OVERNewDarkAndroid: System Shock 2 gets an unofficial native Android port in early beta
System Shock 2 now has an unofficial native Android port. NewDarkAndroid, by thekojac304, released its first beta, v0.1.0-beta.1, on October 20. The game's engine source was never released, so the project uses the tools from Owloeb's NewDarkRecompiled to translate the retail 32-bit SS2.exe (NewDark 2.48) into C, then runs it on a portable layer built on SDL 2 and OpenGL ES with shims for DirectX and Win32.
What works
The developer reports new game, the intro and opening cutscenes, saving and loading, level changes, audio, the PDA and the inventory all working. It adds a floating stick, swipe-to-look, on-screen buttons for fire, use, jump, crouch and reload, radial menus, a launcher with a game-folder importer, and support for the System Shock 2 Community Patch (SCP). The project's known-limitations page lists what hasn't been played through yet.
What you need
- Your own GOG or Steam copy of System Shock 2 with the retail NewDark 2.48
SS2.exe. The 25th Anniversary Remaster uses a different engine and won't work. - A Windows or Linux PC with Python 3, JDK 17 and the Android SDK and NDK to build the APK yourself. There's no prebuilt download, and the developer asks people not to share APKs they build, since those contain code generated from a copyrighted executable.
- A 64-bit ARM Android 8.0+ device. So far it's only been tested on a Galaxy S26 Ultra, so handheld results are still unknown.
Worth knowing
This is a source-only beta that isn't affiliated with Nightdive or Looking Glass, and it's aimed at tinkerers comfortable building an Android app. If you try it on a Retroid, AYN or Anbernic handheld, we'd love a compatibility report. Source: NewDarkAndroid on GitHub.