System Shock Remake - Return of the King!
Jun 23, 2023 22:31:23 GMT -5
Post by Xeogred on Jun 23, 2023 22:31:23 GMT -5
The Chronicles of Immersive Sim Xeo
So it's been awhile since I've gotten my immersive sim fix. Although a highly acclaimed genre, it doesn't seem to be one that prints a lot of money for publishers throughout time. So we've been in a bit of dark ages again with Deus Ex on ice and now among publisher struggles together with Thief, Arkane Studios has sadly shifted to multiplayer centric live service trends with their latest two games, System Shock 3 is confirmed dead and owned by some Chinese company, Bioshock has been MIA for a decade, etc. But thankfully Nightdve studios whom are known for bringing back many early 3D classics to modern hardware, seem to own the rights to both System Shock 1 and 2. They had higher ambitions regarding the grandfather of this genre with the task of remaking 1994's System Shock from the ground up. The remake was one of the top things on my radar for years upon years. Too many years it sat there at the top of my Steam wishlist. Because it went through quite a troubled development. But here we are now in a post System Shock Remake release world and it is with extreme glee that I can report it's one of the new best remakes in the business. Well deserved. With quite a warm welcome across the spectrum, hopefully encouraging Nightdive to chase those ambitions of potentially remaking System Shock 2 as well.
This is instantly fixed in the remake because it controls like modern WASD shooters as you'd come to expect in 2023. A worthy refinement for something that did evolve nicely over the years. And this isn't to say that the remake is the most frenetic action game on the market right now, it's still chunky and better approached as a methodical survival horror action game. Some could probably argue the combat is still flawed, with you dying in a blink against tougher enemies or a certain recurring boss (seriously could be 1-2 shots). But with quick saves, this didn't hurt the experience at all for me. I quite liked how ruthless it was. You have to pick your shots, never get ganged up, from start to finish every enemy encounter in this game is intense and a situation to deal with immediately. I'm guessing you'd have to really channel your inner Thief to take on the higher difficulties. All the weapons and grenades, etc, feel excellent and are fun to use. I would say that the difficulty eases off as you go along, but maybe not quite as much as you'd think like a King's Field or whatnot. I'm kind of mesmerized how well paced the enemy rollout is in System Shock Remake. It evolves so seamlessly from slow moving melee robots, zombies, to armored guards with pistols and rifles, to straight up cybertech abominations with grenade launchers or gatling guns that you'd think teleported over from Quake. It makes even some modern games of the genre pale in comparison when thinking of enemy variety. I'd never totally tell someone to play System Shock Remake or most of this genre purely for the combat. But what is here in that regard, for layering on a 1994 game, is quite fantastic.
Going over my evolution of this methodical take on first person adventures, it was wild to revisit System Shock this way and realize that the original game arguably has more in common with 3D free roaming dungeon crawlers out there like King's Field or 1992's groundbreaking Ultima Underworld, than it does its own sequel System Shock 2, or Thief, Deus Ex, etc. System Shock 1 simply put, is a dungeon crawler with an incredible sci-fi aesthetic and a legendary videogame antagonist with SHDOAN. Story and hints are delivered via audio logs and emails, a staple for the genre. But it kind of ends there. The rest is you completely on your own trekking through some of those most labyrinthine level design you'll ever find in a 3D game, exploration and survival are the main ingredients here. It has an inverted difficulty curve with you starting out with nothing. No items, weapons, keys, powers/neuromods, and even the player not yet knowing many languages of the game itself and how things work. No NPC or arrow is ever going to tell you what to do in System Shock. It's a rare game that completely respects the player and wants you to have your own journey digging through its world, solving, and conquering its challenges by your own hand. I simply cannot praise System Shock 1 and Remake's level design enough, it is absolutely incredible.
2000 ~ Deus Ex
2003 ~ Deus Ex Invisible War
2006 ~ Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
2007 ~ Bioshock
2008
2009
2010 ~ Bioshock 2
2011 - Fallout: New Vegas, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Invisible War (replay), STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl
2012 - Thief 1-3, Fallout 3, Dishonored
(~ Can't find any traces of Ultima Underworld, I must have played it somewhere around here before my new 2013 PC at the time)
2013 - System Shock 2, Bioshock Infinite
2014 - Deus Ex Human Revolution: Director's Cut, Bioshock trilogy (replay) + all DLC, Alien Isolation
2015 - Thief 2014, Dishonored (replay), Fallout 4
2016 - Dishonored DLC's, SOMA, Deus Ex HR:DC (replay), Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
2017 - Dishonored 2, Prey (Arkane), System Shock Enhanced, Deus Ex (replay), Dishonored: Death of the Outsider
2018 - Fallout New Vegas (replay)
2019
2020
2021 - Shadow Tower Abyss, King's Field 1-2
2022 - King's Field 3-4, Shadow Tower, Bioshock (replay)
2023 - System Shock Remake
One of my top favorite genres. Some stuff like the modern Fallout's might not entirely fit and maybe I overlooked something skimming lists back to 2011, so it's a quick cut but probably accurate for the most part.
So it's been awhile since I've gotten my immersive sim fix. Although a highly acclaimed genre, it doesn't seem to be one that prints a lot of money for publishers throughout time. So we've been in a bit of dark ages again with Deus Ex on ice and now among publisher struggles together with Thief, Arkane Studios has sadly shifted to multiplayer centric live service trends with their latest two games, System Shock 3 is confirmed dead and owned by some Chinese company, Bioshock has been MIA for a decade, etc. But thankfully Nightdve studios whom are known for bringing back many early 3D classics to modern hardware, seem to own the rights to both System Shock 1 and 2. They had higher ambitions regarding the grandfather of this genre with the task of remaking 1994's System Shock from the ground up. The remake was one of the top things on my radar for years upon years. Too many years it sat there at the top of my Steam wishlist. Because it went through quite a troubled development. But here we are now in a post System Shock Remake release world and it is with extreme glee that I can report it's one of the new best remakes in the business. Well deserved. With quite a warm welcome across the spectrum, hopefully encouraging Nightdive to chase those ambitions of potentially remaking System Shock 2 as well.
It took several attempts before 2017 for me to click with System Shock, until the Enhanced Edition dropped and I really gave it an earnest shot. While I give it a 10/10 on the respect scale, it was more like a 7/10 or so for me in terms of fun factor. My biggest issue with the game was that it was far more action heavy than Ultima Underworld, with infinitely respawning enemies on normal difficulty settings. The game expects you to engage with combat frequently in spots. Sure you could try to wander around the level and get around some encounters but that was a nuisance. Enemy spawning does minimize as you knock down the "Security" percentage of each level, taking out security cameras and then some kind of core reactors that are tucked away in every floor somewhere. But still. I'm a Doom addict and love combat, but the issue was the frequency of combat in combination with System Shock's bizarre and unorthodox interface. I can give them some slack, it was 1994 after all and WASD or other standard templates weren't even a thing, but either way it didn't always make for a good time when I'd try to be engrossed in the awesome world, exploring, and then constantly run into never ending enemy fire and opposition.
This is instantly fixed in the remake because it controls like modern WASD shooters as you'd come to expect in 2023. A worthy refinement for something that did evolve nicely over the years. And this isn't to say that the remake is the most frenetic action game on the market right now, it's still chunky and better approached as a methodical survival horror action game. Some could probably argue the combat is still flawed, with you dying in a blink against tougher enemies or a certain recurring boss (seriously could be 1-2 shots). But with quick saves, this didn't hurt the experience at all for me. I quite liked how ruthless it was. You have to pick your shots, never get ganged up, from start to finish every enemy encounter in this game is intense and a situation to deal with immediately. I'm guessing you'd have to really channel your inner Thief to take on the higher difficulties. All the weapons and grenades, etc, feel excellent and are fun to use. I would say that the difficulty eases off as you go along, but maybe not quite as much as you'd think like a King's Field or whatnot. I'm kind of mesmerized how well paced the enemy rollout is in System Shock Remake. It evolves so seamlessly from slow moving melee robots, zombies, to armored guards with pistols and rifles, to straight up cybertech abominations with grenade launchers or gatling guns that you'd think teleported over from Quake. It makes even some modern games of the genre pale in comparison when thinking of enemy variety. I'd never totally tell someone to play System Shock Remake or most of this genre purely for the combat. But what is here in that regard, for layering on a 1994 game, is quite fantastic.
Music is one of the biggest changes across the two versions and where I can maybe see some legacy fans having a nitpick. Or maybe not. The original games OST is kind of out there to say the least, midi and other sound chips were exploding on the PC market so composers were having a field day cooking up some rocking tunes. It definitely invokes a neon, bright energetic cyberpunk setting at least. But the remake goes for a completely different approach with slower and darker ambiance, that I think works even better. It doesn't quite channel the brilliance that was Thief / System Shock 2 composer Eric Brosius and his styles but it's close. It's the perfect kind of "rumbling" droning like atmosphere that keeps me on the edge of my seat, like a lot of survival horror stuff. Together with all the sounds of the dense ship, really makes you feel claustrophobic and lost at many points, itching to continue exploring while knowing danger and more mystery is right around the corner. Rightfully so.
vs
It seems that the audio logs were redone and rewritten as well. I could tell when I never stumbled upon Warren Spector himself being a character from the original release, which was missing in the remake. That said it was amazing that Terri Brosius' SHODAN sounds exactly the same and is why I was constantly confused for awhile on if the game had new audio or not. She sounds exactly the same almost 30 years later. Marc LeBlanc confirmed somewhere in his run of the remake that it was new audio, along with other tidbits as one of the original developers. It's always cool to see the old devs get to check out a remake of their own old work.
Going over my evolution of this methodical take on first person adventures, it was wild to revisit System Shock this way and realize that the original game arguably has more in common with 3D free roaming dungeon crawlers out there like King's Field or 1992's groundbreaking Ultima Underworld, than it does its own sequel System Shock 2, or Thief, Deus Ex, etc. System Shock 1 simply put, is a dungeon crawler with an incredible sci-fi aesthetic and a legendary videogame antagonist with SHDOAN. Story and hints are delivered via audio logs and emails, a staple for the genre. But it kind of ends there. The rest is you completely on your own trekking through some of those most labyrinthine level design you'll ever find in a 3D game, exploration and survival are the main ingredients here. It has an inverted difficulty curve with you starting out with nothing. No items, weapons, keys, powers/neuromods, and even the player not yet knowing many languages of the game itself and how things work. No NPC or arrow is ever going to tell you what to do in System Shock. It's a rare game that completely respects the player and wants you to have your own journey digging through its world, solving, and conquering its challenges by your own hand. I simply cannot praise System Shock 1 and Remake's level design enough, it is absolutely incredible.
(King's Field 4 vs System Shock 1/Remake. And no, there is no Tingle in System Shock selling you completed maps. It's all fog of war, slowly filling in as you explore yourself. Addicting!)
Another key thing to point out about this remake that blew me away was the aesthetic. The original System Shock still looks cool in its own right and very original. Lot of blues, bright colors, and a consistent architecture filling in for such an iconic setting. It seems like Nightdive went through a few facelifts, a more drab and darker take in the earlier alpha builds, until they finally landed on what we got. The pictures and trailers won't do it justice. I'm not even sure how to fully describe it. Like a low pixelated look that somehow looks both old school and new in the same breath. It's different than the current boomer shooter trend (I hate that term by the way!) with games going fully on the nostalgic classic looks, or even using old engines like classic Unreal Engine. The atmosphere of System Shock Remake is just as dense as the Dead Space Remake I played just this year as well, or Doom 3 (one of its strengths), or Arkane's Prey. And yet, the colorful tint and unique vibes of the original System Shock remain as well. What is there to really say, this remake has a mesmerizing art direction that I absolutely adored and is yet another thing that makes this game stand out so much.
Ultimately, I know I might be bending the rules some posting this in the classic section. But I think that's partly my main point here. This isn't to undermine the years of AMAZING work Nightdive took on this remake and all its new assets on brilliant display, but one could probably argue that like 75% of this game or more is still a 1994 game underneath. Gaming might still be a newer, young medium. But we're well into it by this point with many other old games getting remakes, some good, some not. But just like other good classic art... excellent stellar gameplay can be timeless and this remake is testament to that. I'd still recommend the hardcore retro enthusiast out there to give 1994 System Shock a playthrough. I'm really glad I had played and beaten the original prior to this remake and think it maybe even enhanced my love for this version. But if the original doesn't gel with someone, we now have this incredible remake and I think anyone going into this one first or only, should rightfully "get" what made System Shock 1 so special back then and why it's the Godfather of the immersive sim genre. 30 years! Much of its design philosophy holds up... and it's a shame that there's not much out there quite like it. I guess as you say about some gems out there, it just makes it all the more special.
I don't make it much of a secret for which games and franchises I love. Both Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space are some juggernauts for me with amazing remakes dropping in 2023, along with Tears of the Kingdom. A diehard Zelda head here since the original. But I gotta say, System Shock is the far more "interesting" remake being an older 1994 relic and as a whole, this thing just blew me away. It's right up there with some of the best games I've played this year, this decade, among the immersive sim genre, just... anything. SHODAN is on a throne herself.
Was very cool to see ALL of Looking Glass Studios' 1994 team in the credits of the remake. Respect!
Now, I pray to SHODAN that we get System Shock 2!
I was pretty thorough in all the KF's but once I got through that floor, I never looked back and didn't care if I missed some gear or whatever. 
