System Shock Review - Shiny, new SHODAN
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- Опубліковано 25 чер 2024
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Original System Shock video: • System Shock Enhanced ...
It's been a long road for System Shock Remake. Nightdive Studios began this reimagining of Looking Glass Studios classic immersive sim almost eight years ago and the project has gone through set backs, delays, engine switches and a straight up restart. Fans have been understandably impatient, but their long wait has finally been rewarded. System Shock is finished and finally on our systems. Is SHODAN still as menacing as she was back in 1994? Find out in this System Shock Review.
System Shock was developed by Nightdive Studios and published by Prime Matter. It is available for PC and is coming to PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X and S.
Timecodes
00:00 Intro
2:04 System Shock narrative
6:19 Presentation
13:18 System Shock gameplay
18:35 combat
23:11 New systems
27:17 Conclusion
#systemshock #systemshock2 #systemshockremake
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Written and edited by Kirk McLaughlin
Graphics by Steven Hilton - @stevenbydesign , stevenxdesign.com
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Thank you for watching this video review on System Shock! If You're curious about my thoughts on the 1994 original check out the video linked here:
ua-cam.com/video/TE4KKEd-vto/v-deo.html
Keep at it my guy, your content is great and your narrative delivery is great. It shocks me you don't have 100k+ subs
It dawned on me a few hours into the game that the art direction and decision to incorporate the "pixelated textures" was a microcosm of the remake itself. Viewed from a distance, the game looks sleek and modern but up close you realize that it is still built on the bones of that classic game. I'm sure it also has many practical applications (I've noticed how small the download is, how well it performs and how rare and quick any loading screens are) but whoever can be credited with the idea of taking that approach deserves big recognition. It is a brilliant choice.
One bit of feedback that I think can help anyone playing the game for the first time is regarding the Recycler. My advice: Vaporize everything you plan to recycle. If you are diligent about collecting junk, you will still have way more coins than you will ever need as-is, to the point that by the late-game, you'll have pockets of cash and nothing to spend it on. The small handful of extra coins you'd gain by trying to hold onto items is not at all worth the annoyance of inventory juggling and backtracking. Just vaporize.
This game has been an absolute treat. I'm a long time fan of many games in the imm-sim genre but I had never fully experienced the original System Shock past the opening levels due to the aging controls and interface. But the remake has reawakened that spirit of exploration within me and helped me appreciate just how formative it was. I think anyone curious about immersive sims or any fan of the Bioshock games and who isn't afraid of a little challenge should absolutely check it out. I have a feeling this will be a top-of-class contender for a long time to come.
Man, I am honestly just blown away by this game. I never played the original sadly, I didn't have a PC back then, but this remake is the first game I've ever preordered and I am so glad I did. This feels so old-school and I love it, having to reload manually when I'm out of ammo, no objective markers, having to read and figure things out using my brain, being tactical during confrontations and mindful of my limited resources.
10/10 I love the System Shock Remake
Look at you, Hacker
Fun fact about the original audio logs: These were all done by the developers as far as I know. They didn't have any professional voice actors so they recorded the logs themselves.
Yeah you can really tell that was the case lol alot of the delivery was extremely flat and unemotional
Hey, the sucker just released for consoles! Can you believe it? System Shock on a console running smooth as butter, and looking incredible in 4K@60FPS w/Ray Tracing. We (fiancee and I) got it for our Series X and PS5. What a phenomenal game. They don't make them like this anymore...
Addendum- As a fan of the Shock series that started playing in 1999 with System Shock 2....this review is on point. I never got the chance to play the first game until now and it is truly something to behold. I just wish the second game was ready for prime time as well.
Man I got it for ps5, never played the original. I am just blown away by how good this game is. Original It was so ahead of its time and I can see now how it influenced so many modern games. People need to support night dive. They are killing it!
One thing I really like about the remake is that it's mod friendly and creative modders already made a lot of great QOL mods like more space in recycler, natural lighting, weapon balance and more.
There haven't been that many mods and not anything significant.. I wouldn't call the developers mod friendly, we'll see if they are.. but the really small things that I've been adjustable have just been some of the most basic and kind of random too.. in a game where you need to actually run an engine level unlocker in order to put basic console functionality back in.. I don't know if I would call that mod friendly, and the only reason those tools exist is for cheating in fortnite from what I can tell.
I wish there had been an original soundtrack option and that certain small things had been more like the original but overall I still enjoy the game
Tho I at least wish that more of the music was noticeable as executive was the only one that only plays
Great review! I liked all of the SS1/2 comparisons here. I really think Nightdive has the right pieces and parts to create a SS2 remake pretty soon. You can see it in the art design and new additions. It's almost like they are testing out features that would become staples in SS2. Some of the enemy designs were more in line with SS2 as well, for what I assume are similar reasons.
Played the original in 94 and somewhen around 2000 i got my hands on the cd version and replayed it again. It´s still a masterpiece and the raw template for every immersive sim that came after it. Instantly bought it when i read it finally got released and i am impressed how good such a mature game can be upgradet with modern mechanics. For me my first playthrough was a blast and currently i am on my 2nd one. One voice actress is still the same: Terri Brosius is again Shodans original voice from 94. Small information: Mark "MAHK" LeBlanc, one of the devs from looking glass that produced the original has a let´s play here on youtube (he is streaming it sometimes and then uploading) giving here and there informations why they did things anno 94 as they did.
If you hate throwing grenades by hand - find a grenade launcher in storage (in the vertical room with all the open crates) it makes them A LOT smoother to use.
I'd never played the original and was blown away by how good the remake is. I expected it to be good but somewhat dated mechanically, but I found myself enjoying the vast majority of design decisions. Really demonstrates how far ahead of its time the original game was.
I agree with pretty much everything in the review except the cargo lift, I thought making it a very limited amount of storage space was ideal.
The limited space encourages the player to actually think about what they need access to, rather than just dumping everything in it. It also requires the player to think about other storage options, like the crates on maintenance which are relatively easy to access and will be passed on a semi-regular basis just while playing the game normally. Too many games throw away the need to plan in favour of convenience, and more often that not it detracts from the game imo.
When you consider the 10 hour time limit on higher difficulties the limited space is even more appropriate. It's one of the few examples of a difficulty setting that actually changes how the player approaches the game, and part of that is being efficient with their inventory to avoid wasting time backtracking, which would be redundant with a large cargo lift.
Like I said I feel like those elements would have still been present in the game without limiting the cargo lift. At the very least I wish there was a way for players to upgrade the storage capacity, maybe with the coins, I think that would have added a cool dimension.
Awesome you like the game though! I love that new players get to see how cool this game is.
@@KIRKCOLLECTS The lift can´t be upgradet, but there are 2 inventory upgrades in the game. The lift itself is more a goodie for exchanging weapons when you run out of the type for the weapon you are carrying but already have stacked up ammo for another weapon you have in the lift. Sure there is room for improvement but as the lift with fixed locations is an auto-backtrack for itself....hmmm, not sure.
Pretty sure that the inventory upgrades you find (in the Groves I think) also enlarge the cargo lift a little which I found to be very helpful. Not available for most of the early game tho so the point stands. Anyway good review of a brilliant game.
Loved the remake, and with the cargo lift and recycler stuff I ended up saying "fuck it" and downloaded mods to increase the size of said stuff.
I really hope there's some mod support.. when you look at the opening level, and the amount of tension being under equipped and running through the back channels.. all the while there are more enemies on stage at the end then pretty much anywhere in the rest of the campaign.. and by the time you get the weapons that would be fun to end chew through groups like that, you're mostly just fighting robots and like some of the robots are fun.. but when they stopped bothering with the destruction in the models, the robots just kind of stop being fun LOL..
It's such a weird thing too where you have the enforcers, who take no visible damage but just rag doll, but the super cyborg things, and they chunk just like their tiny buddies.. you have the courtesy robots that you can beat on into a million pieces, sometimes necessary given how the rag dolls tend to pretend to be not dead LOL.. even shooting them is fun, but the floating security drones.. they just they explode a little bit, and then rag doll.. and at the end of it, majority of the enemies that you're fighting are just progress bar obstacles almost, some of them can be fun.. but the way that they did the design earlier on, especially with the zombies.. not only are they fun to shoot, and they react satisfyingly at least in their death.. but once you have 10 or 12 of them in a scene chasing you down, and you end up in that dynamic of trying to lock some off in rooms to save ammo.. or chunking them with grenades etc it's it's super fun.. and then you kind of don't do that for like the majority of the game...
I kind of wonder if the gore system had been implemented on the later models, cuz clearly there was a divergent development priority.. given the stark contrast between how detailed the smooshing gets, even on the earlier courtesy robots.. to the point where you just not getting it at all even on organic targets.. I kind of wonder if that would have made it more fun, even if the level design placement of the enemies hadn't been altered but.. there's a point where everything that you're shooting is a sponge for the most part, a very manageable sponge mind you.. but it's an obstacle not really a fight..
I was really impressed with how they scaled up the difficulty for the medical demo, and just the Minor adjustments they have made in eight years, that really kind of culminated in the final release for that particular level really made it shine despite being one of the visually weakest environments.. just seems like it would have been just at least on the surface more enjoyable to go through the later parts if the combat was mixed with more of the organic enemies and less set up like encounters and more set up systemically like the medical demo.. it really does become an encounter game towards the end and not for the better.
I am looking forward to buying and playing the game. However, I will be modding it to at least have the original melodies.
I don't understand why Night Dive was authentic to the original game's visuals and layouts, yet failed to translate the music. The style of the music was one of the things that separated the System Shocks from other games, so I dread what a System Shock 2 remake would (not) sound like.
The SS1 music were MIDI tunes that, while it had its fans, were really tonally out-of-place with the grisly situation the player found himself in. I mean, this is what greeted you when you first woke up: ua-cam.com/video/d-3u9vO9UUE/v-deo.html . Though, one of the Kickstarter stretch goals did promise a remix of the original soundtrack, so that might still be pending in an update. (They did post recently that they are working on hacker gender selection, which was another stretch goal.)
The new SS1 soundtrack is still really well done. Both soundtracks have banger Executive tracks for different reasons.
Now, SS2, that soundtrack fit the mood and was an awesome 90s electronica treat to match. Ain't nothing quite matches having an Amen Break D&B track looping in the background as you run through Engineering. I hope they keep it or at least have the option to switch to it.
@@Apparat8 The music being "out of place" is incorrect. It is that way because we are in the shoes of a cyberpunk hacker, and therefore view the world through their headspace.
Music doesn't have to be solely based on environment, it can also reflect a viewpoint.
@@SabinStargem I really am not trying to be mean, but I think that you are in a very small minority with that opinion. The OST for System Shock was straight up weird and it did not fit the atmosphere of the game very well. It's completely ok to like it and to see it's artistic merits, but as i said: The majority of people did not like it and will be happy that the new soundtrack goes a completely different route.
@@Stusel In that case, I sincerely hope that System Shock 2 never receives a remake.
The soundtrack there will also be butchered, to placate people who never liked the original game in the first place.
@@VrilWaffen Then play games that aren't System Shock 1 nor 2. Seriously, you got plenty of ambiance options like Prey, Dead Space, Bioshock, and Resident Evil.
You are arguing for System Shock's unique character to be sacrificed for a homogenized style that wasn't intended by the original developers. This is a cyberpunk series foremost, and the music is designed to remind of that.
While the original games had flaws, the music certainly wasn't among them.
Remark for any Flemish or French players, AZERTY keyboard layouts are not supporten (patch 1).
There has been no communication about this issue by Nightdive, even after repeated questions.
You need to fiddle with your windows keyboard layout to make the game work correctly.
Just use a gamepad
While I do really enjoy the game, as a remake, it does feel like combat and the cameras should've been much better. As it stands, it's a great remake, but it should've been even better. It could've been as good as RE1 Remake.
Everything else I'm okay with being faithful to the originals. I wasn't happy when they went closer to a reimagining direction because it felt less like SS1 and more like they were trying to make SS3. Keeping at least some of the new ideas would've been smart. Vita-chambers being better should've been a no-brainer. I think almost all fans of the original agree that it's a problem.
Enjoying the video so far and I never got to play the og game as I am on console and never owned a pc, I'm loving this game and just wanted to point out that perhaps the reason most of the enemies do move much or take cover is because they are just pawns of shodan that lack self preservation and just push forward to kill you as that is their objective?? That's how explain it in my head anyway and for me it is believable. 👍
Good review, but I disagree about the recycler and turbo lift size limitations. An integral part of an immersive sim is not just that problems have multiple solutions, but that the world feels real and tactile and those solutions flow as a natural consequence of the world's rules. Having the turbo lift and recycler occupy real space and have real limitations goes a long way towards making the space you're in feel real and immersive - and I think needing to leave certain items behind on certain floors added to the overall fun of the resource management challenge.
I did not realize that some items straight up could not fit in the recycler though. That seems like something that's probably just an oversight and should be fixed.
I understand that but I feel like those elements and consequences would still be in the game without having to jump through hoops with the recycler and lift. I actually wish Nightdive put a means of upgrading the storage space, perhaps with the coins.
I think the damaged assault rifle was the only one that couldn't fit. It really seemed like an oversight. Maybe they'll fix it in a patch.
As far as space limitations, you could still stash weapons in crates, such as the recycling station area crates in the Maintenance level. But, the game didn't really want you to take your entire arsenal with you. You were meant to figure out and find your favorite weapons, and either stash the rest for later, or just not worry about them at all. SS2 kinda did the same thing, especially with the choice to either be a weapons expert or go fully into psy powers. You couldn't carry everything, and couldn't push your skills in all directions.
@@KIRKCOLLECTS I agree the remake had a too much inventory fiddling, but personally I feel that came from all the hoarding and vaporising incentivised by the recycling system itself. The way it was balanced made it too much of a gamey routine, almost as if I'm playing a crafting game, rather than something natural to the station that could be taken advantage of.
I agree with others that the cargo lift shouldn't be made too convenient. The mechanics in System Shock (down to the combat) works by presenting inconveniences and asking the player to somehow deal with them. It's the very opposite of 'flow' like you would see in something like Dishonored, or Doom etc. The cargo lift, as currently implemented, is very much in the spirit of that. If it was made too convenient that would send the wrong message to players: you don't want to incentivise flow in one area of the game only to work against it in others - that would turn confusing and annoying fast.
The same thing can be said of the grenade handling, which has very clearly been tuned to mimic the inconvenience of using grenades in the original. I think if we had precise snappy grenades, and a large cargo lift to carry every item/gun between floors, then we would be in a situation where one part of the game's design would start to clash with the other.
@@KIRKCOLLECTS Thing is: I was kinda bummed out about the inventory space at first as well. But when I realized, that EVERYTHING I did on the station stayed the same way, forever, no matter what I do. At that point, the inventory was not that much of an issue anymore: I just picked Maintenance as my main storage floor because it connected to so many other floors and had a simple layout and dumped everything on the floor in the middle.
I actually was rather impressed how the game is capable to store every bit of information on each floor as you progress. I just didn't expect that I would be able to just throw stuff on the ground wherever I want and the game just going: 'Aight, that stays there, I got you'. Most games can't save anything after you leave a certain location.
Yes, that leads to some backtracking, but you have to backtrack anyway, especially if you want to be thorough in exploring the station.
I love this remake. I got to the reactor level in the enhanced edition and just decided to stop because the moment to moment combat was kinda frustrating and I found the level’s too difficult to navigate based on how many corridors look the exact same. I respect it greatly but I just felt that I had other games on my backlog that I would get more out of. Nevertheless, the desire to play through the game due to its significance kept gnawing at me and I knew the remake was scheduled to release soon (this was in 2022). I was very apprehensive and had low expectations since the game seemed to be trapped in development hell and was approaching the time frame that leads developers into endless doom spiral that alot of other games end up in. I had low expectations but I also wasn’t necessarily expecting it to be bad. When it finally released after a few more delays and was not only stable but very good and also extremely faithful to the original. I was very happy to see it and I got sucked in hard a a couple weeks ago. What a great game. It’s not perfect but it feels good and the world is so immersive and feels great to navigate.
My biggest complaint is probably with the unskipable, long animations and cinematics. Like the process of picking up audio logs kinda got old after seeing the animation a few times, the patches took too long to put on, and if you die, the regeneration cinematic takes an annoyingly long time. God forbid you die and have to rewatch the scene of you being put in a cortex reaver again. I loved that shodan’s dialogue was unique each time but that didn’t make up for just how long it was and that if you didn’t load a save immediately upon dying, you were locked in for the next minute. That exploding rc maze at the end was the only time I got visibly frustrated in the entire game due to this.
hard to choose between this or prey as my favorite game of all time
It is such an absolute shame that SS1 and 2 sold so badly. These games are masterpieces. They defined a part of gaming. And this also cost us SS3 which is now dead in the water, or maybe has been for many years already.
Nothing is dead in the water.... the reason both System Shock and System Shock 2 failed to sell enough was because they were locked on PC. The decision to keep these games tied to a PC while games like Doom and Half-Life exploded on consoles is baffling. Each time the decision was made to keep them walled in PC land, consoles existed that could have easily brought them to the masses proper.
In 1995 both the Playstation and Sega Saturn were up to the task in bringing the first game many more homes. They both had optional mouse and keyboard support making SS1 an easy fit for them. The Playstation by itself, with the right advertising would have pushed SS1's numbers into the stratosphere. By 1995 forward people were hungry for true immersion and adult content. The opportunity to push for big gains was squandered. In 1999 the Sega Dreamcast with its mouse and keyboard was more than ready to push the second game to the heights it deserved. This would have caused a snowballs effect landing SS2 on both the PS2 and Xbox (maybe even the GameCube). Each time System Shock failed to break real ground it was because the developers failed to see what was actually possible. That has all finally changed....
System Shock was just released on every major Xbox and Playstation console not one week ago. In that time frame System Shock has sold more copies in 1 week than it ever did in the 30 years it existed combined. Rejoice my friend, the series is back in a big way and is selling like a wildfire particularly across the Xbox Series X and PS5 (I bought copies for both). Not only was System Shock 2 just announced as being green lit for modern consoles and PC but were getting a real sequel. Tencent has acquired many of the original team behind SS1 and SS2 for the new entry. I'm not joking...both Church and Levine have been announced as being apart of the 3rd System Shock!
Loving the Remake but its hard as hell. Hope we hey console ports soon
Console ports are in development. I believe I've heard that they should be expected sometime in 2024.
@@Webhead123 that far? Shame
@@skullkid964 Don't quote me on that. I just seem to remember hearing that date thrown around somewhere on the web. Still, ports take time, not the least of which because of legal shenanigans between the publisher and Microsoft/Sony.
It's out on consoles as of a week or 2 ago. Currently playing on the Xbone
Trepang² when?
Soon 😁
Finished this game days ago. Melee combat feels meh(games like Dying Light and Dead Island spoiled me, sorry), and final boss battle is absolute 4$$. But despite those, had an absolute blast with this game. Every progress roadblock is a headache, every eureka moment is a dopamine hit(every time i'm on the verge of giving up and checking out a walkthrough, an idea comes to mind, and every friggin' time, it worked!), and I relish every spiteful moment SHODAN mock, goad, and threaten me, as I return the spiteful favor by systematically dismantle her plans. And yeah, strategically dealing with trash and recycling is so much fun too.
My most favorite parts are the executive level, and the absolute gauntlet of a penultimate level that is the bridge. Pretty excited for the upcoming Enhanced System Shock 2, but for now, currently going through Amnesia The Bunker.
You think we'll get a Quake 2 remaster later this year? There have been some rumors.
It's hard to say if it will be this year but I definitely think a Quake 2 remaster is coming. ID and Nightdive have had a good partnership so far.
*Promosm*
Love this game, so glad the original got this remake, no game deserved it more!
Only thing that sucks is that I can't run this baby on my current rig on the highest settings.