System Shock 1 is a very interesting experiment! It's so sad that more shooters don't have rear views and roller skates...

I just really love its dungeon crawler feel. You're stuck in this highly varied abstract maze with lots of weird gimmicks and puzzles and setpieces to deal with, and on top of that you have the SHODANgeon Mistress herself taunting and obstructing you at every step in the way. It really feels like a sci-fi Ultima Underworld, but without any talking to NPCs. I think it lends SS1 this adorable classic and pulp feel, especially with the Super 90's Cyberpunk soundtrack that wishes to pump you up more than scare you. Abstract wireframe cyberspace segments? Laser swords? Roller skates? A needlessly convoluted HUD? Jack me in, zeroboy!

The contrast to this cheesiness is SHODAN herself, whose star performance by Terri Brosius is genuinely terrifying and lends the cheese of the whole game an extra-serious edge. Her portrait still haunts me in my dreams! Being able to effortlessly jump between making me feel like Action Protagonist and Horror Protagonist is no small feat indeed, and why SS1 is so memorable!

Only things about SS1 that rub me the wrong way is that the combat can mostly feel like the same game of peekaboo from start to finish, and that the cyberspace controls are most certainly not good. But I'd still heavily recommend this game to all. You won't find anything like it!