System Shock Demo

This demo includes the complete Medical level of the game (barring the cyberspace section and one enemy type). This is an alpha build, so I will of course be ignoring glitchiness and general rough-around-the-edges-ness. I first played and completed System Shock 1 with the Enhanced Edition late last year, and while I had a few gripes I had a pretty good time with it. Hopefully I can give a more objective impressions without the nostalgia goggles. Highlights: - Doesn't fix what ain't broken. Item placement and level design are all just as I remembered them. - The few additions that are here (restrooms, cyborg surgeons, and a nice view of Saturn) are great. Really ties the space together in what would otherwise be empty corners. - Atmosphere seems to be much more horror-oriented, more in line with SS2. - Inventory system also lifted from SS2, which is a definite improvement over the original. - Jesus, cyborg assassins are TERRIFYING now. Concerns: - Like others have noted, the combat isn't great. Melee range is too short, very little feedback on hit, etc. This is probably going to be fixed. - Grenades are not handled well. Equipping them throws them immediately, which I was never able to get used to. - I can't decide whether the mutants look creepy or goofy. What's up with the quarters in their eyes? - Some of the items are hard to see. I walked right over the pistol and magpulse the first time because I couldn't see them in the dark (this may be why some people think there's a two weapon limit, not quite sure). - There are lots of little items lying around you can't pick them up, which makes it a little difficult to single out the ones you can and runs contrary to the original's design philosophy. Aside from a few gripes, this looks like it's going in the right direction. It seeks to recreate the original with updated graphics and mechanics without trampling its art direction. This game has had a rough development, but it may finally be on the right track.

Forget the original demo, this is the way to present one of the best game ever made This is what I want the full game to be. The feel is just like the original with a labirintic level design full of secrets, I can just feel the fear of being chased by shodan. I will buy this game on realese for sure (I never preorder, so this deserve the next best thing). Just try it, it feels great, it plays great, with amazing performance.

Coming fresh off finishing SS1, I couldn't help but give the remake a try. Generally, I do think Nightdive did a good job, but some things were a bit off nonetheless. * Where's the iconic intro? It set the tone and story of SS1 perfectly, yet the remake only has some bland introductory text. * Melee combat feels underwhelming. * Too many lengthy animations for basic task such as healing. * In SS1, scanning a room for valuable items took mere seconds. The remake has much more junk lying around, forcing one to carefully inspect every inch, which gets tedious quickly. * The UI is decent, but a lot of the information conveyed in SS1's UI is missing, and the SparQ being locked to just three settings is criminal. * Instead of an updated rendition of the original MIDI soundtrack, the remake only has a new and unremarkable ambient soundtrack. It feels like something is missing. * Weirdly enough, the voice acting is quite a bit weaker than in the almost 30 years old original. This even includes Terri Brosius as SHODAN, whose performance lacks the layer of maliciousness that made the original so enthralling. * The Cyberspace section was hard to stomach. It is even busier visually and more confusing than the original one, albeit without the cool things you could find in it, and an aesthetically blander depiction of the innards of a computer. * It seems like the remake has fewer yet stronger enemies than the original, coupled with scarcer ammunition. While a sound approach, I can't help but notice that the levels feel a bit empty as a result. I'm also unsure what to think about the newly introduced Cyborg Mantis enemy type. It just looks out of place and poses no challenge whatsoever. Visually, the game is very well done, and for the most part, the levels are recreated faithfully, which I appreciate. I also like how the puzzles have been reimagined. Still, given the choice, I'd play the original any day over this.

It looks good, play like the original but with modernized control, the atmosphere is here, everything is here. If you like the original, my bet you'll like this one too. It could be better optimized but I can judged, it's an Alpha after all. ps : no bug for me

The first Alpha demo they released for this remake was fantastic. It felt good overall, had no complaints about it. This updated demo that has come out, on the other hand, feels different. I don't really know how to explain it cuz it's hard to put my finger on what they may have changed but now it just feels a bit...clunky? Like the controls feel fine, they work great, they do what they're designed to do, but getting into combat just feels weird now, I don't know what it is. In the first demo the combat took some getting used to, but felt fine once you did, but now, it somehow doesn't, maybe I'm just crazy. Also, I hope they decide to give the option to use the original audio logs instead of the re-recorded ones. The original voice acting/logs they had in the first demo seemed to fit so much better in the game. Furthermore, the game is just waaaaaay too dark with lighting that's sometimes just waaaay too bright. Hopefully they fix that and implement a gamma slider or something, cuz the game honestly really hurts to look at with how it's so hard to make things out. This is an otherwise very well done remake and I'm excited to play the full game, but I do hope they fix the lighting/darkness issue.