System Shock: Enhanced Edition Reviews

This game is awesome, the gameplay is fun and the exploration is awesome too. I love how the game is designed, so much of this game is awesome, don’t get me wrong it’s confusing at first but that’s why I love the game, that learning curve of trying to understand what the fuck I’m looking at felt so great. Highly recommend; though it is a bit cryptic at times so be aware of that.

The detail on every single floor of this game puts AAA games released 30 years later to shame. Weapon and enemy variety is spectacular. Each weapon has either multiple ammo types or firing modes, you can even cook grenades and adjust bomb timers. The control are not nearly as bad as people say. Although it very much feels like you're remotely controlling some kind of combat machine, it kind of makes sense when you remember your character has just received a series of radical cybernetic enhancements and was never trained on how to use them. The menus are easy to customize, with the two side menus letting you see your ammunition, map, health, or other important stats. Even when I had to play this game with no mouse and keyboard aiming only, controlling the hacker was never too bad. The game does not hold your hand at all, but if you truly explore every corner and listen to every log you will find that the environment tells you exactly what to do. You always get rewarded the more you explore, sometimes with extra supplies or unique software or weapons. The atmosphere is captured perfectly, even with so many bright textures and the amazing soundtrack. There is never a friendly NPC you actually meet. Every corpse you find has a story, and even when you find audio logs and follow stories of other crew members, they all have some fate ending on the station. The sound design is beautiful; you can tell exactly what kind of enemy is around the corner, weapons sound very satisfying, and the background music slightly changes depending on your condition or the environment. This game is a lot more of a power trip than the sequel. You have much more health, and the enemies less. There is also less resource management, with surgery beds and respawn chambers being free. The second game's combat is a lot like a puzzle, with fewer but more dangerous enemies appearing at a time, causing you to think carefully about how you approach. Do you risk close combat with the wrench or shard? Use up bullets or PSI points? The first game's combat is much more like an all-out firefight. You rely on your reflexes much more, and your tactics subtly change whether you're in a wide open arena like the flight decks or the cramped corridors of somewhere Engineering. It's a wildly different but amazing experience. Overall this game is a masterpiece and deserves much more recognition. It pioneered so many things we expect in games today like 3d graphics and physics, voice acting, and environmental storytelling. The only problem I can think of is the ending boss fight (which is a problem in the sequel too), but it does not overshadow everything you experience up to that point. Perfect

System Shock Classic: Unbearable. Movement is incredibly inconvenient. System Shock Enhanced: At least I can move, but I still can’t properly look around. Half the screen is cluttered with UI, and the fake 3D sprites rotate like cräp.

For all true video game enjoyers who are sick of "games" designed by retards for the lowest common denominator of modern day gaming audience

At first both the interface and the controls feel complex. But as you play, you gradually get better at them, and the game becomes incredibly fun. It's crazy that a 1994 game , which now makes it more than 30 years old, is still so fun after all this time.

Not for the faint of Heart but If you take your time to adjust to the control scheme there is a lot of fun to be had with the story, puzzles, and combat.

very fun game. incredibly impressive for 1994 and the enhanced edition makes it easy to play in 2025 and beyond.

Its like Doom in space but its a thinking and a strategy game. All in glorious retro FPS style.