System Shock was a revelation. When it launched in 1994, not solely was it a groundbreaking, first-of-its-kind immersive sim that instructed an unsettling story in a basic horror setting, however its influences are nonetheless being felt 30 years later. With a remake of the unique, Nightdive Studios has faithfully introduced a timeless basic into the trendy ecosystem, and now it has lastly hit consoles as effectively. A direct port of final 12 months’s PC launch, this remake proves why System Shock was as essential and highly effective because it was. Its showdown in opposition to the malevolent AI SHODAN is simply as pertinent at present because it was a long time in the past, and the Citadel area station is as intricately designed as any recreation I’ve performed in 2024, remake or in any other case. It retains a number of the awkward from the unique, like in its melee fight and issue spikes, however System Shock stays one of many extra essential video games ever launched, and it’s a fairly nice expertise by itself deserves, too.
Set in 2072 aboard the Citadel area station, System Shock’s premise feels acquainted at present. You’re a anonymous hacker making an attempt to breach the shady TriOptimum Company who out of the blue will get despatched to and trapped contained in the Citadel. You shortly come to search out out that the ship is helmed by a proprietary AI named SHODAN, and your first activity is to take away the moral guards inside SHODAN’s code. For causes seemingly much more comprehensible at present than when this recreation first launched, this plan goes awry, and SHODAN quickly activates you and human civilization, forcing you to attempt to cease SHODAN and get off the ship.
“It retains a number of the awkward from the unique, like in its melee fight and issue spikes, however System Shock stays one of many extra essential video games ever launched, and it’s a fairly nice expertise by itself deserves, too.”
That’s about as a lot as the sport offers you immediately, because it’s far more desirous about letting you discover out the main points of the ship and its residents by yourself by exploration. This is among the recreation’s strongest facets, and it’s the explanation System Shock was so influential to video games like Half-Life and Prey. Whereas you’ll run into the occasional cutscene or scripted sequence, the vast majority of the storytelling is completed by audio logs, messages, and environmental storytelling, they usually do an exceptional job at setting a transparent, ominous tone all through. Audio logs regularly lie subsequent to lifeless our bodies and clarify how that particular person met their destiny, whereas the environments paint a constant horrifying image of a spaceship designed by class warfare and overrun by greed and humanoid monsters.
It’s this exploration that takes up the vast majority of your time in System Shock, and whereas my full playthrough took about 15 hours to finish, it simply may have doubled that if I had been much more thorough. It is because the ship is completely monumental and teeming with element. Throughout 10 primary flooring and some aspect areas, each single space you expertise has an virtually overwhelming variety of locked doorways, crawlspaces, and branching paths, although they’re not at all times probably the most intuitively laid-out areas. Just like the video games that drew inspiration from System Shock, in addition to different immersive sims, there are key playing cards, switches, and codes hidden round every part which might be essential and typically essential to open new pathways elsewhere, unlocking something from rooms containing new weapons to necessary new areas. It’s among the many extra rewarding experiences right here to discover an space totally and discover a key that unlocks a piece in a totally separate space.
You’ll should do a variety of backtracking and looking round, too, as a result of System Shock isn’t precisely beneficiant with its route. There aren’t any goal markers, no methods to make notes on the mini-map, and only a few direct references even to the subsequent step on the crucial path. That’s all to funnel you towards the true aim of liberating the area station fully. You possibly can beat the sport with a certain quantity nonetheless left to do, however to see all the things, you’ll must meticulously kill each robotic, destroy each digicam and CPU node, and cease the creation of enemies on every ground.
“Traversing the environments holds up in addition to something in System Shock, however the recreation does present its age elsewhere, significantly in fight.”
Traversing the environments holds up in addition to something in System Shock, however the recreation does present its age elsewhere, significantly in fight. The unique recreation was troublesome, and the remake holds true to that. It may be infuriatingly troublesome in the event you’re not ready, as you may go up in opposition to teams of charging humanoids or aggressive safety bots, all of whose solely aim is to make sure your demise. It may be rewarding once you lastly overcome a difficult space, but it surely simply as shortly can devolve into discovering methods to cheese a battle to your benefit relatively than face it head on. It’s additionally damage by difficult respawn programs, which might regularly ship you to different flooring once you come again to life. The Citadel is so intricately and tightly laid out that backtracking often doesn’t take too lengthy, however it may get irritating to listen to the elevator music time after time on the way in which again to the identical battle.
Fight can also be a bit underwhelming as a result of it feels so true to the unique, for higher and for worse. Melee fight feels ethereal, such as you’re swinging at air and watching performers collapse spectacularly, and aiming with weapons will be only a bit imprecise. Mix that with the power system, which operates like a stamina bar however needs to be recharged at particular stations, and you may have moments the place you are feeling like a badass mowing down enemies with an power rapier shortly flip into backpedaling and hoping for the perfect when you frantically seek for a recharge or one other ammo pack. Our on-line world terminals, too, can really feel nice at factors however inconsistent, as your ship is a bit too gradual to cope with a number of the vital issue spikes, particularly given the shortage of any option to improve or enhance your ship.
With a remake, there are additionally sure high quality of life enhancements that come as wanted updates for the trendy period, although Nightdive may have gone a bit additional in bringing a basic ahead. The visuals are largely attractive, because the graphics have been totally overhauled and meet at present’s requirements. Every ground has a uniquely ominous really feel, pedaled by harsh neon lighting and distinct spaceship textures. Every new space is a pleasant visible shock, particularly in some later-game areas that take you to thoroughly new locations. Controls and stock administration, although, really feel like extra of a trouble than they need to, particularly on console. The controls themselves on console are straightforward to grasp, largely up to date to match the traditions of newer immersive sims, however utilizing the D-pad to scroll by your stock bar actually makes for some straightforward errors in high-leverage moments.
“Whereas there have been numerous immersive sims within the wake of System Shock, Nightdive Studios’ remake of the 30-year-old basic proves why it was so influential within the first place.”
Whereas there have been numerous immersive sims within the wake of System Shock, Nightdive Studios’ remake of the 30-year-old basic proves why it was so influential within the first place. With an more and more related and terrifying story, together with an iconic villain in SHODAN, System Shock laid the muse for the way this kind of story will be instructed. It has a number of the finest environmental storytelling and complex stage design in any recreation no matter setting or when it was launched, and it parlays that completely with a curiosity to study extra and a motivation to avoid wasting humanity from a malevolent AI. It nonetheless carries a few of its age in its stock administration and unabashed issue, however its affect is obvious and plain. Whereas there have been numerous video games benefitting from its affect, System Shock is a basic for a motive, and Nightdive Studios has accomplished a stupendous job at updating it for the trendy day and making it accessible to anybody curious concerning the historical past of the style or certainly one of its most essential video games of all time.
This recreation was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.
