The System Shock remake manages to capture the same tension and stress of playing the original game and, as you would expect of a remake, does it better. Of course, the original game was a DOS game which had the same visual complexity as a piece of graph paper and was intended to be played on a CRT with the resolution of an ant's knob, but even then, given the aged visuals the original game still manages to hold up even today.

I honestly didn't expect the remake to add nearly as much detail to the environments given the source material and it really goes to show how much creative energy went into this remake which makes this feel like a real passion project.

Meanwhile, the music is more ambient than groovy but the game still manages a serious amount of atmosphere emanating from it. With the dark corridors and distant cyborg mumbles, the music is what ends up being the big red bow which ties up the atmosphere into a beautiful recently bashed mutant corpse.

Even then, it is a bit of a shame that we didn't get full blown recreations of the original music. One of the highlights of the original game was how it manages to get the music to be so up beat yet manages to compliment a sci-fi horror setting. Some may argue the music was a little too much for what was going on and I would imagine that critique is what lead to the remake having a more quiet, ambient soundtrack.

Meanwhile, while I do feel that the visual style is a good fit for the remake, I'm not entirely with the textures having that low resolution look to them as to compliment the original game. Sure, its cute but with a game which has put the effort into completely modernising the visuals from the original game, it feels like a bit of a missed opportunity to make the environments feel more realised.

Granted, this pixel-ey look isn't always visible, especially at a distance, so its not like it disrupts immersion or anything (except when you notice it on your player's hands and weapons) but it feels that the visuals are being slightly held back by this decision, but that's whatever. Its usually going to be a per-case thing if you do or don't like this sort of thing, and in this case, I don't like it.

Another thing that really disappointed me was the Restoration Bays, or the respawn points if you're not sure what those are. In the original game, a simple yet charming text-to-speech voice announces that you have finally reached what is arguably the most important area on every level. Hearing that robotic voice say the words "CYBORG CONVERSION CANCELLED. STANDARD RESTORATION PROCEDURES ONLINE" is on the same level as reaching a safe room in a Resident Evil game or reaching an extract with 4 blacked out limbs with two tank batteries stuffed into your backpack in Tarkov. Although now, it's got proper voice acting, and while that may seem better, the new voice doesn't really give the feeling of relief the same way the original's did, but now that's just nitpicking.

In any case, this is a very good package. Its true to the original game and aims to preserve the original's design whilst also making modern improvements. There's also a lot of System Shock 2 influence in here too, maybe a little too much for someone coming from the original game though.

There's now actual inventory management and a scrapping mechanic that lets you exchange useless items for useful items at vending machines. What I found myself doing is picking up everything that wasn't nailed to the ground and acquiring tokens for my scrap collection but realised I wasn't even bothering to spend those tokens on anything.

See, once you activate the respawn area on each level and find a Sparc Gun along with memorising every recharge station on that level, you kind of don't have to worry as much about dying. And then I realised that the items I was picking up just weren't worth the time to scrap and then exchange.

I appreciate the idea of making previously useless items useful but given how quickly you can progress once you figure out what you're doing, I realised that I'd rather play an area out tactically and stack up on health items than to keep taking detours to navigate the almost maze-like level design. Yes, the original game was like this too but the original game had you backtrack for something you either missed or had to backtrack for.

Overall, it might be something newcomers to the series or those not too fond of the horror genre might find a bit too much to handle, not to worry because the game offers up the same difficulty configuration options that the original game had meaning you can play the game as relaxed as James May filing and organising drill bits or you can play the game like you had sat on an agitated wasp.

In the end though, the System Shock remake ticks off pretty much every box for a game of its genre and I can safely say, I'm quite satisfied with the base asking price, if you're not someone who knows a whole lot about System Shock, I'd say wait for sale. The remake caters to fans of both the original System Shock and the sequel and tries to do what it can to be as modernised as possible.

The System Shock remake manages to capture the same tension and stress of playing the original game and, as you would expect of a remake, does it better. Of course, the original game was a DOS game which had the same visual complexity as a piece of graph paper and was intended to be played on a CRT with the resolution of an ant's knob, but even then, given the aged visuals the original game still manages to hold up even today. I honestly didn't expect the remake to add nearly as much detail to the environments given the source material and it really goes to show how much creative energy went into this remake which makes this feel like a real passion project. Meanwhile, the music is more ambient than groovy but the game still manages a serious amount of atmosphere emanating from it. With the dark corridors and distant cyborg mumbles, the music is what ends up being the big red bow which ties up the atmosphere into a beautiful recently bashed mutant corpse. Even then, it is a bit of a shame that we didn't get full blown recreations of the original music. One of the highlights of the original game was how it manages to get the music to be so up beat yet manages to compliment a sci-fi horror setting. Some may argue the music was a little too much for what was going on and I would imagine that critique is what lead to the remake having a more quiet, ambient soundtrack. Meanwhile, while I do feel that the visual style is a good fit for the remake, I'm not entirely with the textures having that low resolution look to them as to compliment the original game. Sure, its cute but with a game which has put the effort into completely modernising the visuals from the original game, it feels like a bit of a missed opportunity to make the environments feel more realised. Granted, this pixel-ey look isn't always visible, especially at a distance, so its not like it disrupts immersion or anything (except when you notice it on your player's hands and weapons) but it feels that the visuals are being slightly held back by this decision, but that's whatever. Its usually going to be a per-case thing if you do or don't like this sort of thing, and in this case, I don't like it. Another thing that really disappointed me was the Restoration Bays, or the respawn points if you're not sure what those are. In the original game, a simple yet charming text-to-speech voice announces that you have finally reached what is arguably the most important area on every level. Hearing that robotic voice say the words "CYBORG CONVERSION CANCELLED. STANDARD RESTORATION PROCEDURES ONLINE" is on the same level as reaching a safe room in a Resident Evil game or reaching an extract with 4 blacked out limbs with two tank batteries stuffed into your backpack in Tarkov. Although now, it's got proper voice acting, and while that may seem better, the new voice doesn't really give the feeling of relief the same way the original's did, but now that's just nitpicking. In any case, this is a very good package. Its true to the original game and aims to preserve the original's design whilst also making modern improvements. There's also a lot of System Shock 2 influence in here too, maybe a little too much for someone coming from the original game though. There's now actual inventory management and a scrapping mechanic that lets you exchange useless items for useful items at vending machines. What I found myself doing is picking up everything that wasn't nailed to the ground and acquiring tokens for my scrap collection but realised I wasn't even bothering to spend those tokens on anything. See, once you activate the respawn area on each level and find a Sparc Gun along with memorising every recharge station on that level, you kind of don't have to worry as much about dying. And then I realised that the items I was picking up just weren't worth the time to scrap and then exchange. I appreciate the idea of making previously useless items useful but given how quickly you can progress once you figure out what you're doing, I realised that I'd rather play an area out tactically and stack up on health items than to keep taking detours to navigate the almost maze-like level design. Yes, the original game was like this too but the original game had you backtrack for something you either missed or had to backtrack for. Overall, it might be something newcomers to the series or those not too fond of the horror genre might find a bit too much to handle, not to worry because the game offers up the same difficulty configuration options that the original game had meaning you can play the game as relaxed as James May filing and organising drill bits or you can play the game like you had sat on an agitated wasp. In the end though, the System Shock remake ticks off pretty much every box for a game of its genre and I can safely say, I'm quite satisfied with the base asking price, if you're not someone who knows a whole lot about System Shock, I'd say wait for sale. The remake caters to fans of both the original System Shock and the sequel and tries to do what it can to be as modernised as possible.