The System Shock Remake has just been released for PC, PS4, PS5, Mac and Xbox One by Nightdive Studios. The original game of the same name was first released back in 1994 by Looking Glass Studios.
Nightdive Studios acquired the rights to the System Shock franchise and release an enhanced edition back in 2015. A few months later they announced a remake and set up a funding campaign for it on Kickstarter.
System Shock 2023 faithfully follows the design laid out by Looking Glass Studio back in the 90s. If you’ve played the original game you’ll find that Citadel Station, the individual room designs and the placement of enemies feels familiar.
Nightdive have the left the best and worst aspects of the gameplay intact while simultaneously upgrading, modernizing and beautifying the game. When you awaken in Citadel Station the first thing you’ll notice is that the med bay is an almost exact replica of the original.
Many players will be familiar with the original and so Nightdive have worked hard to keep that sense of nostalgia. It shows the reverence they have for the first game.
As you roam the hallways you’ll be rewarded with new weapons, cyberware and supplies. Then there is the hacking element of the game which has also been updated. Eventually you’ll come across a terminal that you can use to jack-in to the system.
The hacking interface was quite sparse in the original game. Now it’s been modernized and is a fast-paced descent into the inner workings of Citadel Station’s AI.
Citadel Station stretches out over 9 floors and there’s no lift that goes between all of them. Some of the floors are more maze like than anything else and you’ll often need to backtrack to previous areas. At times you may need to use the map to figure out how to get back to the previous lift or where to go next.
System Shock is best played with keyboard and mouse as this will make it easy to navigate the menus and maps. While the UI has been vastly improved from the original it’s still just easier to point and click with a mouse.
As you progress through the story you’ll need to pay attention to the audio logs. Some key information may be hidden in them telling you what to do next. You can of course just stumble around and hope to find the right control panel or lever.
Whether you’ve played the original games or not System Shock is a faithful and fun recreation of this iconic action adventure game. Once it’s completed you can find the full walkthrough for System Shock here.
Tagged with: looking glass studio • new games 2023 • new games may • new pc games • nightdive • nightdive studios
Filed under: Action • Adventure • First Person
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