ROMhack
Member
“Look at you, hacker. A pathetic creature of meat and bone. Panting and sweating as you run through my corridors. How can you challenge a perfect immortal machine?”
Developer: Irrational Games / Looking Glass Studios
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Director: Jonathan Chey
Designer and Writer: Ken Levine
Platforms: PC, OS X, Linux
Background
System Shock 2 (1999) is a first-person survival-horror RPG set in deep space. Originally intended as a standalone title, it was packaged as part of the System Shock series, which began life in 1994. The game was developed by a then-nascent Irrational Games, who would eventually go on to develop a little spiritual successor called Bioshock - you may have heard of it. System Shock 2 was a co-venture between them and Looking Glass Studios, whose members would eventually go on to leave the company in order to to join creative director Ken Levine.
The game was released on August 11 1999. It received acclaim from critics and gamers alike but failed to meet its commercial sales targets. Development first began in 1997, and arly ideas involved a sci-fi allegory of Joseph Conrad’s classic novella Heart of Darkness. It took further inspiration from Looking Glass’s Ultima series, as well as traditional paper and pencil role-playing games. It has since become a ‘cult classic’ and is regularly featured on many Best Ever Games of All Time lists. The game was re-released on Steam for modern audiences in 2013.
Story
It’s 2114 and the world is a very different place. The dreams of Elon Musk have been met as space has been conquered with artificial intelligence having advanced to the point where it can impose its malevolent will. No surprises for guessing what happens next... following events in the original game where the Citadel Space Station was taken over by the AI supercomputer SHODAN, it rears its ugly electronic head 42 years later. This time to take control of the experimental faster-than-light starship, the Von Braun. Coincidentally owned by a small company called Tri-Optimum, who have more money than most nation states.
The game follows an amnesiac soldier who awakens to find the Von Braun deserted and in disarray. Disorientated, he makes his way around the ship's many level, defeating and/or sneaking past an assortment of hungry-for-human-flesh enemies (called The Many). All the while he’s tracked by omnipresent supercomputer SHODAN, who provides lots of ominous dialogue. There’s also a whole bunch of files and audio logs which tell the story of what the fuck happened. In the end, he makes his way throughout the entire fucking ship to take down SHODAN, who has this terrible fear of people hacking into the control system.
Gameplay
Usually I describe what happens but I already kinda did so here’s a video instead:
Music
The music was composed by three people: Josh Randall, Ramin Djawadi and Eric Brosius.
It’s very cyberpunk and IMO adds a lot to the nightmarish sensation of being alone in deep space.
Good Reads
System Shock 2: Postmortem by Jonathan Chey (Gamasutra)
The Making of System Shock 2 (Rock Paper Shotgun)
The Timeless Horror of “System Shock 2” (Vice)
System Shock 2’s Best Level - Med/Sci (Eurogamer)
Fun Facts
- The original title for the game, according to its pitch document, was Junction Point
- A remake is currently in development by Night Dive Studios. Here’s some pre-alpha footage. Release date estimate Q4 2030.
- Initially, the brief was to prepare a sci-fi prototype based on the still-in-development Thief engine.
- The whole game was created in a single room about 900 square feet big. Roughly the size of this house.
- One scene features a robot doing the Macarena. I guess because, why not?
You! I Want Your Thoughts.
Hopefully you know the drill by now. Tell me what you think/thought of the game
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P.s. Spoilers obviously but here’s the game’s final cutscene - as hilarious as it is awful (Levine says it was outsourced).
–ROM
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