Reviews from

in the past


save me evil robot woman
evil robot woman
evil robot woman save me

I tooled around a bit in-game, and enjoyed what I saw, but I'll still wait for the inevitable Enhanced Edition that smooths out the rough edges.

This was a solid sequel to the first game, which I definitely recommend playing if you're wanting to visit this. I had always read that this was a classic that inspired many others, and I can see why. I really enjoyed the story telling and upgrades over the first game, allowing for more RPG like features. Especially after the first game seeming to more or less deal with the big bad, it was great to see how it weaved into this story. I was not entirely a fan of the degradation of weapons after use, but after a certain point, it wasn't a huge deal. Definitely wish we got a third one, as the ending leaves it wide open for it.

System Shock 2 is a brilliant follow up to the first game. The story is iconic and filled with many great sci-fi clichés. The worldbuilding and environments are detailed and immersive. There is a fair bit of replayability to the game in the stat choices and what abilities/weapons they allow you to use. Not as many puzzles compared to the first game and not many obstacles that couldn't be completely bypassed with the hack skill. Despite any shortcomings, I feel this is a game that everyone should play and depending on your stat choices will have a different experience each time.

Setting is great; made me feel like a trapped insect. Though I wish navigating the map wasn't so confusing at times


One of my favourite all time games, the setting of the deserted space station feels great to walk around and always makes you feel tense. The soundtrack is amazing with music that makes you feel on edge and action moments when your in a battle all with the background ambient sounds make a really great atmosphere. The story line is simple to follow and progresses nicely through each area.
I particularly like the voice logs you find around that both give you answers to get through doors and also provide a story as to what happened on the ship.
There is plenty of replay ability with the level up system, it allows you to play the game in different styles and will open or close doors depending on how you choose to level up.

The protagonist is definitely a precursor to JC Denton

kind a of a pain to go through i get why its goode but i dunno i didnt have much fun with it
the "twist" is stupid and i hate it

I can understand why this was revolutionary for the ImSim genre, and it originally had the benefit of being more playable than the first game and its infamously awkward controls.

Maybe I burned out on System Shock by playing this immediately after the Remake of 1, but this didn't amaze me in the way I thought it would after decades of praise. Could be you just had to be there at the time.

Infinitely respawning enemies, cruel levels of resource scarcity in the first half of the game (even on lower difficulties) and a story hamstrung by the game's own marketing. There's a great game in here somewhere, and it most likely exists between hour 4 and hour 8.

Providing you can get past the brutal opening, you'll find enjoyment. Final two hours kinda suck though, and then the game just ends. An unintentionally hilarious FMV plays in 144p and then you're hardbooted to the menu without any credits playing.

It feels like a microcosm of the entire game in some ways. You have a little bit of fun and then it suddenly ends.

Maybe I should have just waited for Nightdive's Enhanced Edition ¯\(ツ)

História impecável. Ambientação fantástica e a ost é absurda de boa. Tem seus problemas de jogos antigos e um deles é o late game que você simplesmente nuka qualquer ser vivo. MAS, dito isso: 8/10 um dos melhores jogos que ja joguei.

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.

played halfway till i lost interest in the part of where you had to find chips and plug it into computers

BioShock rip off, pisses me off they thought they could get away with it

really effective horror even in 2024, which says something for these ps2 ass graphics but it's a style i'll always have a soft spot for

Hilarious that the toughest part of this game is secretly the combat

This review contains spoilers

I liked the Cybernetic Module upgrade system. Although I don't think it was properly balanced. Some examples, Repair is basically useless if you maintain your weapons with the Maintenance skill. Modify is probably useless too since you can find quite a few of those one time use upgrade items which will take care of most, if not all, of your weapons.
Some resources were also a pain the ass to find. I never really had enough bullets for the standard gun and assault rifle. Why was it even possible to upgrade the assault's rifle clip size if it's never even going to make a difference since you're lucky if you have more than 10 bullets of a type.
This lack of ammo issue especially became a problem if you weren't able to instantly know where to go and had to search around for a bit. Enemies barely drop any ammo and that is even more so for the respawns. At the beginning I had to rely on my wrench a lot and let me tell you that wasn't great since melee combat in this game sucks.
The game could also have done with a bit more weapon variety. You are probably not going to spec into every weapon type so you simply aren't able to use quite a few weapons.
I believe there's only three different weapons per type and some of them become obsolete by the time you get the level 6 weapons. Don't get me wrong, the weapons (that I tried) were great. The grenade launcher and the assault rifle were fun to use. I also enjoyed that you were able to select different modes for the weapons. Selecting Death mode on the Fusion Cannon was a blast.
I did not use the Psionic powers at all so I can't say anything about that.
The gameplay and interfacing have been much improved compared to System Shock 1 but the prequel had a better ambiance and a better villain.
Xerxes was ass, the Many was whatever and SHODAN was alright in this game but just not nearly as menacing as the System Shock 1 SHODAN. Moments like finding out that Polito was SHODAN and entering the Medical area from the first game were cool. The boss fights were pretty bad unfortunately. The SHODAN fight was one of the worst boss fight I have seen in a videogame. Having to hack when there is a damaging floor under you and mobs that spawn endlessly. I had a terrible time.
I also did not like the backtracking. Especially when you miss something then good luck trying to find it. Some examples that stick in my mind are finding the codes in the art, the egg hunt (since I missed one, I had to go all the way back to find it), going back to grab the necessary chemicals for a research etc.
The cameras were a dumb system too because it basically meant that if you were spotted that you would have to wait it out somewhere for a full 2 minutes before you could continue. I would have fought them off if it weren't for the serious lack of ammo problem.
And yes, you can hack them but for some reason, oftentimes you would encounter the camera before you even encountered the security systems where you can hack them. So that didn't really make sense.
On the topic of hacking, what a dumb RNG-based mini-"game" that was. And also why do hacking, repairing and modifying all have the exact same RNG get three in a row minigame. Even with a high level in these stats there was still a likely possibility that it would get screwed up. That and the cameras really incentivized save-scumming.

It's as good as everyone says it is, what can I say
Fucking fantastic game


Nah.

Uma junção ridiculamente perfeita entre um storytelling incrível de uma história profunda, com uma gameplay e level design competentes e satisfatórios. Fascinante.

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.

I would highly recommend this to people who want to get into RPGs; the RPG elements are very easy to understand and have a lot of depth to them. Final level kind of sucks but its not a huge deal. Flawed yet wonderful experience.


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?
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
NAH

IF ANYONE'S TO BLAME FOR THE MONKEYS, IT'S KEN LEVINE

you can see how this game shaped the future of the game industry very clearly and it is amazing.
the start is pretty hard, but it gets better the more you play (just like the first game) and the gameplay elements are... curious.

SHODAN's presence in this game feels kind of rushed, as if they put her in the game because people liked her so much in the the first one. Even though, she is still a great villain and the new one, the Many, is equally as great.

My "comfort game" as in I would fall asleep to people playing this game, don't even ask me why.

This is a classic if you haven't played it yet idk what to tell you....QUIT YOUR JOB AND SIT DOWN AND PLAY THIS NONSTOP UNTIL YOU FINISH IT.