System Shock® 2 (1999)

This is hands down one of the best PC games ever made. The Bioshock series cannot hold a candle to this game. Some of the sound effects from Bioshock I re used from this game. Which brought back fond memories. Buy this, you will never be disappointed.

Buy this game, play this game. Anything I could say would spoil it.

My God. I thought I'd never see the day that SS2 would be available again in a playable form! Well worth the $10 spent. Time to bash in more Hybrids' skulls! JOIN US! RRRRH!

Just a reminder that there are some amazing mods for System Shock 2. I highly recommend the SHTUP (Shock Texture Upgrade Project) which replaces the majority of the in-game textures with higher res/color textures, and the Rebirth Mod (Google it, don't see one site for it). Reddit write up from 2 years ago has more info. Hopefully the GoG version is still compatible. (aww, no urls in reviews. Just google system shock 2 mods)

...for this review that praises SS2 enough as a masterpiece and one of the best games I ever played. Which it truly is, and I have played it numerous times since it was released and found myself being comfortable in it's atmosphere of death and sheer horror. You start the game as a soldier woken up from hibernation aboard the first light speed capable spaceship, only to find out that most of the crew have been infected by some sort of a parasite that turned them into alien-human hybrid mutants. That sounds cool, almost as if you're explaining Bubba Ho-Tep's plot. Behind the story, you'll find gameplay that involves RPG style mechanics with inventory system similar to the one in Deus Ex, stat and skill system, diary, audio logs, and they all work together seamlessly. There are some dubious design decisions made, like weapon degradation and enemy respawning system, but those can easily be circumvented by mods. Yes, SS2 is moddable, and there are lots of mods available for it after a quick googling. If you have played Bioshock before SS2, after some time in the game, you'll see that Bioshock is SS2 Lite. A streamlined experience, one would call it. It's a game that builds slowly, and once it grips, it never lets go. Play it.