System Shock Remake

The worst immersive sim I've ever played. And that's no exaggeration.

Let's start with the gameplay. The combat is simply a pain. There's no real feel to the gunplay, the weapons feel like they're firing cotton wool, and the enemies are bullet sponges that can take half your HP with one hit. There are almost no health packs, so you're either crawling along on your last few hit points or rewinding half an hour of gameplay because saves are only available at checkpoints. Cyberspace is a special kind of punishment. These segments are so pathetic and unfair that you want to turn the game off and never come back.

The level design is a labyrinth for the sake of a labyrinth. There's constant backtracking, you're running through the same corridors because the map is useless, and you can only f… Read full

System Shock Remake isn't a game that asks you to love it right away. It asks you to survive on a station where you're already considered expendable.

I went in as a fan of old immersive sims, and that's exactly what I got, only in a more realistic setting. The Citadel hums, darkens, and lies with signs on the walls. SHODAN is still the best villain in the genre: he doesn't scream every minute, but is present. You listen to logs, fix doors, dread the elevator, and gradually realize that the station isn't a level, but a place where you don't emerge the same person.

The combat is brutal and sometimes uncomfortable, the inventory requires discipline, and the navigation is initially frustrating. This isn't a tonal bug; it's the character of the original. The remake doesn't rewrite the game for … Read full