System Shock Review

The original System Shock first released way back in 1994 for PC. The game was overal positively received and managed to sell 170K copies; sure not a big number, but just enough to keep the studio afloat and greenlit a sequel in 1999, System Shock 2. Little known fact, Bioshock and Prey (2017) are spiritual successors to the 1994 original and 1999 sequel. Fast forward 25 years later, NightDive Studios released their remake. Let’s see how it holds up.

Set in the year 2072, System Shock tells the story of SHODAN: a psychotic AI who has taken control of Citadel Station and turned the crew into a deadly army of mutants and cyborgs. Now that she has the control of the Citadel, SHODAN is looking at Earth for its next target. It’s up to you, a nameless security hacker, to explore the Citadel Station in order to stop SHODAN and her plans to take over the civilians of Earth.

System Shock is a first person shooter where players will be able to use a handful of weaponry such as steel pipes or guns to survive the various enemies, humans or electronic, that operate under SHODAN, and wanting to put an end to you. You’ll need to navigate through the maze like citadel. As with most 90s shooters, you’ll need to find keys to open specific doors in order to progress through.

And yes, 90s game means no handholding. At all. Meaning you need to pay attention to every detail and conversation in order to figure out where to go next and what to do. If you missed a detail, didn’t pay attention for a second or haven’t played this game in a while, you’ll be puzzled as to what to do.

Combat is fine; nothing really wrong here. Melee weapon attacks feels responsive whereas using firearms works as it’s supposed to, but you do feel the “archaic-ism” in the gameplay and controls. At the bottom of the screen, you have a useful quick selection items; whether it be weapons or consumables. But it’s a bit clunky as you have to move from left to right with the d-pad to try and reach quickly the item you need.

As they say NightDive don’t miss. System Shock is another project that they masterfully updated for today’s standards. While the core of the visual remains the same, as this is a remaster, not a remake, they did a great job polishing it and bringing it up to date. Although it comes with its pitfall as every room looks the same and it’s easy to get lost and go around in circles. The score is a moody, ambient theme that creates a tense atmosphere; giving you the feeling of never knowing what’s coming around the corner.

Despite NightDive Studios’ bang up job on the overall package, the gameplay remains the same and due to the age of the original game, it’s quite archaic by today’s standards. As with most 90s games, System Shock is where the f*ck do I go kind of game. Trying to find your way (or during backtracking) can be confusing as most of the environments look the same. The item management is also one of the worst I’ve seen; and for whatever reason, you can pick up almost anything wasting precious space in your inventory.

System Shock is another remastered hit from NightDive Studios. They did an overall great job bringing back this classic from the dead. While they did an impressive job in terms of visuals and presentation, unfortunately, under the hood, i.e. the core gameplay, is still incredibly archaic and might put off the Call of Duty crowds. If you can tolerate the confusing navigation and lack of handholding, System Shock is an enjoyable experience. However, if you enjoy a more streamlined experience, System Shock might irritate you more than anything else.