Encountering it for the first time was VERY jarring, though.

I didn't mind it - I actually found it to be pretty fun. I saw a lot of people complain about Cyberspace both in the original and in this remake and honestly. Environmental storytelling has its good and bad moments, but I don't think System Shock's story could have been told any other way. There was one puzzle toward the end of the game where there was absolutely no indication of what to do, and when I eventually looked up the solution, I thought, 'I never would figured this out'.

Some of these puzzles are relatively straightforward if you pay close attention to these, but other times. A lot of your exploration and means of progressing will come from the text and audio files you'll stumble upon. With old-school storytelling also comes a lack of hand-holding which can be very divisive nowadays. It's such a unique way to build immersion and it seems this was not lost in this remake.

There's something beautiful about the way old-school games told their stories through the environment - it lead to players imagining what went down in certain areas such as what you may find in the next room after listening to a small audio log about a failed escape plan, or messy trails and stains on the wall and floors. Even with hidden doors and teleporters scattered about, it created a bit of frustration when backtracking was necessary and I hadn't visited a level in several hours (or days since I couldn't play this non-stop). Backtracking never really bothers me, but it's certainly difficult with the 2D map provided when some floors how two separate stories to them. Each section of the Citadel was unique and relatively memorable, albeit a bit confusing to navigate. It was something I had never seen a video game do up until this point, and I loved it. While I don't think this is the best remake of a video game I've ever played, I can't deny how BEAUTIFUL System Shock (2023) is - I was blown away by the seemingly modern visuals, only to see low-resolution effects when blasting away at enemies or seeing the pixelation in the hacker's hands, weapons, and interactables up close. I'm thankful I was able to finally experience the wrath of SHODAN firsthand with this remake. I never had a chance to play the original and was always told how dated it was to even attempt to try it in the year 2023, which is a shame considering how influential it was to many major titles such as Dead Space and Bioshock. First off, thank you Nightdive Studios for remaking a game that really needed it.

System shock remake resetera