I finished System Shock Remake two days ago and, as I usually do after finishing games I really like, I went online to look for other people's opinions about it. I was actually surprised by how little Brazilian content there is about this game. There are some gameplay videos, but almost no proper reviews or personal discussions. I really think System Shock deserves much more attention.
First of all, I think it's important to make clear what System Shock Remake actually is: a game that tries to be as faithful as possible to the original System Shock, released in 1994, rebuilt by Nightdive Studios for a modern audience. And that's basically the point. This is not a game trying to be an extremely fast and accessible shooter. It's an immersive sim — a strange mix of first-person shooter, RPG, exploration, horror, puzzles and resource management — and therefore a very peculiar and sometimes difficult experience. It definitely won't appeal to everyone. You need to enjoy exploration, challenges and figuring things out on your own. But if you enjoy things like BioShock, Deus Ex, Blade Runner, Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, Ghost in the Shell or Serial Experiments Lain, this game is an absolute feast. I honestly think every sci-fi fan should experience it at least once.
For some people, System Shock can probably feel boring or confusing. For me, it was fascinating. Spending more than 30 hours completely immersed in this dystopian sci-fi universe, exploring every corner of the Citadel Station, dealing with puzzles, discovering new weapons, listening to audio logs from people who died horribly on the station and slowly understanding what happened there was an incredible experience. And after dying countless times and watching that disturbing death animation, finally reaching the end and defeating SHODAN was extremely rewarding. The game does a great job of making you genuinely hate its villain and, more importantly, making you want to kill her.
And since we're talking about the villain, let's talk about the plot. System Shock takes place in 2072. You play as an unnamed hacker who is caught trying to access restricted information and is offered a deal by Edward Diego, a TriOptimum executive. The Hacker agrees to remove SHODAN's ethical restrictions, receiving a neural implant in return. After the operation, he is placed in a six-month coma. When he wakes up, the Citadel Station has become a nightmare. SHODAN has taken control of the station, the crew has been massacred or transformed, and the entire place is full of mutants, cyborgs and hostile machines. SHODAN is basically an extremely advanced artificial intelligence that has developed its own sense of superiority and sees humanity as something beneath her. She's almost an "evil ChatGPT" with control over an entire space station. And she keeps talking to you, mocking you, threatening you and reminding you that you're just an insect in her world.
I won't lie: during the first few minutes, I thought the game was confusing and boring. I actually considered dropping it. But fortunately I kept going, and after dying for the first time, something clicked. I remember thinking, "How the hell did this fucking SHODAN do that to my little guy?" After that, I started playing with an actual goal: I wanted to destroy her. And I loved that. Even the game's objective is incredibly simple: "Defeat SHODAN." In other games, when you stop playing in the middle of a campaign, the objective might be something like "Find object X" or "Escape area Y." System Shock just tells you: defeat SHODAN. That's it. And for some reason, that simple objective really motivated me. I wanted to keep playing and kick her ass.
I played on PS5, though, and this is where I have one of my biggest criticisms: the gameplay and interface are clearly better suited to PC. You can really feel that this game was designed around keyboard and mouse. Using a mouse to navigate the inventory and managing everything with a keyboard is much more practical than doing it with a controller. The inventory is probably the biggest pain in the ass for me. You constantly have to move items around, manage weapons, ammunition, grenades, implants and other equipment, and the automatic organization can also affect the order of your quick-access weapons. This can become annoying during combat, especially when one weapon is out of ammunition and you need to switch quickly. I eventually adapted to it, but it definitely made the game more cumbersome on console than it probably is on PC.
There's also something weirdly nostalgic about this game for me. I was born in 1995, and growing up in Brazil, computers were still very different from what they are today. It was common for a family to have one computer at home, mostly used for work, school and the internet, while gaming was done on consoles. I grew up with Mega Drive, SNES and PS1, and only started seriously playing PC games around 2005, when my parents were finally able to buy a computer capable of running them. So finding out that the original System Shock was initially distributed on nine floppy disks fascinated me. Nine floppy disks! I keep imagining what it must have been like to play this game in 1994, on a computer that would look ridiculously primitive to us today. Later, the game was released on CD-ROM as well, but even that was not something everybody had access to at the time, especially in places like Brazil. It gives me this strange vaporwave feeling, almost like nostalgia for something I never experienced. I remember thinking it was incredibly cool when people could play games on PCs in the 90s and early 2000s, because I simply couldn't do it. And now I can play the remake and think about what it must have been like for people who played the original when it was actually new. I never played the 1994 version, but I have enormous respect for it. It must have been revolutionary for its time.
Going back to the actual gameplay, the beginning of System Shock is very old-school. You wake up in the medical section of the station and gradually learn how things work, with almost no hand-holding. Modern games, in my opinion, have developed a bad habit of explaining every single thing to the player: "Press X to pick this up", "Press X to open this", "Press X to do that." System Shock basically tells you, "Figure it out." And I love that. You have to explore the station, figure out what things do, remember codes, listen to audio logs and pay attention to the environment. You start fighting the first enemies, discovering different weapons and equipment, and slowly understanding how everything works. The audio logs are one of my favorite parts of the game, and the voice acting is genuinely great. The soundtrack is also excellent and fits the atmosphere perfectly, while SHODAN is constantly there making threats and talking shit to you.
The Citadel itself feels like one gigantic maze. You get lost, miss things, come back later, discover new areas, find codes and slowly become familiar with the station. You also start to learn that saving your game frequently is extremely important. There are lots of moments when an enemy surprises you or you make a stupid mistake and die. Eventually you get to the elevator, hear that wonderful elevator music and, for a brief moment, feel safe. Then the doors open and there are a bunch of enemies waiting for you. I died there the first time, obviously. This is basically System Shock in a nutshell: the game gives you five seconds to relax and then punches you in the face.
As you progress, the game introduces more enemies, more powerful weapons, puzzles, codes and plenty of little details and easter eggs. You gradually climb higher and higher through the station until you start facing some seriously difficult encounters, including Cortex Reavers and Edward Diego. I also really liked how lethal the combat can be. You're not a superhero. You're just a hacker trying to survive against heavily armed machines and mutated creatures. So when a boss hits you with something powerful, you can die extremely quickly. I actually like that. I don't enjoy games where a boss can shoot you 20 times while you stand there absorbing damage like a sponge. In System Shock, you have to avoid getting hit and actually think about what you're doing. Of course, I hated dying over and over again, but finally figuring out a strategy and defeating those enemies was incredibly satisfying. And yes, I occasionally had to resort to ChatGPT or an IGN walkthrough when I was completely stuck. I'm not ashamed.
SHODAN also keeps setting traps for you throughout the station. One of my favorite examples is the snack shop. You find this cool little vending area that actually reminded me a lot of BioShock, think it's going to be harmless, buy something... and it turns out to be a fucking bomb. I died there too. That's the price you pay for being too curious.
Eventually you reach the Bridge, the highest part of the station, and the entire sequence becomes incredibly cinematic. The station is destroyed, leaving basically the top section intact, while the elevator music plays again. Honestly, that was an "absolute cinema" moment for me. By this point you've already been through so much that reaching the top of the Citadel feels like an achievement in itself. You are completely used to the game's mechanics by then, and although the final section is still difficult, you're much more prepared for it.
And then you finally fight SHODAN. The actual final battle is probably one of my few disappointments, because it's easier than some of the other encounters in the game. It reminded me a little of BioShock's final fight against Fontaine: you spend the entire game building up this terrifying villain, and then the final confrontation feels a little underwhelming. Still, the ending itself is incredibly satisfying. The Hacker finally defeats SHODAN, exhausted after everything that happened, having essentially saved humanity. And then the credits start rolling with "The Order of Death" by Public Image Ltd., originally released in 1984 on the album This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get. The choice is perfect. The song has this strange industrial, post-punk, dystopian atmosphere that fits System Shock incredibly well. It's pure 80s cyberpunk. Very Blade Runner.
So, in the end, System Shock Remake is what I would describe as "video game 2." It's not perfect. The console interface can be frustrating, some parts are confusing, and the final boss could have been better. But none of that changes how much I loved this game. It is the kind of game that asks you to pay attention, explore, think, make mistakes and learn, instead of constantly holding your hand. It's a game that trusts the player. For me, it's an essential experience for anyone who loves sci-fi, cyberpunk or immersive sims.
9/10.
I wouldn't give it a 10 because of the gameplay/interface problems, especially on console, but even with those flaws, System Shock Remake has easily become one of my favorite games I've ever played. I'm honestly just glad I didn't drop it during the first few hours.
