When the Kickstarter for System Shock showed up, fans of the old action role-playing game were immediately enthralled. They were fully backed, and then some, with a possible release date of December 2017.
In their November update, Nightdive Studios put in an FAQ, answering questions about the Kickstarter campaign itself, while sneaking in, “Q: What will you be releasing System Shock on? A: Our goal is to launch on PC/Mac/Linux/XboxOne/PS4 by Q2 of 2018. Not sure if it will be a simultaneous launch, but we’ll do our best.”
It’s a bit discouraging to get an updated release date in what is essentially the fine print of the post, but fans seem to be accepting it graciously. A change from late 2017 to a bit into 2018 isn’t horrible, as video game delays go. Making a proper game that has the same feel as System Shock is bound to be difficult, because of how well-loved it was and still is for its game-changing story and gameplay for its time.
In the same update, the developers talk about their Vertical Slice, “Basically, VS lets us prove out our pipelines and narrow down how the game should and shouldn’t play. By the end of VS, we’ll have a better understanding of what we can achieve with the time/budget we have, and have a more accurate plan moving forward to create a quality game.”
It appears to be a method of them working out exactly what needs working on during every step of the development process. Hopefully this leads to some more open communication between the devs and the backers, letting fans know exactly why such a large delay is taking place.