It took me almost a whole year to beat it (got a cool OTG adapter with multiple ports and could play it with mouse and keynoard instead of just keyboard) but I finaly did.

I don't have much to add from the commentaries of my previous review, though I do like that over the course of the game the protagonist starts getting contact support from Earth to do his mission, which gives a less generic "lone survivor vs machines" feel to the game. The last section has really interesting setpieces, with the station blowing up and having to reach a dettatching bridge, though I had hoped the last level was a lot more climactic (I think the only thing Shodan can do is make garbage pixels appear on screen and mess up your controls, I was expecting more from a generic villain who thinks it's god lol).

That said, I think I will score this higher than Doom because even if both titles become repetitive with going around looking for keys and stuff, System Shock doesn't disrespect the gaming medium like what Doom's intention is (John Romero's famous statement about story in games being the same as story in porn, that it's not the main focus, bringing videogames to the low tier of throwaway trash) and instead builds an organic setting and atmosphere that at least attempts to make you feel something for the people who died at the station, instead of killing them indiscriminately like in Doom (despite the people who got possessed there were former companions of the main character).

Reviewed on Feb 04, 2024


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