One of the OG System Shock's devs is streaming the remake: 'We see our feet, never coulda done that in 1994'
It's a great time to be a fan of immersive sims: between Gloomwood's continuing early access percolation, Fortune's Run coming in September, and the knockout launches of Amnesia: The Bunker and Nightdive's System Shock remake, we're eatin' good. That last game is getting a particularly fun let's play treatment as well, with former Looking Glass programmer Marc Leblanc streaming his first playthrough of Nightdive's take on Citadel Station.
While now an engineer at Riot Games, LeBlanc was a programmer on both System Shock and Thief's original runs, and his recollections of Looking Glass Technologies (eventually Looking Glass Studios) are a definite highlight of watching him work through the new version of the game he helped create.
«If you told me that in 30 years I was going to be playing a remake of this game and broadcasting it to the internet,» LeBlanc declared before starting the game, «I would have said you were crazy. But here we are.»
In his first stream of the game, LeBlanc seemed impressed at Nightdive's visual overhaul and tactile detail, admiring the 3D modeling and animation work that was out of the realm of possibility for Looking Glass back in the day. «We see our feet, never coulda done that in 1994,» LeBlanc quipped at seeing the Hacker swing their spatially simulated body into a healing pod on the Medical level.
The developer did, however, seem to miss the original game's voiceover work, which often included non-professionals from in and around Looking Glass' offices. Right away, LeBlanc shouted out mission control character Rebecca Lansing's original voice actress, Helen Dunsmoir: «She lived down the hall from us at MIT,» LeBlanc recalled. «She was part of the original D&D game from which Looking Glass
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