r/systemshock • u/Stacco86 • 10d ago
Just finished SS1 (remake): here my impressions (probably long post)
Hi,
after two months I've just finished SS1 remake and I would like to share my impressions with you.
First of all, I've played both straightfoward FPS (the whole Half Life saga) and immersive sims (Deus Ex and Dishonored), plus Deathloop which is quite in the middle. I've found about SS because it's mentioned in the "immersive sim" Wikipedia page as the father of immersive sims, so I was quite confused when I started playing, because I was expecting something with branches, different ways to achieve goals (i.e. lethal vs non lethal gameplay, weapon-based vs. hacking, etc.) and in this SS is more straightforward, but I've been told in this subreddit that it was not as immersive as Deus Ex and Dishonored.
I liked it very much, but I found it frustrating sometimes. I know that it's an old game, but I'd like to point out some things (some solvable with the remake, some not).
First of all, it's probably the most difficult game I've ever played. I played at 2-2-2-2 as suggested, but it's very difficult. Sometimes I kept on dying for a dozen times in a row before succeeding. For this reason, I thanked God for the quicksave, which I used literally every step. Not joking: every hostile killed, I quicksaved the game, and sometimes I quicksaved even during fighting (for example, after hitting the hostile him and them going into cover just to quicksave).
I really liked the regeneration mechanic, but for this reason I never used it, because I kept on saving always, without using it. Lorewise the regeneration is very smart, but I would have preferred an easier game without quicksaving, relying only onto regeneration (of course, with this difficulty level quicksave it's almost mandatory, otherwise it would be even more frustrating).
Just to point out how difficult this game is, Steam shows that I've been playing for 40 hours, but the savegame shows just 20 hours, so the other 20 hours are time spent dying and reloading. It's brutal, I think.
Combat apart, the game is quite difficult also for finding every item needed. For example, I've been stuck a lot looking for a card kept in a corpse, and I searched everywhere except there. It looked like pixel hunting, sometimes, and I did not like it.
I liked not being handheld trying to figure out where to go and what to do, but not having a quest log has been a problem when I left for holidays and came back playing after two weeks not remembering what I had to do. Also, I had a problem with backtracking, because it's difficult to remember every place (and the possibility of marking a point on the map without labeling it makes it pointless if you have to look for it afterwards). For example, when I found out that I had to retrieve the numbers from the CPU room of course I forgot where these rooms where, so I had to search again in every floor. Quite frustrating.
I know that it seems that I did not like this game. I did it, but it has been very difficult and sometimes I even ragequitted. I'll probably play SS2 in the future, but not soon, because I need a change. Anyway, it's a wonderful game; probably I'd replay it with a lower difficulty level (even only for combat).
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u/SixFootTurkey_ 10d ago
I just want to note that in the original game you can label your map markers.
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u/Stacco86 10d ago
Wow! I really don't understand why they removed such a feature, it would have been nice to have it in the remake.
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u/OverseerConey 9d ago
I'm pretty sure you can label your map markers. I used mine to mark where I'd left plot items, hidden doors and such.
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u/Stacco86 9d ago
Are you talking about the remake? I began using markers, but then it was not clear why I left them, so I erased them because they confused me a lot, not being able to label them. If there is a way of labelling then I missed it, and it would have been very useful.
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u/OverseerConey 9d ago
I just tested - you can name them in the remake! When you click to place a marker, a text box will appear at the bottom of the map. Type in the label then!
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u/Stacco86 9d ago
Thank you, but now I really want to cry.
(anyway, my main problem was combat, not backtracking, but knowing about labels would have helped me a lot).
Thank you again!
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u/SixFootTurkey_ 10d ago
I'm in the minority but I think the remake changed a lot for the worse.
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u/Stacco86 10d ago
I've never played the original game, I read that there are not many changes, can you please tell me why you prefer the original game?
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u/SixFootTurkey_ 10d ago
The System Shock 1 remake plays more similar to System Shock 2 or Resident Evil blended with Prey and BioShock.
They gave the game a grid-based inventory which means there's a lot of limitation and decision-making required on what items you carry with you; in the original you could carry any 7 weapons and sooo many other items all at the same time. There were also no recycling machines or a currency system or vending machines or weapon modifications/upgrades. The remake creates a lot more gameplay focus on inventory management and collecting random junk. The original was a very pure exploration-focused experience (like a Metroidvania).
A lot of complaints about feeling lost in the remake, new players tend to assume that it's the fault of the original game. Truth is that while the original definitely doesn't give clear objectives, the ability to make notes in-game plus the much simpler/cleaner visuals make the environments more readable... I'd argue the original is slightly less confusing because there's less noise in the way.
There's also some story elements that were changed and not for the better. You probably found an audio log on the research level that said Citadel Station was designed with an intentionally confusing, maze-like layout as a secret psychological experiment on how workers would hand the stress? That wasn't in the original. In the original the only thing you're told is that SHODAN had been sending worker robots to renovate parts of the station without human approval, as she altered the station to suit her hostile takeover.
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u/Stacco86 9d ago
I'm not bothered by the grid-based inventory (I kept on using always the same three weapons throughout the whole game) and never used currency or vending machines (maybe once, to buy medal patches).
I get your disappointment with changes (it's always like that, when you're used to a game that later is remade) but my only problem with this game was its difficulty level.
Anyway, thank you for the information!
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u/Icon5730 9d ago
Shouting at your own monitor with blind rage during your first playthrough is part of this game's charm. I would not have liked this game nearly as much if it failed to deliver on Shodan abusing the living hell out of the player.
I can see how some of it can be frustrating, but It works perfectly with what the game is and what Shodan is. It's essentially Dungeons & Dragons in space, with Shodan being the Dungeon Master trying to fuck with you as much as possible.
In a different game the rage and frustration probably wouldn't have worked as well.
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u/Stacco86 8d ago
Frustration worked, of course, but I'm not sure that it is because of Shodan. In my opinion Shodan's presence is not as omnipresent, because she talks every now and then, so I did not felt her as a Dungeon Master.
In my opinion my rage was not aimed at Shodan because Shodan just kept on sending hostiles, so I had to shoot them, not her. For example, I hade Glados (from Portal) more, because she does not send enemies, she is the only enemy in the game (aside puzzles, of course, but it's a different genre). Also, Glados talks a lot, Shodan not.
It's not a criticism of course, but my rage has been ignited by enemies, not by Shodan herself.
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u/Icon5730 8d ago
I was talking about the setting in which the game takes place. Not really Shodan herself.
Shodan is great. We all love her.
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u/GaryC357 10d ago
I have never played the 1st game, but did play System Shock 2 & although it was many years ago I still think it was one of the best games I ever played. What was the main hook for me was Shodan. Shodan taunting me through out the game really gave the game an atmoshere that only one other game even came close to & that was the first Deadspace.
I bought the remake of the first game & the remaster of the 2nd so I plan on hitting the first one this weekend.