System Shock Demo

Ok, don't hate, but I prefer not to pre-order games, for various reasons, but this I just might. This is a classic. One of the best games. And now in its new revision, the atmosphere, is like wow, they managed to get the pixel graphics in but with modern tech like Unreal Engine, its a beautiful looking game even by modern standards, just goes to show you can make things pretty and yet amazing in look and feel without taxing the GPU or the CPU (honestly, when I saw "Unreal Engine" I thought it would hog up all the system resources, but wow what a surprise, barely taxes the GPU or the CPU). This is an old game, but the attention to detail, just incredible, the place is corpse city in space, and the dead bodies stay put, you can even put your inventory on them and use them as storage boxes. This is very handy if you need to plan out some pattern of attack but honestly I have yet try the higher difficulty levels. The puzzles are good, already run into one I could not figure out. There's no hand holding, so objectives are from people leaving behind messages and its bringing back some memories of running around trying to figure out what is what. Having played System Shock 2 in the day, I never got to experience the first game, and this is quite the treat! Music, atmosphere are top notch. The enemies, well it does get a little hard when you're in a tight space, but the AI is basically seek and destroy, so you just need to move around the enemies and strafe your way through, especially if you need to conserve ammo... and boy will you need to conserve your items. Anyways, looking forward to the whole game and spending hours running around corridors and stepping over dead bodies!

...but pretty close, and promising nevertheless. This demo must be a slice of a somewhat earlier version of the finished game, and differs pretty much in every point, from different room layouts, differing item placement, much more graphical options (incl. FOV!) and different progression. While I liked the original game from 1994, I was absolutely certain that this would absolutely hit home for me, even after seeing this (at best 7/10) demo Give this a chance, the final game is much better than this, an easy 9/10 for me.

The original System Shock, as I said in my review of it, has aged rather poorly, particularly with its unwieldy controls and confusing HUD. So despite the promising premise of the game, I could never really get into it with these limitations. In a world where 99% of remakes are excessive and unnecessary, System Shock is one of those rare exceptions where the remake actually not only serves a justifiable purpose, but surpasses the original. Basically, NightDive have not taken creative liberties with the game--it is in mechanics, level design, enemies, weapons, etc. moreorless identical to its 90s namesake. However, it now has a modern control scheme, simplified controls, and a more accessible HUD, which mean you can now actually experience the original game, undeterred by the dated baggage. Even the graphics exemplify this--they look modern, beautiful, yet are very faithful to the original art style and even retain a slight pixelation if you go really up close to them, maintaining that 90s feel. Now that I can actually play the game unimpeded, it's actually quite fun. The best way I can describe it, is it's kind of like Doom 3, if Doom 3 were less about action and shooting Demons, and more about scavenging and survival. It's not quite a survival horror, like say Resident Evil, since you can still kill all enemies quite easily and have sufficient ammo. However, while it is a shooter at some level, the FPS is secondary. The primary gameplay is about navigating the complex, labyrinthine maze and scavenging for useful supplies, weapons, switches to activate, or audio logs. You do have to manage your inventory RE-style, and not all items are actually useful. It has unique mechanics, such as a TRON-like Cyberspace mini-game, which is really cool, and respawning at re-assembly chambers once you find them. Saving is a must. My only annoyance is a bug where your display/control settings reset on every reload, but this is a demo and probably fixed in the full version

Wow.. I was kind of sceptical when remake (or even worse, reboot, that dreaded word..) of my favourite game was announced. But this demo shows what I think System Shock would look like if done today. And I love it :D However, there is a speed flaws yet, mainly because of the Unity engine used I think. The game looks great, appart from System Shock itself, it has this Bioshock feel to it (NOT a flaw). Yet compared to Bioshock, textures are a bit more blurry (not a problem, also this is an early demo, so I suppose the textures will only get better) and the game runs a lot slower (BIG problem for me), I guess Unity is much more demanding than Unreal engine. But the potential to make modern version of System Shock without cripling it by some modern trends is there :D Btw, original System Shock is for me still the greatest game of all times, I just replayed it recently and was amazed how great it holds against current games.

I loved the System shock, and system shock 2 games. They both had had that atmosphere that was really new at the time ( aside from 2 ). They brought forth a similar format to todays rpg games. Some things should not have been changed from the original format of an fpsrpg and some should have. First off what should have changed is the control-scheme. It was clunky and weird compared to today. What shouldn't have been changed is the play style and weapons schemes. Now onto what the demo lacked which is mostly what concerns me. It had the inventory system and the apparent complexity from the inventory to boot, what concerns me is the 2 weapon slots from popular similar titles ( bioshock infinite ). Keep the ability to have multiple weapons and multiple slots like the originals and things should be better. The second is kinda a person thing. I loved the creepy aspeCt of the musicless hallways. The atmospheric audio is perrrrrrfect. However, some including myself would still love the option to have the old music remixed and updated as well. Look at Doom and wolfenstein. All old titles resurrected without the modern two weapon slots, and they incorporated remixed songs of the original games as well. They weren't a remake as this is but they still had the core aspects of the game which made it familiar. ALSO, THERE IS A BUG WHERE IF YOU GO INTO THE AREA WHERE YOU GET THE PIPE AND HUD DISPLAY AND CLOSE THE DOOR ON YOURSELF. YOU CANNOT GET OUT OF THAT SMALL ROOM.