took me 30h
It's good that such remasters are being made because they gave me a chance to get acquainted with classics I've never played.
It must have been impressive 30 years ago, but not so much now, the hacker sections are weak. You don't feel any danger, dark atmosphere or gore. I somewhat regret that I chose the 2nd exploration difficulty level, because it made the game much longer.
1 armor consumes energy even if we don't take damage
2 I think I lost the elevator tag on map in engenering and I had to look for it
3 the entire station looks similar, plus it's a maze
4 puzzles, despite set to easy, are quite difficult
5 you can't put ammunition directly in weapon if you don't have space
6 AI is super stupid, running around the pillar
7 buttons / switches, it is often unclear what they switch
8 game seemed quite difficult, but the last stages were the opposite, the bosses melted from the railgun
And no this is not nostalgia. The first time I played System Shock was 2021. Heck, the first time I played an Immersive Sim was 2016.
To me, this remake reads as "We at NightDive, love System Shock, but we stopped playing Immersive Sims since then". This game lacks both the crucial element that made the original memorable and basic quality of life I expect in any game.
First, positive:
- I love the new intro. Though it is a little drown out
- I like being able to throw a grenade without killing myself in the process
- Terri Brosius kicks ass
Now, things I don't like:
- Canned animation. I hate them with of passion and I really don't understand why there were implemented. Last time I checked, Thief 4 was panned for the overused of them. Not only that, but Arkane cracked the code one and a half decade ago. Canned animation are not immersive, there are obtrusive. The click and drag of the orginal were clucky sure, but the thing is you have control while you do that. You might get shot to death while fiddling around in both game, but you can stop dragging an item. You can't stop a canned animation. Canned animation should have been nuked. Even the short one.
- Music. System Shock 1 and 2 made space horror dancable. There is no excuse for what they did here. And yeah, Prey wasn't dancable, but they didn't remade System Shock 2. And the music had much more personnality then this.
- Item pick. In Fallout: New Vegas, if I kill an armed opponent, I take their gun by either picking up from the ground or looting the corpse. The fact this doesn't work the same way here drive me insane.
- The new currency/crafting system adds nothing and should have been abandonned. Last time I played System Shock, I didn't wish to vaporize every single item for scraps. It just bloat what should be a simple game. System Shock 2 did that as well, but it was unecessary even there.
- The idle animation for the laser rapier is dumb. It looks like my character might cut his finger at any time.
I liked this effort, but I only give 3 stars as the developers just had to refer to the protagonist as "them" and not "him" in game. It as silly as making the protagonist a christian because modern audiences are puritans and not a welcome change.
I love SS2, completed many times. I've never played first part, but watched few gameplays. This remake maybe is perfect for people who has played original, but for me it is not. Music is non-existant in comparision with original and audio logs are rather poorly played. You cant jump higher than 50 cm, and cant grab any ledge, any chair is an obstacle high as as a mountain. Yo cant unload and recycle weapons (?). AI of enemies is as about at level of Wolfenstein 3D. Whole game looks like from era of first XBOX, when devs has learnt about using 1st gen shaders - everything is so glossy and shiny, that it gives you headache. Especiallly VR levels and puzzles. I dont mind old mechanics used here, but come on. This should be made using System Shock 2 mechanics and feeling. I've reached 2nd level only and really have enough.
The game uses the problematic Unreal 4 engine, badly configured and without editable ini files that would allow the players to remedy some of the problems - worst of them being audio stuttering and hiccups on some configurations that make the game unplayable even on powerful configurations if you are unlucky. Refunded.
