Nightdive Studios, the developer behind remasters of Star Wars: Dark Forces and System Shock 2, have surprise-launched a remaster of 2002 cult-hit The Thing. The upgraded game is available now for PC, Xbox One and Series X/S, PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch, and to stream through NVIDIA GeForce Now. Originally developed by Computer Artworks, The Thing is a third-person shooter that acts a direct sequel to John Carpenter's 1984 film The Thing, following a United States Special Forces team that's sent into the film's arctic base to investigate what happened there. Outside the source material, the game is best known for its trust, fear, and infection systems. How you play can impact whether in-game characters trust you, think you're The Thing or turn into The Thing themselves.

S.H.O.D.A.N. (Sentient Hyper-Optimized Data Access Network), later referred to as SHODAN is an Artificial Intelligence and the main antagonist of the System Shock series. She is voiced by game writer and designer Terri Brosius. SHODAN was created on Earth to serve as the Artificial Intelligence of the TriOptimum Corporation's research and mining Citadel Station. The head of her programmers was Morris Brocail, who designed SHODAN as a semi-intelligent self-sufficient data network, which could carry out routine duties aboard space stations, guided by an intricate series of logic and moral programs, and a personality that would allow her to challenge station decisions that affected her functions. The guidance software had security platforms so that SHODAN's own programming protected her self-governing capabilities.

An artificial intelligence informs them that aliens on board have transformed the crew into monstrosities. It's up to them to destroy the threat, using an arsenal of conventional weapons and psychic powers. But a seemingly simple quest sends the protagonist trekking across the entire facility, caught between conflicting ideological agendas. This setup may sound familiar to players of 1999 survival horror System Shock 2, and you'll find echoes of it in a whole mini-genre of spiritual sequels, like BioShock and Dead Space. But few have followed the formula as closely as Prey, a new game from Dishonored studio Arkane. Some of Arkane's founding members worked at System Shock 2 studio Looking Glass, and the studio hasn't been shy about its intention to re-create the qualities that made the games and its studio great.