Nightdive Studios' remake of System Shock was released to universal acclaim in 2023. Critics praised the studio for elevating an iconic classic without compromising the atmosphere that made the original so beloved.
However, people who weren't following the development of the remake closely likely won't know how tumultuous the development cycle was for Nightdive Studios. The studio was developing the remake with money raised by crowdfunding, but decided to reboot the project after three years of development, and with all the raised money already spent.
The studio's leadership felt the original iteration of the remake suffered from scope creep and would have been a remake in name only if the studio decided to release that version.
Stephen Kick—director of the remake and studio head at Nightdive—describes this period as the worst of his life, as large swathes of onlookers turned on Nightdive, accusing the crowdfunding campaign of being a scam.
"That was a really rough point in my life," Kick told FRVR in an interview. "I took a lot of that very personally because we had built up a considerable amount of community respect and admiration, so much so that many people were willing to risk a not-insignificant amount of...
