The quietly buzzing corridors of Citadel Station are plagued by corpses. They’re silent, however every tells their very own story. Torn our bodies lie inches away from an audio log recorded simply moments earlier than their closing stand. A file from a lady tells of her closing days as she succumbs to a spreading illness. A pile of mangled stays, entangled in their very own guts, search for with lifeless eyes at a graffiti mural that depicts the synthetic intelligence that they worshipped like a god.
If this nightmare seems like a brand new BioShock recreation, you then’re solely half mistaken. These are all moments from System Shock, the sport that started the Shock lineage again in 1994. Certainly one of historical past’s most vital video games, the unique is nearly unplayable by at present’s requirements due to a fiddy consumer interface and management scheme that’s virtually prehistoric. However a good-looking new remake from developer Nightdive Studios has demolished these historic limitations and highlighted that System Shock, regardless of its age, was the origin level of so most of the concepts that made its religious successor so sturdy.
In case you’ve by no means explored the corridors of Citadel Station, I feel you’ll be shocked at simply how a lot of BioShock’s DNA was drawn straight from System Shock. Just like the worlds crafted by Irrational Video games’ lead, Ken Levine, Citadel Station is a spot gone to hell. The station’s synthetic intelligence, SHODAN, has taken over and has plans to decimate humanity. Like Andrew Ryan, she taunts you as you descend deeper into the station’s interconnected ranges, seemingly amused at your pathetic makes an attempt to foil her ascent to godhood. The kicker is that SHODAN’s rise to energy is your fault. Similar to BioShock Infinite and Levine’s upcoming Judas, System Shock is all about fixing what you broke.
BioShock is probably finest recognized for its masterful narrative work and the way in which its fallen art-deco metropolis conveys new tales in each room. System Shock comes from an period when video games had been largely led by mechanics somewhat than storytelling, and so the core narrative that runs by it’s nowhere close to as outstanding and layered as BioShock’s. But the world remains to be wealthy, and nonetheless revealed utilizing the identical basic strategies as BioShock. Your mission to destroy SHODAN takes you thru the a number of decks of Citadel Station, from the depths of its reactor to the heights of its bridge. And whereas every degree is made up of maze-like patterns of repeating architectural motifs that may make each ground really feel confusingly equivalent, Citadel Station has an simple sense of place. It could not ship a narrative with the immediacy of Rapture, however examine its halls and also you’ll see a transparent goal in every one.
Citadel Station’s total crew is lengthy gone by the point you arrive, and so the story is delivered primarily by audio logs. It’s a story method intently related to BioShock, however System Shock pioneered it so efficiently again in 1994 that the remake has barely needed to alter them. They supply a voice to the deceased, every one furthering the tales of a handful of recurring characters. Some tales are confined to a deck, whereas others span the whole size of the station. Every one is a miniature horror story, detailing the ultimate days of a inhabitants about to be decimated by a rogue AI, however they’re additionally the first supply methodology for clues to your subsequent goal. It’s this strategy that makes the audio logs so integral to the expertise, and in flip so superior to the way in which many builders use them at present. Fashionable audio logs usually really feel like self-indulgent lore dumps somewhat than important listens, therefore why so many people skip them.
All the basics of BioShock, which felt so new and thrilling in 2007, had been there in System Shock.
The contents of these audio logs are sometimes uncomfortably haunting, one thing solely exacerbated by the realisation that the grotesque cyborgs you battle all through the station are the mutilated stays of the voices you’ve been listening to. All the crew of Citadel Station, who simply months prior had been residing and dealing peacefully, at the moment are twisted, grotesque cyborgs with few needs past consuming corpses and killing you. SHODAN has transformed the whole inhabitants into her private military, forcibly violating their our bodies with the applied sciences they created. There’s a parallel between these cyborgs and Splicers, the residents of Rapture who had been twisted by their dependancy to their very own science. It’s clear how BioShock constructed upon System Shock’s thought of a tragic inhabitants who fell sufferer to their very own genius.
It is a destiny you possibly can fall foul of, too. Do you have to die, you’ll be pressured to look at your physique being grafted onto a large mechanical spider whereas the phrases “as a cyborg you’ll serve SHODAN nicely” flash throughout the display screen. However there’s a approach to escape such a grisly finish. Every deck has a Restoration Bay, a tool able to instantaneous resurrection. And since it’s an in-universe system, it not solely brings you again to life but in addition retains all of your mission progress intact since you don’t must reload an earlier save. Sure, System Shock has Vita Chambers, the BioShock system that was usually thought-about a concession to the less-hardcore trendy players of 2007. There’s a ‘90s issue quirk, although; SHODAN is utilizing them to create her cyborgs, and so if you attain a brand new deck it’s important to seek out the extent’s Restoration Bay and reset its medical perform.
Fortunately you possibly can simply flip the Restoration Bay’s cyborg-making mode off, however the majority of Citadel Station’s methods are usually not that easy. Many blocked doorways or locked gadgets would require you to rewire a Grid Entry Panel to realize entry, a course of wherein you create a pathway of energy between a supply and vacation spot node. Sound acquainted? It’s Rapture’s pipe-based hacking rendered cyberpunk. Even BioShock’s mini video games have their origins in System Shock’s puzzles.
The 2 video games’ fight observe related rhythms, too. Your journey begins with a easy lead pipe that, very similar to BioShock’s wrench, stays an important device in your arsenal even hours later. It’s accompanied by pistols, shotguns, and rifles, every of which may be loaded with quite a lot of ammunition sorts to swimsuit the state of affairs. And whereas there’s no plasmid powers, essentially the most unique weapons draw vitality straight out of your cybernetically-enhanced physique, draining an Eve-like energy gauge that have to be periodically topped up with batteries.
All the basics of BioShock, which felt so new and thrilling in 2007, had been there in System Shock. However till now it was arduous to suggest experiencing these origins to all however essentially the most devoted followers due to how archaic the unique model is. It doesn’t even have mouse look, by no means thoughts any of the opposite common UI methods and controls that we’re accustomed to at present. However Nightdive Studios’ remake brings System Shock into the 2020s with trendy controls, a very refreshed interface, an extremely placing visible fashion, and all the authentic recreation’s many inventions intact.
System Shock is trustworthy – actually trustworthy – to its ‘90s supply materials. Which means labyrinthine degree design that’s simple to get misplaced in, obtuse mission targets, and fight that lacks the crunch of contemporary day shooters. It’s nonetheless an unyielding, difficult, hardcore PC recreation. However that’s not a weak spot. Nightdive has utilized its upgrades with a light-weight contact, bringing simply essentially the most archaic components as much as trendy requirements, as a result of it understands that the sport itself – the expertise that lies past these historic graphics and interface – is as beneficial at present because it was 30 years in the past. The best way you play, not what you play, is what has been up to date. And because of these adjustments, it’s now far simpler and way more satisfying to expertise the origins of BioShock’s genius. It’s all right here, surprisingly usually fully-formed, and after just some hours you’ll neglect you’re enjoying a recreation that predates Home windows 95.
Nightdive’s remake proves that System Shock was years forward of its time, and is an important historical past lesson for BioShock’s largest followers.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK Information and Options Editor.
