This review contains spoilers
I've only played a bit of the original and SS2, but overall I had a blast with this remake.
Good things
- The original’s intro cutscene where you hack into and get captured by TriOptimum was turned into a great gameplay sequence that really immerses you in the world
- The art style uses modern lighting, geometry, effects, etc. but with low-res/pixelated textures. I've seen a lot of people comment about how they didn't like it, but I was a fan of the fact that adds a bit of a retro feel to an otherwise modern take on an old game
- I only crashed once and didn’t have any major bugs. The worst bugs I remember were with the ragdoll physics which were at best funny and at worst made me think there was an enemy when it was actually dead
- The atmosphere is always creepy and unsettling but never on the level of something like a horror game
- There’s a good variety of weapons. Since you have limited inventory space and can run out of ammo fast if you’re not careful, it was fun to have the game force me to change up my loadout and playstyle
- SHODAN is a fantastic villain. She has control of the entire space station, so you’re always on edge about what she’ll do to stop you
Mixed bags
- I like that the levels are big and feel claustrophobic since it matches the atmosphere, but they’re so dense and interconnected that it gets to the point of feeling like navigating a labyrinth. I get that the premise is literally “you’re lost on an unfamiliar space station” but it can be too much at first. As I kept playing I got better at navigating new territory, but it’s still a pain. The Storage level is a prime example of this problem.
- The enemy AI is… fine. It’s nothing special and has its moments where it forgets how to path properly
- The weapons are cool and each one serves its own purpose, but a lot of them feel like they have no impact. The enemies don’t react much to getting hit by them until they die… as in they will gib if you hit them right with certain weapons. Besides, this game isn't primarily a shooter, so I'm a bit more forgiving about it.
- Just like the original, this game doesn’t have a mission log or waypoints on normal difficulty (what I played on). You get all of your objectives from audio logs or incoming calls. I didn’t mind the lack of waypoints, but sometimes I would forget what I was supposed to do, so having at least a mission log would have been a good QoL addition. Also, from what I understand, you can get waypoints if you set the difficulty of missions to easy when you start a new game.
Bad things
- In my opinion, the cyberspace hacking sequences range from boring to tedious. Plus they were sometimes nausea-inducing. I didn’t like any of them.
- The final boss fight is disappointing and not very fun. This is mainly because it forces you to use a weapon that you only get in this fight and because it combines the cyberspace enemies with normal movement mechanics from physical space instead of cyberspace’s normal 6DOF movement. I wish they’d gone the route of Black Mesa (the Half-Life 1 remake) and completely redesigned this last part, but I’m more forgiving about it since I get that would take a lot of time and effort to get right.
Good things
- The original’s intro cutscene where you hack into and get captured by TriOptimum was turned into a great gameplay sequence that really immerses you in the world
- The art style uses modern lighting, geometry, effects, etc. but with low-res/pixelated textures. I've seen a lot of people comment about how they didn't like it, but I was a fan of the fact that adds a bit of a retro feel to an otherwise modern take on an old game
- I only crashed once and didn’t have any major bugs. The worst bugs I remember were with the ragdoll physics which were at best funny and at worst made me think there was an enemy when it was actually dead
- The atmosphere is always creepy and unsettling but never on the level of something like a horror game
- There’s a good variety of weapons. Since you have limited inventory space and can run out of ammo fast if you’re not careful, it was fun to have the game force me to change up my loadout and playstyle
- SHODAN is a fantastic villain. She has control of the entire space station, so you’re always on edge about what she’ll do to stop you
Mixed bags
- I like that the levels are big and feel claustrophobic since it matches the atmosphere, but they’re so dense and interconnected that it gets to the point of feeling like navigating a labyrinth. I get that the premise is literally “you’re lost on an unfamiliar space station” but it can be too much at first. As I kept playing I got better at navigating new territory, but it’s still a pain. The Storage level is a prime example of this problem.
- The enemy AI is… fine. It’s nothing special and has its moments where it forgets how to path properly
- The weapons are cool and each one serves its own purpose, but a lot of them feel like they have no impact. The enemies don’t react much to getting hit by them until they die… as in they will gib if you hit them right with certain weapons. Besides, this game isn't primarily a shooter, so I'm a bit more forgiving about it.
- Just like the original, this game doesn’t have a mission log or waypoints on normal difficulty (what I played on). You get all of your objectives from audio logs or incoming calls. I didn’t mind the lack of waypoints, but sometimes I would forget what I was supposed to do, so having at least a mission log would have been a good QoL addition. Also, from what I understand, you can get waypoints if you set the difficulty of missions to easy when you start a new game.
Bad things
- In my opinion, the cyberspace hacking sequences range from boring to tedious. Plus they were sometimes nausea-inducing. I didn’t like any of them.
- The final boss fight is disappointing and not very fun. This is mainly because it forces you to use a weapon that you only get in this fight and because it combines the cyberspace enemies with normal movement mechanics from physical space instead of cyberspace’s normal 6DOF movement. I wish they’d gone the route of Black Mesa (the Half-Life 1 remake) and completely redesigned this last part, but I’m more forgiving about it since I get that would take a lot of time and effort to get right.