System Shock is a classic for good reason. Looking Glass Studios’ cyberpunk epic effectively birthed the immersive sim genre (awkward though that moniker may be), offering an unparalleled amount of player choice aboard the doomed Citadel Station. The problem is, the average player experiencing System Shock for the first time will doubtless be left baffled by its more dated aspects. Even with the improved Enhanced Edition for both the first game and its sequel, the need for a remake was obvious.
And so, Nightdive Studios have been hard at work recreating the entirety of this foundational game, from top to bottom, as close to the original vision as possible. While there are some modern niceties, particularly with the controls and ranged combat improvements, it manages to retain the overall feel of classic System Shock. This should all be fantastic news, but Nightdive’s latest public demo has finally confirmed something I was afraid of: System Shock is more of a nightmare to navigate now than in the 90s, and not in a good way.
I like to think of myself as having a fairly solid sense of direction, and I struggled to get my bearings over two hours into exploring the demo. It’s not that the levels themselves are too complex in layout, but rather, the visual design and landmarks. By trying to capture the same look of its predecessor but with modern fidelity, a single square hunk of wall in System Shock is more detailed than some whole characters in a PS3 game. That sounds good on paper, until you’re trying to quickly register where to go while making your way through tight corridors.
This is distinctly a problem with the Remake. Look up gameplay of the original, and despite its janky graphics, it’s highly readable. There aren’t hundreds of different accent lights and bump maps. In old-school design philosophy, one of the key tenets of a great game was readability. Sure, it makes the world more clearly ‘artificial’ and gamey, but you could make sense of where you were going. Nightdive is trying to have their cake and eat it too, resulting in an experience where, at times, you’re not actually sure what button on a piece of wall is or isn’t interactive.
With technology growing stronger by the console generation, it’s understandable to want to show off how far gaming has come in the last three decades, but at what cost? My eyes just instinctively unfocused at the overwhelming amount of detail on-screen. It’s actively distracting and disorienting in a way I’ve never dealt with before. There’s just too much input going on for my brain to make a mental map of the space, which is an unnerving experience when you’re talking about a game as open-ended as System Shock.
You can go pretty much anywhere, and if you can’t already, there’s a keycard, weapon, or passcode that will clear the way. There’s also multiple risk-reward decisions, like making the long haul back to your surgery room for a free heal from a table instead of wasting valuable health patches. Making these sorts of strategic decisions requires familiarity and planning.
And before anyone says – yes, I know there’s a map function in the full game, as is shown in the screenshots, but you shouldn’t need a map to navigate a game like this. Not only does that encourage you focus on the map instead of the environment, but it runs counter to the genre. If there’s one thing an immersive sim should do (other than vex our Robert Zak with its genre title), it’s being memorably distinct.
Maps in the Thief trilogy (yes, trilogy) are more a series of hints and suggestions, requiring you outright make your own notes. Years apart from playing Dishonored 2 and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, and I can remember several level layouts clear as day. They’re real, tangible places in my mind. By contrast, the cramped grid layout of Citadel Station more resembles a Wolfenstein 3D maze. There are very few large areas like the lobby in Arkane’s Prey or the interconnecting streets of Siren Alley in Bioshock 2.
I understand the scientific impetus and the nostalgic drive to create a 1:1 experience as much as possible, but if Dead Space Remake can get away with rearranging a number of rooms and halls, then System Shock could make its living spaces feel more like a real place. Instead, you’re in a giant maze of highly detailed LEGO blocks without the technological justification for making them that way. Even the original System Shock 2 made an effort to look like a space a human would actually choose to be in. If you’re going to spend this much effort polishing up the visual assets, you might as well make them navigable and pleasant to look at.
There’s certainly a great deal of artistry on display. No one could question the atmosphere in certain rooms, especially when cornered by unrelenting enemies. The moment to moment gameplay was excellent – which is great, because I want to see System Shock finally return as a franchise.
However, in terms of updating the levels, I’m more reminded of Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary than anything, and that’s rather unfortunate. You can only put so many flourishes on the same old skeleton before it distracts your eyes like mad. I fear other players a month from now will be similarly left running not in panic, but in perplexed circles.