Recommended by Lead as part of this list.

Gaming, like any other artistic medium, has its fair share of touchstone titles, its genre-defining Rosetta Stones that future games in the medium would pull their inspiration and influence from. While there's the obvious ones like Super Mario 64 for the 3D Platformer, or Devil May Cry for the Character Action Game, there's a good chance that if you've played any sci-fi horror game in the past 20 years, you can probably thank System Shock 2 for it's existence in some way. From the immersive sci-fi body horror of Dead Space, to the antagonistic GLaDOS from Portal, to the... Everything of Bioshock, there's a veritable web of connective threads and inspiration that can be weaved from near everything that this initial commercial flop of an immersive sim was pushing back in '99, and having finally played this game hot ("lukewarm" at best) off the heels of a Dead Space playthrough is a piece of serendipity that really helped put System Shock 2's massive influence into perspective as I journeyed through the halls of the Von Braun.

In a word, System Shock 2 is "tense." The Von Braun is this utterly immense location that's filled to the brim with murderous body horror alien beasts and not much else, where everything is an eternal postmortem that's told through the environment and the audio logs you find scattered amongst corpses. The dynamic stereo sound of The Many's minions growing in volume in your left earbud is the only warning you're going to get before a Hybrid with a shotgun runs down the hall to blast your face clean off, and never once over my entire playthrough did it fail to make me clam up with paranoia. The RPG elements and the relative stinginess of experience points mean that every point spent on a stat feels like a tradeoff of some kind, and you always feel lacking in some area even in the end-game (that damn hacking mini-game was going to be the end of me!) Even when I was armed to the teeth with a small armory in my back pocket; and the existence of a currency system alongside generous item vendors around every corner, System Shock 2 still makes you feel like every item counts when your gun jams during a vital encounter, or when you only ever find maybe 6 handgun bullets at a time on every 3rd corpse you stumble upon and scoring a single Medical Hypo is like hitting the jackpot.

While the pseudo-survival horror elements at play give System Shock 2 a lot of tension, it's also nicely counterbalanced by its presentation. Much like Dead Space would imitate years later, a lot of System Shock 2's gameplay elements are made to be diegetic, with level up stations being actual technology in the year 2114, alongside things like the currency being nanomachines that create the items you buy, or your first-person UI being a part of the cybernetic enhancements you've been augmented with. The cold, sleek sci-fi look of everything and the sharp, low-poly corners of the Von Braun make the ship feel unwelcoming and isolating in that sort of uncanny way, and getting jumpscared by 90s Breakcore while I was wandering the halls of MedSci and bashing a Hybrid over the head with a wrench was definitely a trip to say the least. Much has been said about gaming's premier cyber-MILF SHODAN, but it can't be understated how much charm the shaky, antagonistic dynamic between her and the player really adds to the experience. Having the main villain of the first game fall from grace and get betrayed by her own creations in a case of dramatic irony and getting forced into teeth-clenched teamwork with the human protagonist is an honestly genius maneuver, and the inherent humor of completing a mission only to get called a "pathetic insect" by the sentient Speak-N-Spell with a dominatrix streak never got old, and it's part in parcel of what gives System Shock 2 its unique, somewhat pulp-y identity that still stands out today.

Considering that much like our main character, I'm way late to the party in terms of playing System Shock 2 so many years after its ground-breaking release, I'm not really saying anything you haven't heard before, and that's always that case when you go through a game that frequently populates many "Greatest of All Time" lists. What I can at least say is that it is indeed, Pretty Good, and even if that's not exactly a ground-breaking revelation, I firmly believe that there's always value in rounding out your gaming experience with these sort of hallmark cultural touchstones. Happy holidays everyone!

System Shock 2 is a bit of an odd one to me. It was originally known as Junction Point and was co-developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios with the intention of making a game inspired by the original System Shock. However, after pitching the game to EA (who held the rights to the original game), it evolved into a direct sequel. In a lot of ways, System Shock 2 feels like a very different game. It's in full 3D, it is much more narrative driven, it's mechanically straight-forward and its systems are well understood without needing to pull up a 500 page manual... But it also has SHODAN, and she thinks I'm an insect and I want her to push me down and laugh at me and take control of my finances.

There's very little of System Shock 2 that feels like the original game to me outside of its narrative connections. The events at Citadel Station have become well known, but very little in this universe has changed to prevent another similar incident from taking place. The garden grove you ejected from the station in the last game has been recovered, along with a portion of SHODAN that still remained in that sector's network. More troubling, however, is the fact that SHODAN's experiments in the garden have now grown beyond her control, and she needs your help to restore order. You're essentially caught between her and The Many, a hivemind seeking to "improve" mankind through assimilation (see: body horror.) Reframing SHODAN as a quest giver is an interesting move, one that doesn't rob her of any menace as you know you'll need to deal with her once you've eliminated The Many. There's a certain anxiety that sweeps over you every time she modifies your body in some way, like you're giving up parts of yourself to her in order to stop a legitimate threat, knowing that doing so may be turning you into less of a vector for her will and more into an avatar... Unfortunately, the game doesn't really do a whole lot with that, and the ending is ultimately the weakest part of the whole experience.

You fight a whole lot of monkeys in this game, and these aren't cute monkeys, they're like them damn monkeys from the Wizard From Oz, only they ain't got no wings and they smells bad. You wanna talk about anxiety that does have a payoff, every time you hear them screeching down a dark hallway you just know you're going to have to bash their brains in before they can batter you with psychic orbs. System Shock 2 does a pretty admirable job of balancing genuine horror with comedy, though I do think it lacks that brutal spark that makes the original so effective. In the first System Shock you're essentially traveling through SHODAN's body, the labyrinth is the enemy. Every door you open, every turret you disable, is damage that's being dealt directly to them. You're taking something from her, you're hurting her. System Shock 2 is less about being a virus beset from all sides with antibodies so much as you're SHODAN's glorified exterminator, attempting to eradicate The Many's infestation. Sure, The Many does have control over XERXES, the AI running the Von Braun, but you never really feel the same level of tension as you did in Citadel Station.

The game makes up for this by being a lot more mechanically engaging, at least. You can spec your character early on into one of three classes: ranged, melee, or space wizard. I focused my build around firearms because I'm boring, but you can do some interesting stuff with psionics and that's probably the better way to play the game. Even if you've never played System Shock 2, odds are you've played a game so mechanically similar to it that you already know what to expect. This helped established the "-Shock" subgenre of shooters, after all, which you no doubt were already aware of.

System Shock 2 is a solid game. I think a little of the spirit of the first Shock kinda got lost in the intervening five years, but it's a great follow up that has left an indelible mark on gaming. SHODAN and The Many also make for some great dueling villains, even if The Many might have the advantage of having a small army of monkeys. See, people think The Many has power because it got the monkeys. Nope. It got the power cause it'll let the monkeys loose...

One of my favorite games of all time, a hugely influential game for the medium going forward. I love it a lot, even if there's certainly a few issues, they're brief issues though. The final two levels and the ending are clearly made during a rushed time period. They blow by pretty fast but they're still pretty annoying. Take the very final level for example. One of the most notorious and annoying parts of any immersive sim just ever.

Regardless, a great game. Sucks how (literally) watered down the Shock games got past this one.

In designing System Shock and Thief: The Dark Project, Looking Glass Studios aimed to achieve a "role-playing" experience that was quite different from videogames that drew their mechanics directly from tabletop RPGs. A key insight was that much of the arithmetic that in a tabletop environment might burden players and DMs alike could, in a digital environment, be handled more or less exclusively by the computer. A certain minimum of numerical awareness on the player's part is still necessary (health, ammo, etc), but there is simply no need for the usual RPG rube goldberg machine of having to do things to cause some numbers to go up to get some other numbers to go up in order to get the numbers you actually want to go up to go up.... Far more elegant approaches to player progression are now possible, and what Looking Glass achieved with System Shock—progression based on collecting equipment and suit upgrades—converges onto territory analogous to what Jeremy Parish charts in the transition from the console action-RPG to the metroidvania.

True, SS2's leveling system (by another name) is not exactly the sadly familiar contraption described above, but there is still a diegetically nonsensical experience currency that muddies the intuition driving the equipment-based elegance of SS1. True, grinding is not possible, but like all RPGs even with grinding, the whole system progressively locks the player out of options as the game advances, which by a sleight of hand is disguised as "choice." It is expressive enough that I may choose which weapons to fill my limited inventory space with, attending to the limitations imposed by the available resources (ammo, energy, etc), without forcing me to put points into a skill tree to use them effectively, or at all.

I'm admittedly being perverse in framing the benefit of such systems as a disadvantage when it's really a tradeoff: these systems allow for distinct paths of player character growth which, to be meaningful, must be mutually exclusive. That's nice. I prefer it the other way. ¯\(ツ)/¯

'System Shock 2' is a rare experience, and one worth savouring. it's a game known as a revered classic which plays a hugely influential role in the history of the medium, but also one that people struggle to finish, and after multiple playthroughs that latter sentiment is simply mystifying to me. The experience of playing this game is nothing short of excellent, with expert pacing, variety, and intuitive design throughout.

The game starts without pretensions, a brief recap of it's predecessor and then boom, you get to playing straight away. This begins a confident stride to the experience, the character creation is given cute narrative texture, but doesn't overstay its welcome—cough cough 'Fallout 3.' You're placed on board the Von Braun star-ship within minutes, where you'll spend the rest of your time. The ship has six levels, all distinct and layered, which open up to you gradually, and this is where 'Shock 2' gets to show off on the front of living up to it's prestige as an 'immersive sim classic.' While successors such as Ion Storm's 'Deus Ex' and Arkane's recent 2017 love letter 'Prey' may have surpassed it in terms of the width in their usage of similar emergent gameplay techniques, the Von Braun still has some quality RPG gaming on hand here. The systems at work in terms of buildcrafting make a difference in play-style have a substantial impact on how one proceeds through the game, and 'System Shock 2' still finds some ways to reward creative problem solving or digressions, even in it's first moments. It's the immediacy of these potential variations that makes 'Shock 2' remain a competitor in it's field after all the years.

If there's anything that may get in the way of some engaging with these things, it will be the game's sense of difficulty. 'System Shock 2' is steeped in the attitudes of it's era, unflinching depth through consequence and cost. You can save at any time and use that to your advantage in tough areas, but save-scumming will seldom protect you from the high pressure resource management, and it will only cut the time spent on a challenge down, it doesn't make combat explicitly easier or less costly. There's an insidious tension to 'Shock 2' that you don't find in other titles—even ones of it's time—that comes from the fact that essentially every action you take will have a price to it. Limited supply of cyber-modules for leveling, sturdy nanite costs for upgrades and items, as well as steadfast weapon degradation and hard-pressed ammunition all work together to send a clear message; this is not a first person shooter. This is a survival horror immersive sim. Someone who lacks experience or literacy in these fields will likely be turned off by it's unflinching and sometimes cruel direction in these areas, which is why it is worthy to warn that if you are one of these people, 'System Shock 2' will require a shift in attitude and a willingness to leave ones comfort zone.

Discomfort is the word of the day with this RPG, as the aforementioned tension in mechanics and systems dance with the game's oppressive tone. Despite holding the 'horror' label with pride, 'Shock 2' isn't constantly trying to scare you, there are several parts where you engaging in 'cooool' tactical combat against mutant monsters with late 90s IDM jamming in the background, which makes the game feel far more at home in the 'science-fiction action RPG' suite. But then there's all the other parts. A lot of people think keeping the game's music on is a mistake, since it can be responsible for the more chaotic atmosphere the previously mentioned combat sequences occasionally exist in, but what these people forget is that this is not the bulk of the game. When the electronic bangers quiet down, when the eerie ambient tracks build up, when you're sneaking through the cold ship, peeking around every corner for fear of enemies or security cameras; this is where the true horror of 'System Shock 2' gets to rear it's head. The underlying dread, the awareness of your own isolation creeping up on you, the brief gazes out into the endless black through the star-ship windows as you remember that you are truly alone, and no one is coming to save you. The layout of areas features stomach churning juxtaposition, with clean, sanitary corporate halls, untouched by the alien infestation, only for the next door down to be stricken with gore and gunk. Truly the TriOptimum way! The sickening body horror present in the creatures coming to get you subsumes their ageing polygon count, all of this uplifted by some of the best sound design in any game ever created.

The quivering call of a tortured cyborg nurse searching for you as you've hidden behind a table, croaking "come out, c-come out" or the inhuman technical garble of a lumbering Triop machine stomping in your direction, the unsettling ambient tracks are only broken by more fearful sounds like these. It is well known that this is a game where you will hear your enemies well before you see them, and this creates an almost necessary sonic reliance for the player, which does a lot to immerse them in the setting. The voice acting is really the only remotely inconsistent part in terms of 'quality.' To be blunt, yeah, some of the audio logs sound like they were voiced by random people off the street. It adds to the 90s charm of the game but it can stick out pretty badly to some people, because there are certain vocal performances which are nothing short of astounding. Terri Brosius' work as SHODAN is the most iconic for good reason, but special mention must be given to Ian Vogel as Korenchkin and Esra Gaffin as Dr Polito. Many roles were cleverly double cast, but the latter mentioned in my praise lent her voice as well to the communications of The Many, accompanying Stephen Russell to work together in creating a truly terrifying sound for the cosmic biomass.

The plot of 'System Shock 2' on paper doesn't sound too conceptually complex, which may as well be the case but that isn't a criticism. The only major flaw I think is worth bringing up on the front of storytelling would be that much like the similarly titled 'spiritual successor', Bioshock, it has a painfully obvious twist. Still, the lack of obfuscation for this turn doesn't take too much away from the overcoat of mystery the game wears, and this unsettling atmosphere and manner of which you uncover it means the narrative can remain compelling even if not thrilling on paper. Because that's the thing, this isn't paper, this is a video game. And one that knows how to leverage the mediums strengths, no less! The senses of immersion, discovery and involvement are forced upon you by how the player must engage with the Von Braun itself simply to survive. You cannot talk about why the storytelling experience of 'System Shock 2' is excellent separate from it's gameplay because you cannot separate the experience itself. They are one in the same, and that is the hallmark of a truly excellent video game.

I've now played through this game more times than I've played through most, it is a reminder for what I love so dearly about this medium, and if anything I've written here has felt inspiring in any capacity then I implore you to give this classic a spin. Only 'Deus Ex', 'Thief II: The Metal Age' and 'Prey (2017)' have either matched or surpassed it in depth of gameplay since. These games are few and far between, so savour them. If you can make it out of Med/Sci, then you can make it to the end. My only wish is that co-op wasn't a load of hot sticky bollocks, but hey fairs fair, its a bonus of the steam version and I can imagine it would have been hotter and stickier bollocks to implement to begin with. Regardless, this is one of my favourite games of all time and I can't recommend it enough!

This review is based on experience with the PC version of the game using a mouse and keyboard, as well as a first playthough which was unmodded and subsequent playthroughs using SS2Tool, SS2 Community Patch and SS2 SHTUP-ND, all of which can be found here: https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=4141.0 https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=7116.0 https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=22.0

This is a repost of my steam review which can be found here: https://steamcommunity.com/id/lneacagt/recommended/238210/

I would never be a simp.

"Insect."

At your service my queen

Perfect in almost every regard besides art direction. This isn't really an issue with low polygon counts or whatever like some have; it's an aesthetic critique. The first System Shock, not in spite of but because of its deliberately vomitous particolored visuals and midi spam soundtrack feels just as alien and worthy of its titling as it did nearly twenty-five years ago. SS2's desaturated hues may be easier palatable for advertisement and player retention purposes, but it loses the original's utterly sublime sense of estrangement. Like entering the Overworld in Silent Hill, or unlocking a new area in Resident Evil. The experience of something horrifically new and entrancing we so crave that only great art offers. Amazing game with the main trouble of being a sequel to one of the finest renderings of transhuman anxieties and 90s cyberpunk telos ever made.

Man, I miss the future.

If you get it, you get it. This is a game that rewards patience, for better or for worse, with an enormous level of mechanical depth on offer, if you're willing to get used to the jank.

Not all builds are created equal, and depending on your play style you can be in for a brutal time. This, I would argue, is somewhat refreshing. There is no wrong way to play the game, but there are easier or more difficult ways. Some people equivocate "easy" with "correct." You can't really have that mindset and enjoy this game.

The atmosphere can be truly crushing at times. Games with this level of horror are few and far between, and the mechanics only amplify your anxiety. There was one point on the first deck, where I was stuck in the dark, surrounded by drones and storage boxes, with nothing but my wrench and a couple bullets left, and the ambient noises of the environment in my ears... the way I felt at that moment is hard to describe. I was absolutely glued to this game. I couldn't even tell you why I was so engrossed. I guess it was just the right thing at the right time.

There is debate on whether to keep the music on. I say, if you want horror, turn it off. If you want more action, leave it on. The choice is yours, after-all. Me, I turned it off for my first playthrough. For first-person games, I tend to prefer my sound to be more diegetic, and System Shock 2 has some of the best sound design I’ve ever experienced.

Not everyone will like this game. The barrier for entry is high. It’s classically unforgiving and truly brutal in certain sections. I’ve died in one hit from the first enemy in the game countless times. The models are old. If limited fidelity bothers you, it will impact your experience. The missions can be confusing. It throws around terms like “Fluidic Tunnels,” “Port Nacelle,” and “Viral Proliferator” at you. Almost all the character models are the same. Enemies respawn, preventing you from ever really clearing a level. Weapons degrade, forcing you to hunt around for new ones, or spend valuable EXP learning to repair/maintain them. I love all of these things.

Is there a secret to enjoying System Shock 2? I’m not sure. If you are receptive, and patient (such as willing to restart if you realize your build has gone totally south), then I would say you have a pretty good chance of enjoying the game. The more immersed you can get, the better it will feel, and hopefully your time aboard the Von Braun will leave a lasting impact on what you thought was possible from gaming as a medium.

“system shock 2” (1998) é considerado um marco entre rpgs e immersive sims, as vezes competindo com deus ex como o melhor de todos os tempos. por conta disso, comecei esse jogo em paz com a ideia que ele seria bem diferente do primeiro system shock, que tinha se tornado um dos meus jogos favoritos. eu dei uma chance pra uma experiência nova que não ia ter muito do que eu gostava no primeiro jogo, como os controles que realmente me faziam sentir como uma ciborgue cheia de modificações cibernéticas. no final das contas o design de system shock 2 é MUITO sólido. eu gosto muito do sistema de pesquisa, que me forneceu alguns dos poucos momentos onde eu quis voltar pra andares anteriores atrás de recursos. eu gostei de fazer meu personagem ser um cientista hacker esquisito que utiliza dos conhecimentos dele pra usar armas exóticas e curar seus ferimentos quando come minhocas do chão. os cinco primeiros andares do von braun, a nave na qual o jogo se passa, são bem engajantes de se explorar. mas sendo completamente honesta, tudo a partir da segunda metade do jogo vai gradativamente caindo em qualidade, ao ponto que eu só continuei até o final para ver como que um confronto com a SHODAN seria aqui. narrativamente, system shock 1 terminou de uma maneira tão satisfatória mesmo com seu final anticlimático, ao ponto de me fazer querer jogar ele tudo de novo, enquanto system shock 2 me cansou faltando umas 10 horas para acabar. se eu não tivesse começado a colocar pontos em armas exóticas na reta final do jogo eu teria me divertido ainda menos.

e eu acho uma pena. eu queria que ele tivesse um efeito similar à minha primeira vez jogando deus ex. muito da escrita é engajante: as gravações que você encontra espalhadas contam suas próprias histórias interessantes, eu gosto que o antagonista principal é uma inteligência artificial com falhas deliberadas especificamente pela empresa responsável não querer que algo similar aos eventos do primeiro jogo ocorram, e a SHODAN tem ótimas falas derrogatórias direcionadas a mim, o que é sempre bom. eu acho que ela tinha que me diminuir mais.

eu gosto muito que no primeiro jogo a SHODAN não é apenas uma personagem interessante e bem escrita, que casualmente te coloca em situações mortais por não te ver como nada além de um inseto. ela também utiliza seu controle do lugar que você habita para agir como uma ótima designer de dungeon crawlers, daquele tipo que sabe exatamente o momento certo para colocar uma armadilha para pegar seus jogadores desprevenidos. isso tem a vantagem de gerar uma relação interessante e quase direta entre ela e a pessoa jogando. system shock 2 perde um pouco disso pelas razões narrativas que justificam a falta de controle da SHODAN, o que é compreensível, mas acaba diminuindo ela como personagem. no primeiro jogo ela faz um elogio sarcástico para um salto impressionante que você fez em direção à uma armadilha particularmente cruel plantada por ela. ela ameaça e cumpre. em system shock 2 ela pede para você pegar algo pra ela e quando você pega ela fala que vai te matar vai te destruir, etc. etc. aí ela te dá módulos para fazer upgrades e aí depois fica quieta por meia hora até essa exata situação acontecer novamente. não tem muito como culpar os desenvolvedores de narrativa, mas considerando o quanto que esse jogo se delicia na imagem da SHODAN, colocando ela na capa e dando à ela a primeira fala do jogo (ainda mais quando se considera que a presença dela nessa nave é tecnicamente um twist), é um tanto decepcionante a maneira que o impacto dela é reduzido.

me decepcionei um tanto com ele, mas está longe de ser um jogo ruim. eu só gosto mais do primeiro. e de deus ex.

Beaten: Sep 18 2021
Time: 11ish Hours
Platform: Mac (via Crossover)

Well, it's the big bad classic, not the first immersive sim, but probably the game most responsible for the genre's continued success. I tried to play it years ago but found it too obtuse, but I finally got through it this time and... well surprise surprise it's pretty good. Not the amazing game I was hoping for, but a good exploration of what the first System Shock introduced, but couldn't completely follow through on.

If you've played any other immersive sim, you pretty much know what you're in for here. That's not a bad thing, most of that stuff got fully defined here for the first time. It's original here, though it's not at it's best. The security cameras definitely spot you, and send enemies after you, but the ai on the enemies isn't quiiiite responsive enough to make it actually feel like you need to be stealthy, or that it's even an option. Basically, destroy the cameras if you see them. Hacking them only disables them for 2 minutes, and the hacking minigame uh kinda sucks (as most hacking minigames do lol). You'll be hacking/repairing/modifying a looooot too, so you'll wanna boost those skills to make that minigame suck less. This is all pretty standard for these games, just a little less thought out here?

Broadly, if you play it like Bioshock you'll have a good time. It's not a stealth game like Thief or Dishonored, it's Bioshock, but scavenging and real difficulty. A bit too much imo, even on easy I needed to spawn in some ammunition to deal with one of the final bosses, and ended up using quicksaves constantly instead of the in game respawn system. It's a tough as nails game in that 90s way, where easy isn't actually easy as much as it's actually doable on your first try.

Anyways, the level design is pretty great. Occasionally something will pop up in somewhere you've been without telling you, or the game will be too dark to see anything, but besides that it's a set of levels where you'll be crossing back and forth as you get new instructions, and the map is just clear enough to be interesting to navigate. Traversal is fun, combat is fun, as you have to keep switching weapons or repairing them on the fly, and finding new items as you go is fun as hell, without becoming a looter shooter.

It's definitely pretty clunky and under/over-designed in places (why are upgrade stations split apart? what does that add to the experience? also that menu design is something) but once you get into it, it reaps boundless rewards. It's just barely smooth enough and fun as hell.
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As most people with more than a passing interest in games have a vague idea of what System Shock 2 is, some may find it surprising to learn that it sold fewer than 60,000 copies on release. Even now, despite the fame it’s accrued in the years since, it’s still hard not to feel as if more people are aware of it than have given it a try themselves. There are several reasons I think this, but chief among them’s how exceedingly rarely you hear anyone talk about how cool it is that enemies’ melee attacks will stop mid-swing if a doorframe, wall or other object gets in their way.

This isn’t just fancy collision detection, but rather a microcosm of its design philosophy. “Immersive sim” is a term so often misconstrued that I don’t blame some people for thinking it’s not a real thing. It’s not just about having lots of ways to do one thing, or a first person perspective, or being able to manipulate objects and physics – it’s equally about taking a fictional world and making it behave as though it were real. It’s why System Shock 2 lets you create and climb on top of a psychokinetic barrier, then skip half the level with it with no arbitrary failure states or invisible walls incurred. It’s why your choices of how to circumvent an obstacle aren’t limited to the developers’ own imagination and how many scripted sequences of events they decided to implement that day, SHODAN dishing you out the same cybernetic goodie bag regardless of your methods. It’s why there’s not only no movement speed cap, but also why if you stack enough different speed buffs at the same time, you’ll die from running into a wall (yes, really). Small wonder that Looking Glass initially referred to this kind of game design as “immersive reality” instead.

Ultima Underworld and the first System Shock were so revolutionary in part because this style of design emphasised roleplaying via manipulation of systemic game mechanics rather than abstract numerical stats. Consequently, System Shock 2 leaning into standard RPG elements as it does may seem a step backwards, and it is definitively the root of some balance issues. If System Shock 1’s laser rapier is overpowered, System Shock 2’s assault rifle is forbidden by the Geneva Convention. PSI builds skew a bit towards the glass end of ‘glass cannon,’ while a select few PSI powers are so good they render certain O/S upgrades redundant. These problems can be safely handwaved for a few reasons: half the fun of a singleplayer RPG is breaking it anyhow, you generally need endgame levels of stat investment before you can equip the really silly stuff, and (most importantly) it enhances playstyle variety. Turn the game into Quake-lite by hopping yourself up on speed meds and enough grenades to glass the surface of Tau Ceti V, channel Thief and use the Dark Engine’s immaculate sound design to pinpoint enemies sonically as you scuttle around in the shadows, save precious resources by using your PSI wizard powers to trap gaming’s creepiest spiders in tight spaces instead of blasting them, or basically everything in between these extremes. You can imagine why Arkane’s Prey smacks you in the face with the words 'play your way' soon after starting.

Horror can feel diluted if you’re afforded too many options, so it’s all the more impressive that System Shock 2 manages to be so unnerving despite so much player freedom. The Many are repulsive from top to bottom, to the point that encountering humans controlled by parasitic worms sticking out of their chest and boring into their brain becomes a relief by the end of the game. A keen eye will notice human faces slowly dissipating into the aptly named rumbler’s skin, a raspy ”I’ll tear out your spine” is never far behind when the CLANG CLANG CLANGs of a cyborg midwife echo down the corridor and the squelching of annelids’ll never cease to make you involuntarily jolt in your chair. Never listen to anyone who claims that the soundtrack is out of place, because the Von Braun’s abundant club bangers are a necessary impetus in giving players the confidence to press on.

Our fair SHODAN serves a similar purpose story-wise, which is the primary reason for my aforementioned feeling that System Shock 2’s fame exceeds its playerbase. She’s universally recognised as one of the medium’s apex baddies, deservedly, but her characterisation in 2 isn’t as laser focused on trademark self-obsessed villainy as in the first game. Many of her most infamous monologues, her ”lo-lo-lo-look at you, hacker”s and “in my talons, I shape clay”s originate there, but even in those two links you’ll notice they’re associated with her render from 2. Compare her dialogue in 2 without context and you might be forgiven for thinking it’s Soldier G65434-2’s abusive girlfriend harassing him through dial-up.

This is more of an observation than an outright criticism. Thrusting SHODAN into a relatively powerless position as the player’s quasi-ally turned puppet master was a controversial decision amongst even the game’s devs, but it was probably the right move – there are only so many times you can directly go up against something that’s already been defeated once before it stops feeling threatening. In any case, Terri Brosius’ wonderfully delivered passive aggression’s always a pleasure to be subjected to and makes for a great contrast to the insane range demonstrated by Stephen Russell’s turn as our fleshy friends, a contrast bolstered by our nameless hero’s combination of man and machine. Who better than him to take down both extremes?

System Shock 2 itself strives to meet different extremes, which makes the fact that it never feels stretched thin that much more of a marvel. It’s a narratively rich, mechanically nonlinear horror-action RPG FPS complete with funky beats, inventory Tetris and smartly designed difficulties which force the player to fundamentally change their approach. Has anyone done it better? You already know the answer.

Genre-defining gameplay which has rarely been matched since, tense atmosphere created through expert sound design and music, level-design that is consistently interesting and believable, wonderful twists and turns as the game progresses... and an absolutely dreadful final cutscene which completely kills the tone all those other elements so brilliantly contributed to. Am I really gonna knock the game down half a star for that alone though?
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NAH

System Shock 2 has to be one of the richest games I've ever played. What does that mean? It means that in every single category, System Shock 2 excels at something. While the game isn't perfect by any means, it has easily rocketed to one of my favorite experiences. The game's design is so mechanically deep, with multiple different routes you can go down as a player. Soldier acts as a canvas for you to fully customize your playstyle, whether it be a combat expert who goes into every encounter guns blazing, a hacker who can manipulate security systems and turn turrets against their masters, to a psychic god who can manipulate their environment around them. Going for a weird mixture of all three, I found the game never limits you with the build you want to make, each one is equally viable. Even disregarding this, the game's mechanics contribute heavily to a highly immersive and most importantly - scary - atmosphere. There's nothing scarier than seeing a mutilated cyborg midwife bolting down a corridor only to have your pistol break on you when you try to fire. Very few games have given me that "holy shit oh god oh god" reaction on such a visceral level. Combat feels surprisingly good in this, thwacking hybrids with a wrench while sprinting at them feels fantastic and the gunplay has a surprising amount of oomph. What makes the game special among other things is the environmental exploration and how the level design feels entirely natural. Never once does the game ever feel like you're exploring levels, but rather lived-in environments that people used. This increases immersion tenfold and it's impressive how seamless everything feels, especially regarding backtracking. I will say that hunting for restoration bays doesn't feel nearly as nerve-wracking as they did in the first game, since they're usually immediately available to the player with a few exceptions.

The game isn't perfect, however, and that comes down to some of the weapon balance. Some of the weapons just aren't very good, such as the laser pistol, whose advantages of theoretically infinite ammo are outweighed by its small damage output even against mechanical foes. The laser rapier, a weapon that would burn fear into even the strongest of enemies in the original game, is significantly less effective in this one, with its high skill requirements betraying its general lack of usefulness. The hacking is also far inferior in this game. While not necessarily amazing in SS1 either, in SS2 it feels like random chance with little skill whether you succeed or not. It's not a massive problem since leveling up your hacking ability and using certain augmentations can make your chances better, but I would have preferred something with mechanics for me to learn and master, rather than just brute-forcing past them with stat upgrades. These are minor problems at the end of the day. System Shock 2 has to be one of the most mechanically satisfying games I've played in a long time.

System Shock has never been a franchise that prided itself on story, but rather its excellent worldbuilding. With the first game pioneering the now commonplace audio log, it only makes sense that the sequel would continue to improve upon that formula. Like the first game, SS2 primarily delivers its story content through these logs, following the lives of the members of the Von Braun before their inevitable demise at the hands of The Many. These accounts are detailed, well-acted, and even terrifying. You get to hear first-hand accounts of people in the process of transforming into lumbering hybrids, staff begging for their lives as their mutated boss blasts them into pulp, and the last survivor of the Hydroponics deck chronicling his observations while awaiting his eventual consumption within the body of the many. Such a richly detailed and dense world does not go to waste here, and the player even follows the same characters via these logs and even gets to see the results of the events described, such as finally watching two lovers escape on the Von Braun's last escape pod after hours of searching for one another. Every single item in the game, even a simple beaker, has a thorough explanation and worldbuilding, and small details like that help make System Shock 2 feel more alive. While I mentioned the series is typically somewhat light on a conventional scenario, the plot twist midway through the game is simply brilliant and I didn't see it coming at all. The ending is terrible and entirely atonal to the rest of the game, but it is simply the ending and doesn't prevent the rest from being taken seriously.

System Shock 2's visual presentation is a bit of a mixed bag, but it has some highlights. Looking Glass Studios' Dark Engine was a pretty antiquated beast even back then, and Irrational Games couldn't quite overcome its limitations. Even for 1999, the game's character models are truly horrendous, with games like 1998's Half-Life featuring much more lively and detailed models. Weapon models are beyond basic, featuring little detail, and are visibly more polygonal than other games. Environments flip-flop between being insanely detailed and a tad too basic, but when the game fires on all cylinders, it can far eclipse its contemporaries in this category. The pulsing masses of annelids on the walls and other animated textures are a nice touch for sure, but the lack of blood decals after combat does take away a slight bit of oomph from the combat. The game's sometimes lacking detail is made up for somewhat by Irrational's choice to target a somewhat comic book-esque art style, and the strong monster designs and environmental concepts do shine through. The midwives and hybrids that stalk you through the Von Braun are genuinely terrifying creatures, with intelligent use of body horror and sound design to evoke fear whenever they may appear. Even the robots are terrifying, mostly due to the danger they present to the player. The character portraits are somewhat variant in quality but generally add to this style.

System Shock 2's audio design is the stuff of gaming legend, primarily directed and music composed by Eris Broseus. Irrational put a lot of focus on this area of the game and it paid off - it's part of why the game is so scary. The game makes fantastic use of surround sound, and hearing a mumbling hybrid or psychic monkey far off in the distance while hacking a storage crate is frighteningly realistic. From the broken radio screams that midwives make when struck, to the hybrids' pleas for death, the game's gruesome palette is written by the audio. The soundtrack is often described as "unfitting of a horror game" but I couldn't disagree more. While the intense breakbeat fitting of a laser tag arena might seem unfitting, the high tempo of the music and pounding beats perfectly match the panic that the player experiences while being chased by the screaming hordes. Med Sci 1 and Hydro 1 are perfect breakbeat tracks, while still conveying tones of dread and panic. Even so, the game still has plenty of more conventionally scary ambient music, such as Hydro 2, which has a spaced-out ambiance that naturally fits the outer space setting of the game. It honestly makes me wish more game composers put more small rhythms into their ambient tracks rather than just drones, even if I still greatly appreciate good drone music. While I do miss the dynamic soundtrack of the first game, System Shock 2 has one of the best soundtracks in late 90s gaming, and Brosius and his team of composers deserve all of the praise for creating something both creative and terrifying.

System Shock 2 is often seen as a landmark title in the world of video games and I'm beyond happy to discover that those assessments are truthful. Its game mechanics, methods of storytelling, detailed worldbuilding, player freedom, art direction, audio design, and soundtrack are beyond worthy of praise and deservedly are the stuff of legends. Even if the game suffers from occasionally iffy weapon balancing, questionable hacking mechanics, and a thoroughly unsatisfying ending, these flaws feel almost negligible in comparison to the monolithic quality of the rest of the game. It's a worthy successor to the already outstanding original game.

In 1992 the company that would go on to become Looking Glass Studios created the beloved “good game” genre known as immersive simulations with the release of Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss and in a multitude of ways changed the medium forever. Seven years later an off-shoot company named Irrational Games made up of ex-Looking Glass staff who still used their former company’s office space would co-develop the game this review is posted for which nullifies any sort of build-up I had in my mind because this isn’t a printed essay. Anyways, they made System Shock 2.

In more ways than one, it is hard to find anything fresh to say about System Shock 2 in 2023, 24 years after the game's release. I was only four months old when it hit shelves and the one thing that needed to be said about it was uttered in its first week of existence: System Shock 2 is one of the best games ever made. More so than any other game I have played I would consider agreeing with that statement to be a proper litmus test for if you should even be allowed to talk about video games.

It’s just that good.

As with every immersive sim ever made till the heat death of our universe, System Shock 2 is a game about its systems. And in utilizing the Dark Engine that was made for Thief: The Dark Project, Ken Levine’s team at Irrational, and those few helping over at Looking Glass, they were able to create the foundations for what immersive sims are meant to look like in the modern era. Along with Thief, System Shock 2 brought immersive sims into the fully 3D landscape of the late 90s — and it allowed for the entire genre (which at that point consisted of precisely four games) to reach new heights that games being released today can barely even touch while standing on their tippy-toes. Ultima Underworld I and II, along with the first System Shock, make up what I affectionately call boomer immersive sims; they were the first attempts, and while they were majorly successful and amazing video games that are unparalleled by anything in the medium of video games up to that point, it is in System Shock 2 where everything reaches perfection. Ultima Underworld’s biggest flaw stated by its own creators was its dialogue system which they viewed as functioning as a second game rather than feeling like an interwoven experience with the overall gameplay and was fixed by Austin Grossman’s idea to make the original System Shock’s story and dialogue be told to you through audiologs that are scattered throughout the world. System Shock 2 also utilizes this method of storytelling to a much greater effect. I adore the games Grossman has worked on and written. Still, System Shock’s audiologs are a bit heavy on exposition, and also due to the scuffed nature of memory on floppy disks and CDs Looking Glass seemingly didn’t know how much of the recorded dialogue they could fit onto disks and so when playing the game you are likely going to have to stop dead in your tracks and read text that in no way matches up to what the characters are saying which hurts the seamless nature the team obviously wanted. No such thing was happening in 1999 though and so the audiologs are not cut at all and you are able to listen to them as you traverse the horrifying corridors of the Von Braun. This allows for more audiologs as well, which lead designer/writer Ken Levine has proven himself to be the master of — while some still serve the function they did in the first game in giving you information on where to go next or a code needed to open a door, most of the audiologs in 2 are dedicated to cataloging what happened to the crew leading up to the start (and sometimes during) the game and you get to hear the final thoughts of those who — unlike our protagonist Soldier G65434-2 — do not have military grade implants and so died brutally at the hands of the Many. These logs are not only able to fully achieve a sense of immersion in the world but also able to generate a bountiful amount of empathy for those on board who are long dead by the time you wake up.

System Shock 2’s overall story was Levine’s first at-bat for his comic book-inspired approach of pitting two extremes against one another that you find yourself in the middle of. This time composed of Shodan, the egotistical, fascist AI who hates all things weak and composed of flesh, and her offspring the Many — the hybrid creations she began to create in the first System Shock, who are, well, made of flesh (and so clearly the inspiration for the Flood in Halo, it’s uncanny how similar they are). Naturally, they don’t like each other much. During the course of development, the team was at odds with Levine for his idea to make Shodan not the principal antagonist and rather begrudgingly need your help throughout the game to defeat the Many. I am glad that he stood his ground because she is a much more nuanced character in this game and rightfully deserves her spot on every “Best Video Game Villain” list because of it.

And then there’s the infamous/meme’d-to-death ending. Really I can only say one thing: if you aren’t doing backflips for the last ten minutes of the game then — like the Many — you probably have worms in your brain.

On the gameplay side of things is of course where all immersive sims shine and System Shock 2 is no slouch. The introduction of RPG mechanics to immersive sims started here and would continue to be seen in the genre, even just a year later with the release of Deus Ex (which sadly makes some people think that immersive sims are just RPGs with a pretentious name, but that’s a rant for another time) and led to what these games are likely most known for: multiple styles of play. Want to play stealthy? This game is using the same engine as Thief: go nuts. Want to only use melee weapons? Max out strength and get various OS upgrades just for that. You joined the marine core at the beginning and only want to blast things with hot lead? The game practically begs you to. Energy weapons? Become a literal space wizard? The list goes on. And depending on which difficulty you select at the start you can probably mess around with 2-3 options to your heart's desire.

And do I really need to talk about level design for an immersive sim? Does everyone checking this page already know that this genre does levels better than anything else? Well if not, let me be the first to inform you that the Von Braun is one of the most intricately crafted locations in video games. Everything in it is seamless, while I would occasionally get lost while playing both Ultima Underworlds and the first System Shock that never happened here. The number of different paths you can take to get around never feels complicated but instead organic with a plethora of secrets strung along the way depending on your aforementioned chosen playstyle. While there are two more locations near the end of the game, they are quite small and still work as an interwoven structure — unlike another beloved game for its interconnected world design, System Shock 2 never falters.

System Shock 2 is a wonderful game. It is also a game that only sold 58,671 units during its initial release and I am unsure how many it has sold now in its fate as a game that more people seem to know and reference through making Shodan their social media profile pictures than actually playing it, but I’m sure of those couple dozen thousand fleshy bodies the majority heralded it as one of the greatest games they’ve ever played — and I’m glad to be able to count myself among their ranks.

Honestly just a perfect game in terms of its atmosphere and storytelling, and I think it just really works because fundamentally this game is about the horror of being imposed on or coerced into stuff, which is really reflective with the dialogue and overarching themes. Whole contrast between The Many and SHODAN (who created the former but has no control over) is fascinating, and I think it's just the way this story unfolds that really works. Sort of like if you combined something like Aliens with Cronenberg like body/psychological horror and it all gels seamlessly together, as well as this really good blend of RPG and FPS elements. Also the hybrids are just such a creepy concept because they literally are people who get possessed and violently fight urges that they can't help but act upon.

Also I remember thinking the last few levels of this game were weird and frustrating, but now I love how inventive the penultimate level of this game is in terms of its visual design and how grotesque and weird it is, and the very last level which I think I can kind of sum up by saying that "it's like a bad nostalgic trip, some sort of surreal environment that I really shouldn't belong in." sort of thing, which like somehow works with what it's amalgamating together.

Also yeah, uh, I think this whole concept of a megalomaniacal female AI construct who like moulds people into extensions of herself, and the whole horror of aggrandisement juxtaposed with violence as soon as you do not accept something or start acting out of tune with what someone's imposed image of you is, weirdly resonated with me a lot. See, the thing about SHODAN is that SHODAN is not an it or a 'he' but unmistakably SHODAN is a 'she' and you will never call her anything other than that. Bad, bad things will happen if you call her anything else other than that.