When System Shock 2 came out in 1994, I really was too young to appreciate it. At just 11 years old, I remember popping the CD into my Pentium 166 (MMX) powered Hewlett Packard PC and shortly after, I was absolutely soiling myself. Not only was System Shock 2 bloody hard, it was also terrifying and that CD never went back into my PC. As soon as I heard that the 2023 remake was coming to the Xbox Series though, I was absolutely all-in!
And what a game this is — System Shock 2 seems to have been completely remade. The levels are set out the same way, the story still focuses on the rogue AI known as SHODAN (and how it has taken over a space station that we are sent to during the first half an hour) and the puzzles are just as tough as ever, but everything has been modernised.
The visuals are bang up to date (albeit without quite the same level of polish as a triple A game) and make excellent use of light and shadow to enhance the overall experience. Bright neon lights flicker in dark spaces, lasers flash through the environments and fire and lightning are used liberally to excite the player. Sound also plays a huge role, with the once human occupants of the space station now turned into zombies that moan and groan as you sneak around them.
Exploration, scavenging and recycling are key to the gameplay in System Shock 2, and you’ll find yourself vaporising every pot and pan you see in order to trade the raw materials in for a few coins that might lead to an upgrade or a bit more ammo. You’ll need them too, since in System Shock 2 you’ll fight quite a lot of enemies — which can often respawn back in rooms that you are sure you’ve already cleared.
Puzzles will slow you down as well, with most of them focussing on routing power across some fairly complex boards. These can be pretty challenging at times, and to be honest I welcome this — in an industry where puzzles are now so dumb that they hardly exist at all, it’s nice to throwback to a time when they were a genuine part of the experience. There are also more classic “blue key, blue lock” type puzzles as well, but these are a natural part of exploring the station.
In addition to the scavenging that might keep you looking in every nook and cranny, System Shock 2 also rewards exploration with audio logs and other collectibles that build out the story. Considering that the main beats of System Shock 2 were written and presented 30 years ago, the idea of a rogue AI taking over a space station is actually more original than you might give it credit for.
Whether you think you’ve heard the basic concept before or not, the execution of the story is good, and I was always curious about how a given audio log might flesh out the physical evidence in the room. For example if you come upon a body hidden in a corner with ten zombie corpses around it, then it’s obvious a last stand took place — but the audio log will often tell you who was fighting, what led them there and perhaps, give a clue as to where you should go next.
In addition to superb modernisation of the engine and the effects (both audio and visual), System Shock 2 has one new feature that I very rarely see, no matter how new or old the game might be. That feature is the ability for players to vary the difficulty of four different things – combat, puzzles, exploration and scavenging (in terms of how generous it is). I just loved this feature, and whilst I kept everything on the default, this is a great way for individual players to tailor the game to suit their own preferences.
Overall, System Shock 2 is probably the best remake of a game as old as the original that I can think of. It takes everything that made the original game such a classic and builds upon it — with updated graphics and sound that perfectly enhance the creepy, sci-fi tone, puzzles that remain tough but rewarding and gameplay that feels as though it has barely changed, but holds up completely to modern standards.
System Shock 2 is available now for PC, PS5 and Xbox.
