Let it be clear I don't think it any fault of GoG as the same issues are apparent on the Steam version but... Essentially the game needs a legitimate remaster a la Nightdive Studios , but the likelihood of it getting greenlit through the intellectual property minefield that is Star Wars IP rights, and Dark Horse factors in here as well since it's technically their storyline in tandem with LucasArts IIRC. Which is really unfortunate. It's an extremely interesting entry for gaming history in a lot of ways - in spite of being a middling game even in its time that's only because it was too ambitious. Seen here are a lot of roots though - roots of the Rogue Squadron series, roots of the 3D entries in the Dark Forces series. And from the Star Wars side of things this entire storyline was a really interesting plot bridge of the ~2 years in universe between ESB and RoTJ which is now not canon AFAIK, AND YET maybe it is as Disney has renewed trademarks on some of the names and such in the storyline (Dash Rendar and Leebo, the Outrider). Not to mention this was the ONLY Star Wars media between 1983's RoTJ and the 1997 remasters. We will have to see what if anything they ever do with it. Game runs, but faster than it probably should which creates some wonky control issues - too boot whatever the engine is doing for movement and player model movement momentum makes uneven surfaces in one level brutal (protip: crouch a lot on Gall Spaceport as it seems to anchor you). It's playable but rough and the source game, while underated in my opinion, is certainly not the strongest entry in Star Wars games. Still it is among the first to foray into 3d space and runs fully 3d modelled enemies instead of sprites which is again ambitious and worthy of respect given the era it was done in. As a game it's alright. As a historical piece its more important than its given credit for IMHO. And as a piece of Star Wars media its been lost to time BUT is really undervalued for its role.
Honestly a really solid game, I never played the OG mind you so I can't directly compare it to that so I am looking at it more on its own merits as a game. It's generally well balanced but some of the enemies are a little too resilient for the tight resource limits IMO, particularly the ones that are effectively an oversized virus phage - they take a tremendous amount of abuse for their early placement in the game and are no slouches in damage themselves while having several other abilties that make them irritatingly evasive. It ain't perfect but its definitely above average. The good: Atmosphere. Fantastic, it's a shock game. Your on your own in an isolated survival SHTF scenario. The mutant enemies are eerie mockeries of human beings. The setting is really good - the station itself is creepy and disorienting at times but once you figure out your surroundings you can navigate pretty easily. It's not so labyrinthine you get completely lost. Which is just skilled level crafting/environment design. The puzzles are pretty simple logic puzzles - usually just completing a circuit or routing the correct ammount of energy. And there's a finite (I assume) number of bypass items to brute force them. The bad: Really minor personal gripes The shotgun feels underpowered which is just a videogame sin IMO - especially if the ammo for it is going to be as rare as it is this time (System shock 2 its a pretty viable ranged weapon for most of the game given solid damage output and the fact that many enemies use them - here it often feels like a liability in that it takes up a MASSIVE chunk of inventory space). The character audio is annoying. As in I had to mod it out because the noise just got on my nerves when you encounter poison gas, radiation, or any of the plethora of environmental hazards. Your character just launches into this really irritating gagging noise over and over. It got so annoying I looked up a mod to shut them up given how often you encounter it.
This is an Action RPG at its core. One that is tragically flawed. I'll say this much for the game - the range of voice acting is pretty great. And that's it - in 2025 nothing about it holds up. The combat feels floaty, unsubstantial and poorly balanced. On normal everythjing is so trivial its boring on hard everything is so spongey its just a slog and boring. Apparently the builds get interesting but I just can't get over how BLAND the action feels. The most efficient course of action is just to stunlock enemies and potion spam beat down on anything higher than normal because the health pools are just so pointlessly inflated. I just don't care. In this age where games like anything Souls related has firm but fair balancing and has since before this even came out the first time around I just feel my time is being wasted with this. I click the button, the health bar barely moves but the can't do anything click click, hope my clicking doesn't get interupted by adds! Oh no I miss a dodge my healthbar barely moves is not engaging. Turn the difficulty down literally NOTHING is a challenge at all now. Bullet sponges are BAR NONE the most annoying unfun design methods in gaming - it's a fundamental misunderstanding of "high stakes" when your difficulty is just bigger numbers is harder. The game design here just does not understand what makes action fun. This is stuff happening for the sake of stuff happening style gaming. And I suppose I could forgive it given the age of its original design but I'd rather not - it costs people real time and real money today and both could be better spent elsewhere. The game is either barely above an idle game in engagement on the first two difficulties and thus just box ticking MMO tedium in a single player game. Or else just repeating your win combo on things for minutes at a time after figuring out their animations. It's just so very dull. YMMV - I'm sure there's someone out there that this appeals to but this is a hard miss for me.
Don't go thinking because the game has a lot of stats to distribute points in that it's complex and hard. Genrally just beeline Strength to 16 then Vitality to about 12 and you've got a strong start. I say this because a poorly built character can be a slog through no fault of the developers modernizing it for modern equipment. It was a game from a different time - when video game rentals were a thing and games were deliberately padded to be too long to finish in the 48-72 hour rental window. But with the previous advice you can cut through all the experimentation and frustration and just have a solid game play experience where your timing and positioning matter more than your patience. Outside of that the game's got some pretty great writing in a semi-linear story (there's some variance on side quests and even a few optional chapters; and don't knosck linearity, if the story is done well it can be a pretty good design flow). It's worth a play on sale. If you are a sucker for tame but raunchy gag humour, basic ARPGs, admitttedly clever song writing at times, and naration by the late great Tony Jay give it a shot. Still it's not going to be for everyone and the pace is a little slow even as optimized as you character gets. Again the rental window of the past does haunt it, so II knocked a star. It's well executed though and delivers the experience it is designed to.
