Remastering a groundbreaking title like System Shock 2 - a game whose plot, UI and RPG-FPS hybrid mechanics now exist in some form in almost every FPS today (even Call of Duty!) - is a no-brainer. Granted, this remaster is little more than the base game with a handful of the most popular community mods but the addition of previously unseen concept art, achievements and controller support make this remaster THE definitive way to play System Shock 2 in 2025 especially on a console. To mod-happy people like myself the remaster doesn't do much that I couldn't do with an hour of free time. (I'm not being hyperbolic; a quick check in the game menu shows the mods that Nightdive used, one of which is the popular System Shock 2 Community Patch!) That said, plenty of people don't want to deal with the potential headache of mods and the problems they can bring - including the dreaded CTD (Crash To Desktop). This remaster does away with so much of the hassle to bring a 26-year-old game to a state of usability and, since it now has controller support built-in, can finally be played on consoles and deck computers with ease. (That alone makes this a worthy product in my mind.) As stated above, the remaster also includes video trailers for the original SS2 along with concept art, music and sound effects. This is content that was previously unavailable to most people without some serious digging in half-dead forums. Sure, the game has a few mods slapped on it to make in run well in 2025 while updating the visuals and animations to something better than the original (not that that is an especially high bar to reach); sure, a guy like me could replicate most of this remaster in less than a day - and I still recommend it anyway. It opens the game up to an entirely new audience of gamers while allowing a 1999 game to be playable in 2025 hassle-free. This is THE definitive way to play SS2 - at least until the remake comes out.
Time to break out the goose grease for the minigun...I'm so glad this game has finally made it onto GoG! For anyone complaining about the lack of multiplayer - it was a lackluster mode anyway so losing it is no real loss. We get the excellent single-player campaign and access to the Snap Lab libraries (despite the page above saying otherwise) so there's a wealth of content with this game. For anyone on Linux trying to run the game (desktop or Steam Deck) go to the forum discussion above and look for 'Linux DOOM 2016.' It should help solve the black screen problem that users are experiencing.
I'm old enough to remember when games recieved in-box expansion packs rather than today's DLC. Expansion packs, for FPS games, often required the base game to play and ususally added new levels, perhaps a weapon or two and a campaign to go along with it. FoC is, therefore, a callback to those original expansion packs of days past without the physical box to go with it. Check out my review of Boltgun to get a good idea of what I think of it, but in short: it is F-U-N. It won't move the soul or challenge previously held notions of morality - it is simply a good bit of shooting from a character whose name (Malum Cadeo) literally translates to "I Kill Evil." FoC is more of the same, introducing a half-dozen new levels, a few new enemies and two new weapons to the mix. If you liked Boltgun and want more, I cannot recommend Forges of Corruption enough. If, however, Boltgun was not to your taste then FoC will not change your mind. For any new player, I would recommend the Forges of Corruption edition of Boltgun as it includes the base game and expansion for a lower price than buying both seperately.
A love letter to the first two films (we don't talk about the third!), Robocop Rogue City is another in the recent FPS subgenre I call 'Tank Shooters.' Like WH40K: Boltgun, this game features zero cover, overpowered weapons and base enemies that are little more than walking blood balloons. The difficulty comes from swarm tactics and the environment itself. This game is the antithesis of 'mover shooters' like Turbo Overkill and Dusk: you cannot avoid being shot, running is little more than brisk walking and the environment does not encourage cover or flanking. So, why am I recommending this game? It's a power trip; mowing down punks is surprisingly fun, the weapons feel and sound like the death cannnons they are and the graphics are some of the best I have seen from a AA title in years. The mix of crisp shading and refined textures through Robocop's hazy CRT lens filter comes shockingly close to what the films showed as Robocop's default vision. All of the major and minor characters are here and, although some of the VO is clearly not coming from the original actors they do give a good attempt. Remember, this is not a AAA title: Teyon pushed this game out with a budget a fraction of what Activision or EA would have needed. If I'm gushing so hard on this game and what it has done - made an absolute blast of an FPS using a character that until now would have been relegated to an arcade lightgun shooter - then why 4 stars and not 5? In a word: optimization. Teyon has fallen into the same trap as most modern developers and relied on upscaling tech to generate a steady framerate. My setup is far beyond the recommended specs but requires FSR3 to get a steady FPS when more than 5 NPCs are on screen. At the same time, I imagine that upscaling is the only reason portable PCs can run this title at all. The developers at Teyon clearly love Robocop and this game is as close as we can get to a new, old, Robocop sequel.
Santa was good to me this year: A Blu-Ray with Quake 2, Warhammer 40K: Boltgun and Turbo Overkill was waiting under the tree. (I still have no idea how I could have been THAT good this year.) Quake 2 is legendary and Boltgun is just F-U-N. But Turbo Overkill is...something else. It moves faster than Doom Eternal could ever hope while offering combat that is both frantic on the edge of uncontrollable while being completely controllable - after a few hours it feels so natural that going back to a slower shooter feels like the controls have been crippled. Turbo Overkill looks amazing, sounds like sonic gold and moves like a lubed gold bar sliding down a luge pipe. Johnny Overkill is a 'street sweeper' (i.e. a corpo merc) sent to the world of Paradise to deal with a rogue AI called SYN. SYN has taken control of the planet's systems and is slowly infecting the populace. What begins as a cheap riff of System Shock's plot becomes something much more over the top and deep, incorporating elements of Robocop, Akira and Doom 2016/Eternal to make something much more than the sum of its parts. It's one of the best boomer shooter stories to come around in a long time. I've thought about how to describe the look and sound of this game. My best analogy is 'if Cyberpunk 2077 was made in 1996 and had Megadeth write the the soundtrack.' It's a neon-drenched, metal-infused wonder. Nothing I have said means squat if the game plays like scop. It doesn't. The guns hit hard and none of them are useless (even the starting pistols are useful in the endgame). The movement is frantic and the environments promote chaotic dashing, double-jumping and chainsaw sliding to get the job done. (Good thing Trigger Happy took notes from Doom Eternal.) I swear, when I chainsaw slid under a four-legged tank, killed a line of melee enemies, shotgun-jumped and put a salvo of rockets into the tank...'Yep, this is GOTY.' Stop reading - start playing what might just be 2023's GOTY.
I recently wrote a revew on Blood West where I noted that the retro shooter renissance had begun to move past the likes of Dusk and Ion Fury into more complicated offerings (just as the 90s shooters had moved past Doom onto Duke Nukem 3D and finally into System Shock 2). This year has shown that, if the gameplay is fun and the price is right there is a place for both types of shooters to prosper. Having played Blood West - and loved it for what it was - I can say that it is refreshing to be able to turn on my Steam Deck and just turn off my pre-frontal cortex for a time while having some old-fashioned F-U-N playing Boltgun. The story is, as amazing as this is going to sound, a sequel to Warhammer 40K: Space Marine. You are a veteran of the Ultramarines, sent in to mop up the mess left behind after forces of Chaos decided to interrupt the 'little shindig' between the Orks and the Imperial Guard. Nothing complex to tell here; no grandstanding moral quandaries or introspection into the human soul. You are a Space Marine, purged of fear and doubt, ready to slay anything that goes against the will of the Emperor of Mankind. Promo material for Boltgun made it out to be some long-lost 90s shooter recovered and and re-released. While not true they weren't far off. The graphics are a chunky, pixelated type with a wide range of saturated colours. It's the sort of style that was post-Doom but pre-PS1 (so, think Sega Saturn). Environments are detailed and colourful, the enemies are easy to differentiate (with excellent attack animations), and the weapons...oh, the weapons. If you thought that the Doom remakes treated getting a new weapon like a religious experience, Boltgun definitely does - because in the 40K universe it IS. So then, why 4/5? Because, simply put, much as stealth shooters are not everyone's cup of tea, neither is a power fantasy shooter. No cover coupled with slow movement might not appeal to everyone. If you can get past that, Boltgun is a blast.
2023 has seen the indie shooter move from the run-and-guns we all know and love to more complex offerings; the System Shock remake, Forgive Me Father and now Blood West are showing that more open-ended games are possible on a budget. Far from becoming a poor man's Caleb, the player effectively becomes Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter, cleansing the land of evil. The story is just as I have described it. There's nothing ground-breaking about it but then it shouldn't have to be; it serves the purpose of introducing the world and gameplay loop. Blood West takes its gameplay cues from...well, Blood. Ammo is scarce, the enemies are tough and the environment is unforgiving. Then the game throws a few immersive sim elements into the mix; a simple but effective stealth system can make the hardest kills easy when done right, charms and items looted from the dead (or purchased in shops) augment skills or prevent debilitating Curses upon death and there is an upgrade system in place that can further augment a particular playstyle. Blood West wears it's design cues on its sleeve without apology to make a fun and tense play session. The graphical presentation is the tried-and-tested pixelated style; depending on taste this can be a mood enhancer or a game killer. During my playthrough I found that enemies were scarce on the map; while this did make encounters tense it was strange to go from place to place on the map and encounter almost no resistance. As well, enemies can be shot near their allies, die and yet no one will react because I took the shot in stealth mode. (Last time I checked a Winchester rifle is not silent.) These complaints are minor at best when compared to the the asking price and the definite care placed into making this game a standout. This game may not be perfect but it's clear that this was made with passion on a budget. It runs without a hitch, plays as good as it looks and won't break the bank. You live again; make sure that Evil does not.
