System Shock

Well, it's tough for me to talk about SS1 after 30 years. It was amazing back in the day. I played it in 1994 when it first dropped, and I still think there are very few games in the FPA genre that can come close to its greatness. When I think about the level of atmosphere, only HL2 and Portal 2 pop into my mind. First of all I really hope that playing it in 2023 will still be an epic experience for those who didn't get a chance to play it originally. This game never got the recognition it truly deserved. When SS2 came out, people had already played and praised it more than the original SS, but I always disagreed with that. SS1 was straight up superior in every aspect. The atmosphere, the level design, the cyberspace, the cyberpunk music, the citadel, SHODAN, that claustrophobic and lonely feeling, everything was on another level! And SS2 was still a great game (even though I despise the enemy respawn), but that's just a testament to how awesome SS1 was! To put things in perspective, when SS1 came out in 1994 (and you could play it in 640x480 resolution), Doom 2 also dropped with its fake 3D WADs maps and low resolution. That's why it's hard for me. I'll give it 4 stars because, sadly, in 2023 it feels like it's missing some modern standards. Plus, I've already experienced it and know the story. Overall, the only thing I didn't dig about the remake was the fact that they changed the beginning. It was perfect just the way it was in the original title.

I've never played the original System Shock, but I can definitely see that Nightdive have put a lot of passion and heart into this game. It runs flawlessly with the only actual glitch I've discovered thus far is that my mouse will stutter randomly; I'm not sure if this is even the game though since it could just be my wireless mouse acting up. The game absolutely does not hold your hand. No objective markers, no "quest log", no journal telling you what to do. You had better listen to those audio logs because they're the only thing that will give you an idea of what to do. From what I can gather this is in line with the original game, which I definitely enjoy. Too many games today hold your hand and guide to directly to your next objective. You WILL be confused at points, but don't worry since you can always come back. ULTRAWIDE SUPPORT. Holy crap this game actually has ultrawide support and it does it extremely well. I am able to play at 5440x1440 with no issues. I cranked the FOV up to 120 and there is absolutely NO STRETCHING on the sides. What a miracle it is when the developers actually put effort into their games. Ignore the joker who gave it 1 star and claimed "no wide screen support". That simply is not true. I kept the game on level 2 difficulty for everything and, boy-oh-boy does it get difficult if you don't manage your resources properly. Exploration is rewarding; I was able to either purchase or find upgrades for myself and my weapons simply by being a kleptomaniac. I haven't beaten the game yet; I've put about 8 hours in to it and only cleared 4 levels out of 10 (I think). One gripe I have so far is that enemies will continuously respawn even when SHODAN's security level is 0%. These guys don't drop enough materials to make up for the ammo they absorb, so eventually I just started running away from them. Some puzzles are legitimately difficult to figure out, but just keep looking around and you'll find that one switch you didn't see before.

True to the original while providing much needed accessibility and graphical updates. Glad to see it finally released.

So, as a fan of the second installment, this game was just a love letter to my soul. I was immediately immersed in the environment. The feeling of loneliness and isolation was predominant. Shodan was just amazing. Whenever she made an appearance, I was just excited. She was so engaging, sending monsters and cyborgs your way, even after previously exploring the area, like you never felt safe. She is constantly watching you. Technically the game looks great. The interface is easy to manage, inventory management is amazing, a bit of commerce is well appreciated, weapon upgrades are a plus. The game is not easy, it doesn't help you with obviously placed objectives, or where you need to go or do. In my opinion this is great, it is an old school type of game, which expects the player to pay attention to audio logs and e-mails to figure out what to do. However, there are also multiple difficulty levels which increase puzzle difficulty, enemy numbers and Cyberspace challenge. The game has some very small bugs, mostly with the rag doll effect of dead corpses, but nothing game breaking, I had no crashes of the game. Everything runs smoothly though. It is a highly stable game. which overall shows that a lot of effort and love was put into this project. So thank you Night Dive Studios, and everyone that was part of this Remake.

Played the original back in the CD-ROM days. Loved the original. Now, this remake. The first couple of levels gave me a flat feeling and was wondering if i blew $55 bucks. As the game progresses, I started getting into it and there were some new suprises. I played on hard mode and was using a lot of save scumming for time savings. Now, play this on Ironman and you'll have a serious experience. I didn't enjoy the limited inventory space which forced me to create item camps but I didn't mind the currency system. The later levels, the difficulty ramped up and had to plan accordingly with item transfers. I wish the interface could toggle like the original with three different windows on the bottom. The mouse/key control worked out great for the remake. i also wish you could type on the map but they only give you flags that you can use. I really liked the cyber space visuals, real nice. Next time i play this, will hook up to my oculus virtual desktop and then wear a diaper. Really enjoyed the remake.