System Shock 3 Teased by OtherSide Entertainment

After years of speculation, it seems we are one step closer to a third entry in the System Shock franchise. On Tuesday, US developer OtherSide Entertainment tweeted out a link to a website which teased the reveal of System Shock 3 via a countdown that is set to expire over four days from now - indicating a Monday announcement.

The developer was in the news earlier this year after it successfully crowdfunded Underworld Ascendant, which will serve as a sequel to Ultima Underworld - a critically-acclaimed 1992 first-person role-playing video game (RPG) - which has come to be regarded as the ancestor to all modern day three-dimensional RPGs such as the Fallout and Elder Scrolls series.

(Also see: Fallout 4 Review)

System Shock's own sequel - the 1999 System Shock II produced by Looking Glass Studios - was itself a critical hit. Although it failed to perform commercially, it has achieved cult status with fans clamouring for a sequel ever since. But after Looking Glass' parent company went down in 2000, the rights to the franchise had been stuck in a legal battle between Electronic Arts (EA) and an insurance group that had acquired all assets of Looking Glass, including System Shock.

But in November this year, Night Dive Studios - a company known for obtaining rights to classic video games - released an "enhanced edition" of the original 1992 game and said then they had acquired rights to the franchise.

For now, it's unclear if they have any connections with OtherSide Entertainment who teased a reveal of System Shock 3 on Tuesday. Fans will be happy to know though that the founder of OtherSide is Paul Neurath, a veteran in the video game industry, having overseen titles such as Thief, Flight Unlimited, and of course Ultima Underworld.

(Also see: Thief Review)

But there has been no mention of Ken Levine, Warren Spector or Doug Church; three individuals who were not just vital to the success of the franchise but have been crucial to the world of video gaming itself.

Since the release of System Shock 2, Levine has gone on to write and create BioShock and BioShock Infinite. Spector meanwhile was the brains the award-winning Deus Ex, and Church has worked with EA and is now at Valve.

System Shock 2 garnered over a dozen awards the year it came out, with seven "Game of the Year" prizes among them. There is understandably heavy excitement then for its sequel, and you can expect a lot of fans to be waiting with bated breath for Monday morning to arrive.