System Shock® 2 (1999)

I don't have any nostalgia for this game, having first played it when it was added to GoG. I adore this game for 1 reason: it is terrifying. The sound design, the dated graphics, the setting, the hopelessness, it all combines to create such a genuinely stressful experience. If this game were to be remade I don't think it would be as scary. The dated fidelity of the sound and graphics add immensely to the authenticity of this game's scare factor. The only issue I have with SS2 is the same problem other similar games (Deus Ex, and the new Prey) have: the complex character advancement is inherently unbalanced and it is very easy to pigeon hole yourself into one of a few overpowered builds each playthrough once you discover them. There's a power creep effect where the longer the game goes on, the player becomes exponentially more powerful than everything around them until eventually nothing is challenging anymore. Of course, that is part of the appeal with these kinds of games, and balancing the system would require sacrificing the freedom given to the player (which would be extremely detrimental), so it's a necessary flaw in the genre some would say.

You will be spending the majority of your time trying not to die and scavenging for equipment. Your primary concern is to avoid using whatever you find because the longer you take to play the game, the lower your chances of survival. Credits run dry, functional replicators become harder to find, the enemies take more damage.... The randomness of the enemies also places you in danger as you may very well find yourself attacked or ambushed while in a vulnerable moment. Death happens quickly and frequently. You may choose a number of ways to confront your enemies, be it through mind bullets, assault rifles, or a light saber. Again, the fewer resources you use, the better. You must also be mindful of the way you allocate your resources: For instance, when it would be better to fire a grenade, or what type of ammunition to use. Research is a major part of this game. You must scavenge your enemies' bodies in order to understand them. You need chemicals to do this, meaning you have to find a chemical storage room that actually has the materials, check your best weapon, and point it at the door until the research is complete. Also, your weapons fail frequently and require maintenance. Be mindful of this while you are fighting it out in a war between a psychotic demi-god AI and a xeno hivemind. Enjoy your stay.

I was ready to call this game a masterpiece like everyone else, but the more I played, the more things I started to notice. It's still great, but there are some things I have the obligation to make you aware of: -Don't come into this game expecting balance. There are some very clear poor choices (albeit surprisingly nothing too overpowered) -There are a number of potential softlock scenarios. They're all either telegraphed and given workarounds or else just extremely unlikely, but I ran into one myself on my first playthrough. Final boss requires hacking, 3 ICE picks, or heavy weapons, and I had none of these things. This wasn't a well telegraphed as the prior scenarios -The level design starts to become rather poor in the latter half and will grant you many cheap deaths at the hands of turrets in asinine, nonsensical locations (in an access shaft as you're climbing a ladder, for example) -Like with Deus Ex, it's more linear than it appears. Sometimes you're just forced to walk into an irradiated area and that's the way it is. With that out of the way, go ahead and read the other reviews to see all the gushing praise that I largely agree with. Everything about the game that isn't related to the above is marvelous. Even when newer takes on what SS2 does come out, like Dead Space or Alien Isolation, it's easy to see why people come back to this game after all these years

I rarely review. In fact, I actually bought this game from GOG a few years back and only now I'm reviewing... This is an amazing game! That said, let me get the bad out of the way... The graphics are dated and you will more than likely feel the need to update the control scheme. Here's the good... If you like tension, horror, a solid story, and deep customization for your character (especially for an FPS style game), then this game has all of that in spades! The environments are wonderful given the time period this game was made. Most of the enemies will keep you on your toes even as you progress deeper into the game. Ammo is scarce (especially on harder difficulties) and... freaking ghosts, man! They get me every time! This game is a classic for a reason. In fact, I may have to install and play this game AGAIN just because I'm writing this review, lol! Even if you're buying the game at full GOG price, the game is worth it!!

I played this blind for the first time, and I don't feel inclined to return. I can see how a lot of people like this game, and how it inspired a lot of other games that took those ideas and did things significantly better. It's fairly linear and requires a lot of tedious back tracking. I wasn't particularly enthralled by the story, and the combat is a mixed bag. I didn't mess with psychic powers, because I never like those kinds of things, but the melee is clunky and the enemies are very much bullet sponges. I ended up just juking and jiving past enemies that constantly respawn, because it wasn't worth the frustration of wasting all my ammo on them. I did play with the texture packs, which were pretty decent. Didn't find it particularly horrifying, outside of opening a door and having an exploding robot on the other side, but I'm not super inclined to be scared of small noises and scream at everything like your average YouTuber. The entire time I was playing I was wishing the original Deus Ex games had a better control and shooting scheme, since everything else it does, it does significantly better.