shock remaster was announced nearly seven years ago, in 2015, and went through a Kickstarter campaign the following year. Though the game has since been delayed a few times, preorders for the System Shock remake opened in January 2021 in anticipation of a possible launch sometime this year.Since its founding ten years ago, Nightdive Studios has successfully released a number of remasters or enhanced versions of popular games of yore, many of which are considered abandonware. Blade Runner: Enhanced Edition is the most recent game tweaked by Nightdive, having finally launched in June 2022 after a two-year delay. Other games that have gotten the Nightdive treatment are Shadow Man, a 1999 action-adventure game released by the now-defunct Acclaim Entertainment, as well as Turok and Turok 2. Nightdive seems intent on reviving formerly popular games that have become lost to time, either through studio closures or their incompatibility with newer tech. In a recent tweet, founder Stephen Kick shared an image of numerous beloved first-person shooter titles with the caption, “We’ve remastered 4 of these… with a few more on the way.” The games on the list that Nightdive Studios has already worked on are Doom 64, Quake, Blood: Fresh Supply, and PowerSlave Exhumed.
Of the other titles in the image, Nightdive has already expressed interest in remastering the first Unreal, so it’s no surprise to see that game on the list. And though Doom was successfully rebooted in 2016, some fans would undoubtedly still enjoy replaying a slightly polished original. As for Half-Life, there is already a well-received fan remake in the form of Black Mesa, which took 15 years to complete and is currently available for purchase on Valve’s own storefront.
The studio isn’t only interested in first-person shooters, however. Nightdive would also like to remaster Eternal Darkness, the psychological horror game released for GameCube in 2002 that has since become a cult classic. According to a tweet by Stephen Kick, the company has had multiple discussions with Nintendo over the years about remastering several of its titles, including GoldenEye. In the same Twitter thread, Kick revealed that Nightdive worked on a pitch for that game for a year but has never had a chance to share it. No matter which title the studio gets to remaster or overhaul next, there will surely be fans who are happy to hear about it.
Sources: Nintendo Life, Twitter