Analysis of System Shock Remake, SHODAN arrives on consoles

Night diving studios brings us a classic year 94, System Shock Remake. This cult classic science fiction arrives on consoles in the best possible way, being one of the most notable titles in the catalog for the month of May. This is the opportunity to replay or try the experience for the first time of this Cyberpunk-style FPS, which mixes mechanics that were later standardized in the video game industry. So we ask ourselves If this Remake does justice to the original work, and I can already tell you that it is.

For this analysis, I played on a Xbox Series. I was not able to test the version of Xbox One in Xbox One because of an error that will surely be resolved with patch day 1, not being able to sync my game in the cloud.

SHODAN wants to decimate the human race and we will be there to stop it

SHODAN, AI day which controls a citadel located in the orbit of Saturn, has eradicated the entire population of the station. The few survivors, if any remain, leave behind a few court records which we will listen to as the adventure progresses. This will be the main way to find out a little more about what happened, since the reason why we ended up there is told in the first cutscenes of the game.

Spend the first few minutes in our apartment, soon we will wake up in the citadel of nightmare. The bone mutants and cyborgs have completely dominated the station, our ultimate goal being power escape alive in addition to stopping the totalitarian pretensions of SHODAN. System shock He then takes us through a map designed by levels, each level is an area of ​​the citadel. Here we will have to unlock the path forward since access to other floors will be sealed.

Old-fashioned, but still wonderful level design

Lately in the industry we continue to find similar games, not to mention clonic. Those who copy themselves based on the sales generated by the consumer. Also, I have the impression level design, something essential in another era, has withered at the expense of raw graphics power. It’s not that I don’t understand why we need to demand a higher technological level from video games, but it shouldn’t just be the showcase for selling the product. In System shock we see that, In another era, something else was important.

With this and as I mentioned in the previous paragraphs, we have a very well thought out level design. We have different areas protected by these enemies, which we can cope in different ways and that makes every game or reboot different. System shock it’s not an easy game and it is for this reason that he presents to us a difficulty selector which plays with 4 variables. Whether it’s the level of the enemies, the difficulty of the puzzles or SHODAN itself, these are aspects that we can configure as we wish.

We will tour the ship as if we were in an 80s sci-fi movie. The setting is sublime Well, we will listen to both the footsteps and the voices of our enemies, knowing that confronting them without the proper elements would be suicide. The key to survival is management, continuous management of our resources which can be found in the different rooms available in the citadel. Most of these rooms are closed and we will have to scramble alternative passages to access them or find a key that unlocks the door.

Resource management, with a much more ergonomic interface, works perfectly

In true style resident Evilwe will have a briefcase in which we will have to manage the resources found. In addition to this, we will also leave space for our weapons, supplies, power-ups, etc. We’ll be able to compress these materials which are considered waste in order to exchange them in machines for foreign currencies. With these currencies we will obtain power-ups, health, weapons, ammunition… in other types of machines. This mechanism which seems simple, will be vital for our survival aboard the station.

At any point we will have to manage ourselves, we have energy weapons which have a limited load (which we can recharge at specific stations or with a type of containers). Firearms have ammunition specific to each weapon and this is rare, it will therefore be imperative to look for new rooms to obtain more. When enemies die, they also release resources that may be of interest to us. To have boosters which will be used to reduce contaminating damage (biological, radioactive damage), to fill our life bar or to temporarily improve our abilities.

System Shock’s action and puzzles feel dated, even if they respond well

Not everything can be perfect, and the passage of time has made these puzzles that may previously have been relatively surprising today, less so today. We have the classic puzzles that will have us connecting and turning knobs to reach a certain charge level. We should hack the system in a mini-game which brings us back to the days of the 90s, manage a species Shipped by some modules. The objective will be to defeat the enemies and reach the end of the course, this will unlock entries or advance directly in the main adventure.

As for action, they introduced a correct variety of weapons and possibilities, it is advisable to use those that best adapt to the type of enemy. Flesh (of both mutants and cyborgs) will be more vulnerable to guns or knives, while metal will be primarily affected by energy blasts. find or buy enhancers this will increase the damage of our weapons as well as their rate or other characteristics. It will also be important to manage grenades, which can lead to the complete deterioration of the enemy, not being able to recover resources from their corpses.

In System shock It is also important secret. Well, depending on the selected difficulty levels, we can often clear enemies using it. Although this stealth It’s not entirely effective and less as we encounter more powerful enemies. In any case, we can weaken the enemy by attacking him from behind, which will give us an important advantage in the argument. The shooting game It has been heavily retouched from the original, but it doesn’t go any further Well, there aren’t many options.

The audiovisual change of System Shock, a hidden pixel art

The graphics look perfect, with a fairly original style. When we get closer to observe a texture, we realize that these are disguised as classic style pixels

. This creates a very well done effect since the lighting effects or the graphic effects in general do not suffer at any time, but this is the case. preserve a little of the past. System shock also hides others wink to the fans, because after ingesting a certain activator, it will make us hallucinate with the appearance on the screen of fictitious enemies, these; They are none other than the staging of the original enemies seen in 1994.

Concerning the sound, work has been done so that the environmental story be the one who tells us the story. Most of the documents found are engravings and it’s appreciated, because we don’t want to spend too much time reading. Although we will also find these documents. The music will transport us, as will the design and art in the science fiction of the 80s and 90s. with a very remarkable soundtrack. The title is in English voices defraud Spanish subtitles.

Final evaluation

System shock It’s a game from the past that’s more refreshing than many others from the present. It’s a video game science fiction who tells his story through his environmental story. And FPS with classic role-playing touches and with a resource management it will not grow old no matter how many years pass. Like his level designwhich will allow us to benefit from its multiple ways of moving forward and achieving our final objective, destroy SHODAN. Even though he gunshot and its capabilities are not up to par with other titles of the genre, it works correctly, as well as its riddles even though we’ve seen them before (ironically). On the audiovisual level, it responds in both directions, to a different and special art.

Eventually, System shock It’s a remake of a cult game, which marked a way of creating video games that we observed decades later. Currently, This is the best way to enjoy this title which, although it appears aged in some respects, is still completely a unique experience.

System Shock Remakeis available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One Yes Xbox Series X/S. Stay with us and do not allow SHODAN to monitor your equipment, by referring you to our website via the following link.