The original System Shock, released in 1994, became a classic almost instantly after it was published. A dark, moody, and dreadfully difficult tale of an AI called SHODAN who becomes self-aware after you, the hacker, remove its ethical constraints. You do this because Diego, the executive of TriOptimum Corporation, which owns the Citadel station overseen by SHODAN, promises to drop all charges against you after you are caught hacking their network. He also sweetens the deal by offering you off-the-shelf modifications, which you greedily accept.
Six months pass in a medical coma, and you come to. Instead of a smooth-running space station, you wake up in a world gone to hell. SHODAN, now free of its shackles, has taken over the whole station, turning humans into mutants and cyborgs who have hunted down all the remaining crew and TriOptimum troops. After you are contacted by a TriOptimum consultant, you learn that SHODAN is aiming to use the powerful mining laser of Citadel's to launch an attack towards Earth. It's up to you to prevent that.
Things turn even harder after you learn of the virus that SHODAN has cooked up. If this were to be released on Earth as planned, even more destruction would follow, so that needs to be taken care of as well. Not to mention SHODAN's attempts to upload itself into Earth's defence systems.
I played the original once in the 90s and have tried playing it a couple of times since then. Perhaps I had more tolerance for its gameplay back then, as I've always given up relatively quickly with it. Despite being interesting, it just doesn't play nice as far as controls go, and the cyberspace segments are even worse.
The original was built upon an improved Ultima Underworld engine, but it never felt as fun to play as either of the UW games. So, after Nightdive announced they were going to remake System Shock, I was cautiously optimistic. Surely, if System Shock was brought closer to modern standards when it comes to controls, the game would be easier to enjoy. I'm happy to say I was right about that. Also, Nightdive didn't fumble the ball here like they did with Blade Runner Remaster.
First things first: Despite using some nice pixelated textures that mirror the style of the original game, System Shock is a full-scale remake, using UE4 as its engine. It controls and plays like a modern game, both in the Citadel levels and in cyberspace. It's still a relatively challenging game, but now the challenge comes from the game itself, not from how it controls and plays.
As far as I can remember from the original game, the level design seems almost 1:1 in the remake. There are some differences, but at least in terms of layouts and design, it's close enough for me. The enemies have been nicely brought into higher detail, now in real 3D models instead of the low-resolution pre-rendered paper dolls used by the original.
Everything else has gotten a facelift as well. I believe all the voice acting has been re-recorded. I can't really say if they used mostly new actors, but Terri Brosius, who originally provided the voice for SHODAN, is providing her voice yet again, which is great as SHODAN really was one of the first truly great voiced game villains, if you ask me. Her utter contempt for the pathetic creatures of flesh and bone that created her has always been fantastic and continues to be fantastic here. A new god who knows her worth.
Another interesting addition is the possibility to choose between a male or female hacker. That doesn't really affect the gameplay itself. It's mainly a visual change: The female hacker has some nail polish, and some of the in-game cinematics, where the character is shown, now have a female character instead. And that's that, really.
To finally get to SHODAN, you need to go through 10 levels of varying difficulty. The harder locations also deal with environmental damage in the form of either radiation or biological waste. You battle this with all kinds of medications as well as environmental suits you find at some point. The weapons list is quite extensive, ranging from melee weapons to plasma rifles and explosives. You have all the tools to mow down the hordes of SHODAN, who patrol the corridors to protect their demented mother.
There are some new weapons in the remake that didn't exist in the original game, like the laser rapier, which is quite an effective melee weapon. Also, not all of the weapons from the original are in the remake, but the array is still more than serviceable, and considering the limited inventory space, you never manage to carry that many with you anyway. You really need to choose carefully between the impact and how much ammunition you have at any given time.
System Shock is at times described as an immersive sim, but it's not really. It does have the DNA of an immersive sim in it, but it has always been more of an action game. It also has some very slight RPG elements in it, but you don't level up your character; you just find some additional equipment that enhances your skills, like allowing you to jump higher or using some of your energy to create a shield around you. So if you were wondering what genre System Shock is, I'd say it's an action game more than anything else.
If you've never played System Shock, this is the best way to experience it. It removes some of the annoyances I had with the original game and makes even the cyberspace segments more fun to play. As of now, System Shock is available for Windows machines, but it should be released for consoles as well at some point.
You can get System Shock from most digital outlets. The original is sold as well, so if the idea of the remake doesn't fancy you, there's always the option to go old school. Here's a GOG and Steam listing for it. It has my recommendation.
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