System Shock

System Shock Remake is one of the most conflicted gaming experiences I have ever had. I genuinely loved and hated it at the same time. The Good: * Atmosphere & Immersion: Easily one of the most engrossing, eerie sci-fi atmospheres I've ever experienced. * Story: The story grabbed me from the start. It was creepy and mysterious in the best possible way. * Visuals & Gunplay: The retro-modern aesthetic is gorgeous, and the gunplay feels incredibly satisfying from the beginning of the game and even better once you master it. * Rewarding Puzzles: After realizing the actual goal of the puzzles with some Google help, solving the electrical junction boxes on my own was deeply satisfying, in a way I'd never experienced before, since I usually dislike puzzles. The Bad: * Old Design: The game gives you zero navigation aids. No journal, no objective tracker, and cryptic audio logs that leave you wandering in circles. I had to look things up several times, especially in the early to mid-game. I'm not asking for 100 quest markers like Skyrim, but having a minimalistic journal just to remind you what you're doing and what your immediate next step is would've been a good idea, especially when the game is just incredibly cryptic in itself. * Brutal Early-to-Mid Game: The default difficulty leans far closer to "Hard" than "Balanced." The combination of punishing resource scarcity and respawning enemies made backtracking a tedious chore. I just found the combat to be more of a hindrance than something I enjoyed. Enemies simply deal way too much damage on the default setting, in my opinion. Obviously the encounters add to the tension, but it's cheap tension for me. * The Final Cyberspace Level: Completely out of place, clunky, and an underwhelming conclusion to an otherwise tense survival experience. This is a 1994 hardcore simulation wrapped in a stunning 2023 coat of paint. It tested my patience, spatial awareness, and resource management to the absolute limit. I respect it immensely for what it meant for the Immersive Sim genre, but its archaic friction keeps it just short of being up there with the likes of other Immersive Sims I *fully* enjoyed, like Prey (2017). That said, if you're a fan of the genre, I recommend this game. Just make sure you go in expecting immersion, fun, but also tediousness and frustration.