Eight years before BioShock cemented the phrase “would you kindly” in the popular psyche, Ken Levine had pioneered its best ideas in the groundbreaking and atmospheric System Shock 2. But as formats and operating systems changed, it became harder and harder to find a working copy: if you wanted to play the game over the past few years, a cracked and pirated one was virtually the only option. Now, that’s all about to change. GOG.com has revealed that System Shock 2 will be added to its catalog on Thursday morning, with a countdown posted at its site. Night Dive — which secured the rights — says a Steam release is forthcoming as well, though when is unknown.
Hard-to-find classic ‘System Shock 2’ coming to GOG.com Thursday, Steam to follow
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011.
The title has been one of the most consistently requested on GOG (along with Planescape: Torment, which was finally added in 2010), and Rock Paper Shotgun has spoken about the licensing process to Guillaume Rambourg of GOG and Stephen Kick of Night Dive. Though the team should have fixed actual bugs in the game, Kick says that the many System Shock 2 mods we’ve seen since release will still work, and it’s set to come with extras like concept art and a copy of the original pitch document.
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