System Shock

Nightdive has modernized the original, although it might have stuck too faithfully to its formula

- JOSHUA WOLENS

LET ME TELL YOU about the one that got away. She was pitiless and cruel, narcissistic and delusional. She unfurled through Citadel Station in a thousand security cameras and as many cyborg slaves, their meat taken from the bodies of the outpost’s former staff. She made pustules and blisters, mutants and monsters. She was the death of me a million times over, and I’ve missed her more than words can say.

She is SHODAN, the malevolent AI goddess who was the centerpiece and proudest creation of 1994’s System Shock, rebuilt in sparkling Unreal Engine 4 in this remake from Nightdive Studios. Gone are the sprite-based enemies and screen-eating UI from the original game, replaced by clanking, three-dimensional automatons and an inventory that—while not exactly sleek—is certainly easier to use than the original’s rolling shopping list of weapons, explosives, and stimulants.

Both System Shock and SHODAN are legendary; iconic symbols of an era and philosophy in game design, and remaking them must have been a daunting task. How do you change-up the game that first used the 451 code, the one that every immersive sim still uses to mark itself as part of the tribe to this day, without being accused of sacrilege and blasphemy?

The answer, to the remake’s benefit and detriment, is "faithfully". Nightdive’s System Shock is still very much that game from 1994. It’s a project that aims to upgrade, beautify, and smooth down some rough edges. There are a few new additions, but this is no sweeping overhaul, and it leaves most of the best and worst of the original game intact.

REMEMBER CITADEL