They only don’t make ‘em like they used to, huh? 30 years since its launch on PC, the holy grail of immersive sims, System Shock, has made its approach to PS4 and PS5 with this slick remake. That is the primary alternative us PlayStation gamers have had to take a look at the sport that impressed the likes of PREY, Deus Ex, and BioShock, and as such, piecing collectively its labyrinthine house station is like an entertaining historical past lesson. However regardless of its new visible glow-up, System Shock is absolutely beginning to present its age.
The unique System Shock launched in 1994 and formed a whole style. Towards the evil A.I. SHODAN, a anonymous hacker should struggle their means by the maze-like house station, progressively unlocking extra areas within the course of. Launched in 2023 on PC, this remake from Nightdive Studios provides a lick of modernised paint to this traditional, with a visible and gameplay overhaul that ought to enchantment to each new and returning gamers alike.
We need to begin off by saying that visually, System Shock is an actual deal with on PS5. It sports activities this fascinating blended artstyle of each trendy and retro aesthetics that completely embodies the unique – as if Nightdive is attempting to evoke what you suppose the sport appeared like again within the day. Regardless of having this hard-edged metallic design to its many rooms and corridors, there are refreshing pangs of vibrant color that hold every of the sport’s flooring feeling recent and distinctive. It’s topped off with a rock-solid efficiency on PS5 meaning you possibly can slither your means from upkeep to the chief flooring and not using a single stutter.
The very first thing you’ll discover about System Shock is that it’s not there that will help you – in any respect. This can be a robust sport, each by its so-so fight, and its gruelling house station puzzles. It’s each the great and unhealthy of this remake, as it’s invigorating to play a sport that basically makes you sift by textual content and audio logs. One thing so simple as determining a code might require you to go to a number of areas throughout varied ranges of the station, and also you’ll have to bodily notice the code down as the sport received’t retailer it for you. Enjoying a sport with a notepad by your aspect is a slightly area of interest side of a bygone period of gaming, however you’ll undoubtedly sit up in your seat a bit of as System Shock challenges you this manner.
Lastly determining a protracted wanted code, or turning on the facility that grants you entry to an entire new stage of the station is immensely gratifying. That is additionally a sport that feeds off of your curiosity, the place you possibly can monitor the storylines of ill-fated characters and slowly piece collectively the puzzle of the station’s A.I. takeover. Very not often will System Shock spell it out for you, so when you aren’t eager on sifting by reams of texts, then its setting will seemingly come throughout as very floor stage. Definitely you aren’t going to seek out environmental storytelling right here such as you do in Dishonored for instance, and System Shock does little or no to determine a historical past previous to SHODAN’s present takeover.
That nevertheless is the seed of our frustrations with System Shock. Since quite a lot of the context of the station lies within the textual content and audio logs, there’s little or no cause to discover its varied hallways and workplaces past the necessity to progress to the following stage. Each from time to time you’ll discover a new weapon, or a modkit station to improve your arsenal, however for essentially the most half you’ll be wandering in circles questioning what to do and the place to go, and various instances you’ll spend upwards of 20 minutes attempting to achieve entry to a room that has little or no reward inside. System Shock is affected by useless ends, which in itself is ok, however with one other audio log usually being the large reward, it’s arduous to not really feel unenthused at instances.
Exploration may also really feel trite because of its grindy recycling system, the place you hoard lots of junk, vaporise all of it to negate stock points, after which cart it to a recycling station to earn a number of vitcoins. It’s good to see what’s clearly the inception of the recycling system in PREY, but it surely doesn’t fairly have the identical satisfying loop. It’s right here too that it turns into manifestly apparent that the sport shouldn’t be meant to be performed with a controller. Stock administration is extremely tedious and lacks the pace or ease of use that you simply’ll discover with a mouse and keyboard.
Frustrations carry over to the fight too, which if we’re being sincere, simply isn’t nice. To provide credit score the place credit score is due, System Shock tries to maintain issues recent with essentially the most random assortment of enemies we’ve ever seen. From cyborgs to floating micro organism, there may be at all times a facet of shock as you encounter new enemy sorts, and issues actually enhance as you uncover higher weapons. Nonetheless, the difficulty is that the fight by no means actually has the burden or dynamism that you simply’d get in additional trendy releases. Melee weapons lack affect, weapons lack oomph, and with subsequent to no cowl, you’re primarily buying and selling pictures with an enemy that virtually by no means misses – and this is identical within the our on-line world parts of the sport too.
The respawn system doesn’t assist issues both. Since any harm you’ve performed or enemies you’ve killed carry over whenever you respawn, there’s very not often any feeling of stress within the fight. When you’ve unlocked that flooring’s respawn space, you could be again in motion inside 30 seconds. You then have a selection of both utilizing your therapeutic provides to inch forward, or hoard them for the boss fights that means you are regularly respawning, resulting in some stilted development. There’s an in-depth problem setting to counter this if issues show to be too robust, however there may be oddly no possibility to vary this mid-game so that you both should keep it up or restart with a brand new save.
Conclusion
On the finish of the day, System Shock is the trustworthy remake of a 30-year-old sport, and you may really feel that age in each side of its being. In some methods, it is a tantalising look again on the sport that began a whole style, and when you’ve acquired the keenness or nostalgia for immersive sims prefer it, then it’s value trying out for that alone. Nonetheless, when you lack that nostalgic connection, then System Shock is extra a showcase of how far the style has come, slightly than a highlight on how nicely it’s held up. System Shock might have walked so others within the style may run, however for us, that stroll is just a bit too sluggish.
