Really solid reimagining of the original game but doesn't nearly reach its heights. Absolutely falls under the category of "remakes which are lots of fun but ought not to be played before or instead of their source material" as I couldn't imagine people 'getting' System Shock's awesome points from this version of it.
Everything feels just a bit more generic and a more pointed to a fault; they clearly went for improved gunplay and balancing but the lower amount of jank made things feel a little more monotonous. The balance did at least retain the constantly deadly nature of the original game's battles, which I appreciate. Like the original they did wind up getting a little annoying at times in the last quarter of the game but it wasn't enough to make me want to stop playing. Unfortunately I didn't quite feel the level of flow the original brought me to, but there were moments where it did - particularly in the earlygame - and I couldn't help but smile. It's not something I feel all that often when I play a video game nowadays, so this remake even doing it a few times was worthy of note.
In terms of miscellaneous design decisions made for the remake I think there were plenty notable ones which were, for the most part, positive. For example, I do enjoy the additions of little vending machines throughout the game, though since a lot of them were placed like 'rewards' they were sometimes harder to get to than they ought to have been. I'd have rather they be more centrally located per floor with the items unlocking based on security level. The scrap and credit system is a bit underbaked but I didn't mind it overall. I'd imagine it's pretty dull to many players, of course, but it's a cute little bonus for if the player is getting low on resources and wants to take another route to replenish them to a degree.
On another note I do like the more various feeling enemies; their patterns are a bit more erratic feeling than in the original and the more modern engine clearly allowed for much more use of verticality in the middle of combat, particularly once the player acquires the level 2 boots. While the controls have been messed with to resemble pretty much any modern shooter far beyond what Enhanced Edition did, I can't say whether I respect it or not as it works well for the changes the game's made but obviously detracts from the general design of the original that's allegedly being replicated. There's a number of instances of background elements tugging the game away from System Shock 1 and toward System Shock 2; so many times did this sentiment come up that it was practically impossible not to notice them.
Indeed, the remake pushes for more of a straight-up horror angle in an effort to seemingly mimic the atmosphere of the second game, and I find that the approach is interesting but ultimately fruitless or a wee bit shallow. I don't really find myself affected by horrific atmospheres in games, but even so I found that the fridge horror brought on by the designs and audio log narratives of the original System Shock was pretty effective in making my skin crawl. This works just as well if not better in this version thanks to its voice acting quality, but it made it clear that the actual visuals and audio around me that were meant to immerse me in a fearful state were doing very little by comparison. Sometimes it even failed at what it was trying to accomplish, the most obvious examples being Maintenance deck and the final boss fight having very little of the intense anxious moods the original's versions of them had. That last boss fight in general was a very sad note to end on, as it lazily jump-cuts to a final cutscene with very little fanfare after just fighting a few generic enemies in a slow unfun cyberspace version of the main game's normal combat rather than at least using the cyberspace combat that had been present throughout the rest of the game.
Another random thing I don't know where to mention was that it bothered me slightly that they gave SHODAN a consistent set of pronouns and seemingly a consistent sense of gender in this remake; I thought it was cool how in the original (CD, not straight-up DOS) version those were all inconsistent, truly presenting this rogue AI as being beyond human systems of thought and societal norms. System Shock 2 did away with that and that was a move I thought was pretty lame, and the fact that that was retained here was one of several hints that the developers referred to that entry a little too much while looking back on the first.
At the very least though the general spirit of the original was retained. I do find myself a bit apprehensive to totally applaud this version for that as I do think it seemed to try leaning the original a bit far toward 2's (in my opinion less interesting) general direction, but I do think plenty of effort was clearly made to keep the most essential parts of System Shock faithful. The direct nods to MST3K and Bioshock via actual ingame dialogue were a little weird, though. Those I probably could have gone without, though at least the former was a decently well-hidden easter egg.
Speaking of easter eggs, the new Skully easter eggs were a cute concept but not particularly well executed. Requiring the level 3 boots to find the majority of them made the quest to locate them much less fun and rewarding than it could have been, and the game's overall design having several points of no return made it hard to feel like a justifiable design choice even if the scavenger hunt was, at times, fun. Similarly, as I mentioned before the vending machines which included important weapon upgrades were scattered so far out in inconvenient places that the game's overall design felt like it inherently dampened the novelty of their inclusion.
It seemed in general that the tacked-on new mechanics and extras were not very thought out before implementation; another huge example is the dull and frustrating inventory management, which felt less like Resident Evil 4 and more like an arbitrary limit which prevented player experimentation. With the weapon upgrade system existing as it is and credits not being super quick to come by, the player would have very little reason to swap out an old weapon for a new one when coming across them compared to in the original where things just sorta took up some limited slots while not being unique 'instances' that had whole upgrade paths lost if replaced with a new copy. It's just a bizarre set of decisions overall which again nods toward there being issues with the game's focus points.
I would say that the modernization was, if anything, at its best in the non-HUD visual department even if some of the atmospheric visuals were degraded. The models and textures evoked a retraux style which was not at all generic as it clearly based itself upon the visual likeness of the original's own. Sections of the ship could have looked more distinct, yes, but translating from the original I think things did at least look good without fully losing what they had been derived from. That is, except for the Bridge, whose visuals were entirely removed in favor of more generic ship textures. I have absolutely no idea why they would do this other than maybe trying to push for System Shock 2 to feel more 'distinct' in its fleshy identity, but that's pretty misguided if so. Maybe they just ran out of budget or time, who knows. I do also have issues with the UI, with it not only being more generic but also weirdly unhelpful. The original's was very complicated for sure but it gave you all the information you needed at all times; this time you have to dive into menus constantly or use ill-bound hotkeys. It's uncomfortable and there's definitely a sense of lost identity. Disappointment aside, at least the game's looks and sounds were good overall! Like with many parts of this remake there's a sense of genericization but it isn't without actually trying to retain some of what it came from.
In terms of that good sound I mentioned, the remake's voice acting was a marked (and practically unavoidable) improvement over its source material, as was the non-soundtrack sound design as a whole. I was somewhat disappointed that the soundtrack deviated very strongly from the original's almost surreal intense bops, but I'm a sucker for darker ambient stuff. The battle themes tended to be pretty meh and the elevator theme was annoying, but the exploration themes were nice to listen to and, as mentioned before on the atmosphere, make for a fairly respectable direction even if it's one I don't agree with. I've heard mixed reactions toward the soundtrack, but even ignoring it I think the ambient sounds and various enemy noises and voice clips worked wonders to accomplishing for the atmosphere what the new visuals did not. Just as in the original, using your ears is quite important to prepare for battles with patches or shields or even reloads or ammo swaps. Unfortunately weapons felt way too noisy both as viewmodels and in terms of audio, though, which I think detracted from the satisfaction one feels from preparing for fights as some seemed to come out of nowhere with the distractions the aforementioned weapons sometimes created. It was a bit of a shot to the game's own foot as it countered otherwise engaging sound design.
I can't knock this remake too hard in general, though. It was a blast most of the way through (barring the boring and anticlimactic final boss battle) and everything about it screamed quality and love for the franchise. As stated at the beginning, I don't think it's really possible for me to recommend this version of the game over Enhanced Edition to anyone but the most stubbornly modern gamer. To anyone even remotely willing to give a weird older game a try, the original is awesome and gives off a sense of immense notability few others of the medium do. This remake does not provide that key piece of the experience; it's a lavish afterparty meant for those brave enough to have gone through a janky 1994 DOS game and recognized its brilliance and its bruises, a slightly misguided celebration of System Shock rather than a replacement for it. It's fun and it's flashy, but I wouldn't call it as much of a necessary piece to experience as its source material and that's just fine for what it is.
Everything feels just a bit more generic and a more pointed to a fault; they clearly went for improved gunplay and balancing but the lower amount of jank made things feel a little more monotonous. The balance did at least retain the constantly deadly nature of the original game's battles, which I appreciate. Like the original they did wind up getting a little annoying at times in the last quarter of the game but it wasn't enough to make me want to stop playing. Unfortunately I didn't quite feel the level of flow the original brought me to, but there were moments where it did - particularly in the earlygame - and I couldn't help but smile. It's not something I feel all that often when I play a video game nowadays, so this remake even doing it a few times was worthy of note.
In terms of miscellaneous design decisions made for the remake I think there were plenty notable ones which were, for the most part, positive. For example, I do enjoy the additions of little vending machines throughout the game, though since a lot of them were placed like 'rewards' they were sometimes harder to get to than they ought to have been. I'd have rather they be more centrally located per floor with the items unlocking based on security level. The scrap and credit system is a bit underbaked but I didn't mind it overall. I'd imagine it's pretty dull to many players, of course, but it's a cute little bonus for if the player is getting low on resources and wants to take another route to replenish them to a degree.
On another note I do like the more various feeling enemies; their patterns are a bit more erratic feeling than in the original and the more modern engine clearly allowed for much more use of verticality in the middle of combat, particularly once the player acquires the level 2 boots. While the controls have been messed with to resemble pretty much any modern shooter far beyond what Enhanced Edition did, I can't say whether I respect it or not as it works well for the changes the game's made but obviously detracts from the general design of the original that's allegedly being replicated. There's a number of instances of background elements tugging the game away from System Shock 1 and toward System Shock 2; so many times did this sentiment come up that it was practically impossible not to notice them.
Indeed, the remake pushes for more of a straight-up horror angle in an effort to seemingly mimic the atmosphere of the second game, and I find that the approach is interesting but ultimately fruitless or a wee bit shallow. I don't really find myself affected by horrific atmospheres in games, but even so I found that the fridge horror brought on by the designs and audio log narratives of the original System Shock was pretty effective in making my skin crawl. This works just as well if not better in this version thanks to its voice acting quality, but it made it clear that the actual visuals and audio around me that were meant to immerse me in a fearful state were doing very little by comparison. Sometimes it even failed at what it was trying to accomplish, the most obvious examples being Maintenance deck and the final boss fight having very little of the intense anxious moods the original's versions of them had. That last boss fight in general was a very sad note to end on, as it lazily jump-cuts to a final cutscene with very little fanfare after just fighting a few generic enemies in a slow unfun cyberspace version of the main game's normal combat rather than at least using the cyberspace combat that had been present throughout the rest of the game.
Another random thing I don't know where to mention was that it bothered me slightly that they gave SHODAN a consistent set of pronouns and seemingly a consistent sense of gender in this remake; I thought it was cool how in the original (CD, not straight-up DOS) version those were all inconsistent, truly presenting this rogue AI as being beyond human systems of thought and societal norms. System Shock 2 did away with that and that was a move I thought was pretty lame, and the fact that that was retained here was one of several hints that the developers referred to that entry a little too much while looking back on the first.
At the very least though the general spirit of the original was retained. I do find myself a bit apprehensive to totally applaud this version for that as I do think it seemed to try leaning the original a bit far toward 2's (in my opinion less interesting) general direction, but I do think plenty of effort was clearly made to keep the most essential parts of System Shock faithful. The direct nods to MST3K and Bioshock via actual ingame dialogue were a little weird, though. Those I probably could have gone without, though at least the former was a decently well-hidden easter egg.
Speaking of easter eggs, the new Skully easter eggs were a cute concept but not particularly well executed. Requiring the level 3 boots to find the majority of them made the quest to locate them much less fun and rewarding than it could have been, and the game's overall design having several points of no return made it hard to feel like a justifiable design choice even if the scavenger hunt was, at times, fun. Similarly, as I mentioned before the vending machines which included important weapon upgrades were scattered so far out in inconvenient places that the game's overall design felt like it inherently dampened the novelty of their inclusion.
It seemed in general that the tacked-on new mechanics and extras were not very thought out before implementation; another huge example is the dull and frustrating inventory management, which felt less like Resident Evil 4 and more like an arbitrary limit which prevented player experimentation. With the weapon upgrade system existing as it is and credits not being super quick to come by, the player would have very little reason to swap out an old weapon for a new one when coming across them compared to in the original where things just sorta took up some limited slots while not being unique 'instances' that had whole upgrade paths lost if replaced with a new copy. It's just a bizarre set of decisions overall which again nods toward there being issues with the game's focus points.
I would say that the modernization was, if anything, at its best in the non-HUD visual department even if some of the atmospheric visuals were degraded. The models and textures evoked a retraux style which was not at all generic as it clearly based itself upon the visual likeness of the original's own. Sections of the ship could have looked more distinct, yes, but translating from the original I think things did at least look good without fully losing what they had been derived from. That is, except for the Bridge, whose visuals were entirely removed in favor of more generic ship textures. I have absolutely no idea why they would do this other than maybe trying to push for System Shock 2 to feel more 'distinct' in its fleshy identity, but that's pretty misguided if so. Maybe they just ran out of budget or time, who knows. I do also have issues with the UI, with it not only being more generic but also weirdly unhelpful. The original's was very complicated for sure but it gave you all the information you needed at all times; this time you have to dive into menus constantly or use ill-bound hotkeys. It's uncomfortable and there's definitely a sense of lost identity. Disappointment aside, at least the game's looks and sounds were good overall! Like with many parts of this remake there's a sense of genericization but it isn't without actually trying to retain some of what it came from.
In terms of that good sound I mentioned, the remake's voice acting was a marked (and practically unavoidable) improvement over its source material, as was the non-soundtrack sound design as a whole. I was somewhat disappointed that the soundtrack deviated very strongly from the original's almost surreal intense bops, but I'm a sucker for darker ambient stuff. The battle themes tended to be pretty meh and the elevator theme was annoying, but the exploration themes were nice to listen to and, as mentioned before on the atmosphere, make for a fairly respectable direction even if it's one I don't agree with. I've heard mixed reactions toward the soundtrack, but even ignoring it I think the ambient sounds and various enemy noises and voice clips worked wonders to accomplishing for the atmosphere what the new visuals did not. Just as in the original, using your ears is quite important to prepare for battles with patches or shields or even reloads or ammo swaps. Unfortunately weapons felt way too noisy both as viewmodels and in terms of audio, though, which I think detracted from the satisfaction one feels from preparing for fights as some seemed to come out of nowhere with the distractions the aforementioned weapons sometimes created. It was a bit of a shot to the game's own foot as it countered otherwise engaging sound design.
I can't knock this remake too hard in general, though. It was a blast most of the way through (barring the boring and anticlimactic final boss battle) and everything about it screamed quality and love for the franchise. As stated at the beginning, I don't think it's really possible for me to recommend this version of the game over Enhanced Edition to anyone but the most stubbornly modern gamer. To anyone even remotely willing to give a weird older game a try, the original is awesome and gives off a sense of immense notability few others of the medium do. This remake does not provide that key piece of the experience; it's a lavish afterparty meant for those brave enough to have gone through a janky 1994 DOS game and recognized its brilliance and its bruises, a slightly misguided celebration of System Shock rather than a replacement for it. It's fun and it's flashy, but I wouldn't call it as much of a necessary piece to experience as its source material and that's just fine for what it is.