Even though I act like a hardened veteran of old-school video games sometimes, the truth is, I’m a filthy modern gamer in the end. I prefer when animations are fancier and the graphic looks more comprehensible at one glance.
That’s one of the petty excuses why I abandoned System Shock 1 when I played it for the first time. I was intrigued by the fact that it was the father of the Shock series (and Prey2017) and the game that did the “Metroidvania” design before SotN, but then the Grimace Shake of UI design splashed over me and I died. Also, I was busy doing other stuff at that time too, so I just hopelessly abandoned the playthrough.
So, the remake is out. And even though the outcome isn’t exactly the same, I heard that the developer’s premise was not ignoring the value of the original and recreating the same contexts and systems with the modern graphical touch.
And a lot of people who played both said the remake is the almost-perfect conversion of the original System Shock.
With these gathered opinions, I’m going to think that the core value and the feature of both games are all the same.
I played it on difficulty “2” for every department and I didn’t use a guide from start to finish, except for one time when I didn’t know what the CPU nods look like (yeah I can be that stupid sometimes).
And I can say that even though there are some moments that made me feel exhausted, I really appreciated the game overall. And if it is true that the remake’s outcome barely changed anything from the original’s design sensibility, then I would also respect the old devs for nailing down the dungeon design at that time.
If you have been in some gaming communities, you may have seen some memes comparing System Shock levels and Bioshock Infinite levels. While that’s a surface-level sneering at best, (there are better reasons to hate Bioshock Infinite than that) it is true that the level design of System Shock is the most impressive part.
I would say, even if you set the combat difficulty modifier to 0, you will still find enjoyment in the level navigation alone, because the level is like a giant jigsaw puzzle that gets larger and more convoluted as you progress.
You walk down the new corridor and there are two vents at the corner, three locked doors leading to completely different areas, and four hidden traps waiting for you to step on. Oh yeah, and there are like five patrolling security bots charging up the laser beams, so good luck!
That was a little bit exaggerated, but something as unhinged as that case happened all the time and it made me tense throughout the whole game.
The Storage Room is probably the best example of this case with the sheer size of the level, the swirling multiple branches, and the vertical structure of the small rooms that make you aware of the 3D spaces. That stage was disgustingly confusing and at the same time really memorable because of that.
Until the end game part, there’s never been a time when I felt “I know it will be a smooth ride from now on.” even though the game features a lenient form of the quick save system and the revive mechanic. (I would also argue that the resources in this game are pretty generous that you don’t have to horde the items all the time, at least on the difficulty “2” modifier.)
But the point of this game is not about surviving in a minute-to-minute real-time action. It’s about figuring out how the whole gigantic clusters are interconnected while also juggling the busy work.
The anxious thoughts constantly whispered that I won’t be able to beat this game, not because of the combat, but because of the missing pieces I couldn’t connect in the gargantuan maze.
Even after you mostly clear out the level and reveal most parts of the map, it isn’t enough to get rid of the whole underlying anxiety.
Only after you see the Citadel Station getting exploded in the cutscene, you can feel absolute relief and it was one of the most satisfying feelings I had with video games. (And even then, there’s a comparably simple and yet challenging ending mission right after that. The game never lets you take a break lol)
And the experience is amplified by the omnipresent entity Shodan.
Technically, every video game is just about dealing with shit thrown by the omnipresent entity - the developer, but what I really liked about her is how she is(or the developer is) so on the nose about showing the hidden cards in the sleeves.
There’s a seemingly mundane problem, so you solve it. But then she summons the horde of cyborg soldiers behind you while mocking and insulting you.
You think you solved the main big problem, but then she directly calls you and introduces a new problem -something that requires another hour and hours of multi-tasking and puzzle-solving.
Even though Shodan is just conceptualized quest giver and surprise encounter, I would say her existence elevated the experience because I could kinda connect to the developer’s sadistic intent behind that character. You can even hear her monologue that she is a god damn SHINTO of the citadel. Yeah, sure thing, developer. You and the dungeon design are one and the same, you evil bastard.
To get to the negative bits, I have to admit that I was slightly disappointed by the fact that, while the level progression is extremely liberal, the solutions for the small roadblocks are limited to specific key hunting or puzzles.
When I was in the Executive level, I got stuck there for a long time, because I didn’t know that there was a second unlockable cyber lock in cyberspace. That specific part halted my progression for a really long time, so I got really frustrated.
In the ideal world, the game could have provided some way to bypass the cyberspace challenges like the puzzle-skipping device.
To be fair, System Shock shouldn’t be considered as a sand-box imsim like Prey. It should be considered as a classic dungeon crawling. But even then, I think multiple solutions for each locked-door-type roadblock could have worked out better for the game. After all, the strength of this game is connecting the dots in the large unknown places, not beating a specific shooter mini-game located in the tiny corner.
Oh yeah, and I can’t express enough how the final boss was a shitshow. Though, there’s never been a good “imsim” boss so it makes sense that the forefather of the genre suffers from the same problem.
But it’s still a shame because the other bosses like Diego and Cortex Reavers were serviceable as a combat challenge where you actually have to care about what you are doing.
Negative comments aside, this is still a work of art.
It shows that the maze-like levels are much, much more than just a tedious roundabout. It can be an amazing ingredient or even a main dish if the devs can weave them well.
If I could stomach the old presentation, I could have experienced this journey early on with the original 1. Sadly I couldn’t, but I’m so glad that the remake turned out to be a real thing in the end. My appreciation goes to both the old devs and the new devs.
People just easily throw the sentence “this game design didn’t age well” like some kind of experts, but if I’m being honest, if a certain old game is mentioned fondly by some people even nowadays, there is a chance that the only things that aged from that game were presentation and graphic fidelity, not the design method.
Unshockingly, System Shock was the case.
That’s one of the petty excuses why I abandoned System Shock 1 when I played it for the first time. I was intrigued by the fact that it was the father of the Shock series (and Prey2017) and the game that did the “Metroidvania” design before SotN, but then the Grimace Shake of UI design splashed over me and I died. Also, I was busy doing other stuff at that time too, so I just hopelessly abandoned the playthrough.
So, the remake is out. And even though the outcome isn’t exactly the same, I heard that the developer’s premise was not ignoring the value of the original and recreating the same contexts and systems with the modern graphical touch.
And a lot of people who played both said the remake is the almost-perfect conversion of the original System Shock.
With these gathered opinions, I’m going to think that the core value and the feature of both games are all the same.
I played it on difficulty “2” for every department and I didn’t use a guide from start to finish, except for one time when I didn’t know what the CPU nods look like (yeah I can be that stupid sometimes).
And I can say that even though there are some moments that made me feel exhausted, I really appreciated the game overall. And if it is true that the remake’s outcome barely changed anything from the original’s design sensibility, then I would also respect the old devs for nailing down the dungeon design at that time.
If you have been in some gaming communities, you may have seen some memes comparing System Shock levels and Bioshock Infinite levels. While that’s a surface-level sneering at best, (there are better reasons to hate Bioshock Infinite than that) it is true that the level design of System Shock is the most impressive part.
I would say, even if you set the combat difficulty modifier to 0, you will still find enjoyment in the level navigation alone, because the level is like a giant jigsaw puzzle that gets larger and more convoluted as you progress.
You walk down the new corridor and there are two vents at the corner, three locked doors leading to completely different areas, and four hidden traps waiting for you to step on. Oh yeah, and there are like five patrolling security bots charging up the laser beams, so good luck!
That was a little bit exaggerated, but something as unhinged as that case happened all the time and it made me tense throughout the whole game.
The Storage Room is probably the best example of this case with the sheer size of the level, the swirling multiple branches, and the vertical structure of the small rooms that make you aware of the 3D spaces. That stage was disgustingly confusing and at the same time really memorable because of that.
Until the end game part, there’s never been a time when I felt “I know it will be a smooth ride from now on.” even though the game features a lenient form of the quick save system and the revive mechanic. (I would also argue that the resources in this game are pretty generous that you don’t have to horde the items all the time, at least on the difficulty “2” modifier.)
But the point of this game is not about surviving in a minute-to-minute real-time action. It’s about figuring out how the whole gigantic clusters are interconnected while also juggling the busy work.
The anxious thoughts constantly whispered that I won’t be able to beat this game, not because of the combat, but because of the missing pieces I couldn’t connect in the gargantuan maze.
Even after you mostly clear out the level and reveal most parts of the map, it isn’t enough to get rid of the whole underlying anxiety.
Only after you see the Citadel Station getting exploded in the cutscene, you can feel absolute relief and it was one of the most satisfying feelings I had with video games. (And even then, there’s a comparably simple and yet challenging ending mission right after that. The game never lets you take a break lol)
And the experience is amplified by the omnipresent entity Shodan.
Technically, every video game is just about dealing with shit thrown by the omnipresent entity - the developer, but what I really liked about her is how she is(or the developer is) so on the nose about showing the hidden cards in the sleeves.
There’s a seemingly mundane problem, so you solve it. But then she summons the horde of cyborg soldiers behind you while mocking and insulting you.
You think you solved the main big problem, but then she directly calls you and introduces a new problem -something that requires another hour and hours of multi-tasking and puzzle-solving.
Even though Shodan is just conceptualized quest giver and surprise encounter, I would say her existence elevated the experience because I could kinda connect to the developer’s sadistic intent behind that character. You can even hear her monologue that she is a god damn SHINTO of the citadel. Yeah, sure thing, developer. You and the dungeon design are one and the same, you evil bastard.
To get to the negative bits, I have to admit that I was slightly disappointed by the fact that, while the level progression is extremely liberal, the solutions for the small roadblocks are limited to specific key hunting or puzzles.
When I was in the Executive level, I got stuck there for a long time, because I didn’t know that there was a second unlockable cyber lock in cyberspace. That specific part halted my progression for a really long time, so I got really frustrated.
In the ideal world, the game could have provided some way to bypass the cyberspace challenges like the puzzle-skipping device.
To be fair, System Shock shouldn’t be considered as a sand-box imsim like Prey. It should be considered as a classic dungeon crawling. But even then, I think multiple solutions for each locked-door-type roadblock could have worked out better for the game. After all, the strength of this game is connecting the dots in the large unknown places, not beating a specific shooter mini-game located in the tiny corner.
Oh yeah, and I can’t express enough how the final boss was a shitshow. Though, there’s never been a good “imsim” boss so it makes sense that the forefather of the genre suffers from the same problem.
But it’s still a shame because the other bosses like Diego and Cortex Reavers were serviceable as a combat challenge where you actually have to care about what you are doing.
Negative comments aside, this is still a work of art.
It shows that the maze-like levels are much, much more than just a tedious roundabout. It can be an amazing ingredient or even a main dish if the devs can weave them well.
If I could stomach the old presentation, I could have experienced this journey early on with the original 1. Sadly I couldn’t, but I’m so glad that the remake turned out to be a real thing in the end. My appreciation goes to both the old devs and the new devs.
People just easily throw the sentence “this game design didn’t age well” like some kind of experts, but if I’m being honest, if a certain old game is mentioned fondly by some people even nowadays, there is a chance that the only things that aged from that game were presentation and graphic fidelity, not the design method.
Unshockingly, System Shock was the case.