- Tested on PC
- Test configuration: RTX 4090 + i9-9900K
- Completed in about 20 hours in difficulty level Normal
- ChatGPT only has to stand up to SHODAN!
The result of a successful Kickstarter campaign with its million dollars raised and an eight-year tumultuous development that saw the project change its graphic engine to move from Unity to Unreal Engine 4, System Shock (2023) offers an extremely faithful adaptation of the original title of 1994, at the time developed by Looking Glass Studios. What's the result?
Stealing a TV? Never!
It all started in 2072, in New Atlanta, when your character, a hacker, hacked the Trioptimum megacorporation network. He is quickly unmasked, captured and taken away manu militari at the Citadelle, a space station in orbit around Saturn. Once there, a man named Edward Diego, the station's vice president, proposes to offer him a state-of-the-art cybernetic neuronal interface and brand new in exchange for the removal of the ethical constraints of SHODAN, artificial intelligence responsible for managing the Citadelle systems. For what purpose? Mystery and gum ball even if one guesses dark designs. Our hacker accepts and executes, before being immersed in a curative coma following the implantation of his new computer chip.
When he regained consciousness six months later, the base was plunged into chaos: became completely psychotic, SHODAN turned all the robots against the human crew, when she did not simply transform it into mutants or cyborgs thirsty with blood. Now it is up to you to find a way to get rid of this Hell, to understand what happened during your sleep and, why not, to put an end to the reign of SHODAN at the same time.
« L-l-l-l-l-look at you, hacker. A pa-pa-pathetic creation of meat and bone. (panting and) Panting and sweating as you r-r-run through my corridors. How can you challenge a perfect, immortal machine? »
Tossed into pasture, released into nature
The main strength of the immersive sims is their ability to focus on our choices as a player. Think « emerging gameplay »either the possibility of overcoming a situation in a way that had not necessarily been imagined by the developers upstream. Leaving us without a specific mission in a station in perdition, System Shock is perhaps one of the purest representatives of this kind born with the series of Ultimato the point that the title might as well have been called « You woke up in a cryogenic capsule aboard a 10-storey space station infested with mutants and killer robots, now you're out of your way. ».
This is where it is felt that this remake is extremely faithful to the skeleton of its predecessor of 1994 (which the author of these lines had not done). What a joy to have the keys in hand and not to be forced to colt a damn yellow dot as a carrot to follow blindly. None of this here, oh no! In our ultra-connected era and synonymous with AAA with shamefully assisted progression, it is a great thing to have to take out your notebook to take notes, under penalty of seemingly goalless wandering, which is an integral part of the experience.
The written recording of certain data is thus imperative in order to travel efficiently, avoid being a victim of memory holes and not sadly resolve to have to cheat on the Internet. Note that the catches of feverish scribble below do not reveal anything, as the moults codes of the game are generated randomly and each person will progress according to his own logic.
Mother SHODAN, tell us a story
The history of System Shock is fully revealed through environments, written documents and audiologs. Apart from a kinematic in the beginning and in the end, it is on this bold bet that the whole narrative rests. A little like the Petit Poucet with its pebbles, the developers distil the information to the dropper, and it is our fair analysis of the clues that will allow us to deduce a goal of progress. Admittedly, you will sometimes be next to the plaque, but the satisfaction will only be greater when you unlock a new floor to explore, your silent character evolving within the Citadelle from its base to its summit, which will not prevent you from regularly going back to retrace an area ignored until then.
It is also these wanderings that reinforce the claustrophobic character of adventure. The ladders, the vents, the locked doors, the gravitational systems, the mysterious and grey music that changes at each level, everything is done to make one feel trapped, stifled or even desperate in this labyrinthic and oppressive Citadelle, which forces us to systematically consult and annotate our card so as not to risk losing our thread of thought. As long as you cling to this initial assumption, considered normal in 1994 and hardcore today, System Shock you will appear as it is, a brute, devilishly obsessive jewel whose look it is impossible to turn away, to the point of dreaming at night.
Attention to detail
Another strength of the game lies in its talent to always keep us on the alert, as every piece of annoid appearance could potentially conceal an audiolog containing crucial clarification or a corpse holding a precious access card. We look at every shelf with the hope of collecting the clue that will make us exclaim « Eureka! ». All these phases of fine comb investigation are the opportunity to admire the sumptuous artistic direction, very colorful, but coherent of the title, which perfectly restores the side « Cybernetic hive » of the Citadel.
We also spend a lot of time managing its inventory, which adopts a format similar to the case Resident Evil 4, synonymous with optimisation of available space. If the ammunition is not lacking in level of difficulty Normal, the bestiary of varied enemies will give you threads to twist, especially in the radioactive zones that force us to regularly swallow seals to purge us radiation.
The hacker's cybernetic interface also allows him, among other skills, to generate a shield around him or to absorb radioactive damage. If, like me, you're a little bit of a quiche in the first person, expect to go from life to life often. Fortunately, just a simple load of your last quick backup will return to the ring in a blink of an eye.
Finally, it is impossible not to mention the hypnotizing composition and perfectly in agreement with Jonathan Peros, sometimes enigmatic during exploration, sometimes electric and wild during combat phases, with big strokes of guitar riffs. The soundtrack, with very progressive tracks, is available in full on Bandcamp.
Verdict
Obsessive, awesome, oppressive, intransigent... There is no shortage of adjectives to describe the delightfully challenging experience of System Shock, an immersive sim that is brilliantly lurking on the lands of the Dungeon Crawler, which makes sense when you know that the original developers are the brains behind the revolutionary Ultima Underworld. Playing the faithful remake of Nightdive Studios means agreeing to have all reindeer in hand as a player to determine their own progress and what the game expects from us. While this at first glance arid proposal will dissipate some of them, there is no doubt that this labyrinth journey will bring increasingly cathartic satisfaction as they move forward in the Citadel's claustrophobic corridors. What if the best game of 2023 had a foot in 1994? A radical and absolutely unforgettable work, endowed with all but artificial intelligence.
For
- The player at the center of everything
- The sensation of evolving in a labyrinth
- Citadel's complex and narrow level of design
- The narrative, savourily distilled at stake and almost never using kinematics
- An ode to troubleshooting
- The need to take notes
- The artistic direction that depicts a very dark universe in colour
- Psychotic AI, SHODAN, icy and completely crazy
- A wide range of cyberpunk obsessions
- High-level progressive BO
- A Final in Fanfare
- Many weapons and accessories available for different ways of playing
- The map, very well designed, is a treat to analyze
- Who says emerging gameplay says experimentation: live fast backup!
- No technical problems, a perfectly optimized game from the start
Against
- A gameplay less emerging than, for example, a Dishonored
- Enemies' AI, not always fine
You made me want to play it, I had already found the presentation Gamescom nice at the time even though I don't have many references in immersive sim. It's always fun to play smart games (hein Ubisoft?).
Question by reading your article: Can we consider Zelda as an immersive sim finally? And in which case, apart from the fact that the license is increasingly moving away from the epic model of previous games, why don't you join it?
(You have three hours)
Hmm. I'd say Zelda flirts glued-tight with l-immersive sim without really being one since its environment open to the level design
Little inspiredCleaner promotes more sandbox appearance for not necessarily concrete purposes.However, it is indeed open to debate since the definition ofimmersive sim tend to be nebulous and more related to PC DNA games like Deus Ex.
And if I don't adhere to it, it's because I'm playing Zelda for the dungeons and the epic side, not to build trucks made of Mojo Tree nuts and crafting anti-digging soup:-S
We agree that the question arises. We already talked about it off on Zelda. What we lose on the epic side and dungeons, we gain in exploration and taking initiatives. What Nintendo did with Zelda is a bit the same as with Mario. A total revolution in terms of gameplay opportunities but against compromises.
I haven't had time to start the last one yet but I hope they will change paths for the next. Otherwise the Ubisoft effect that pulls the line risks being felt.
Person Twilight Princess will probably remain the most beautiful synthesis of different eras. And Wind Waker the most original (and enchanting) zelda 3D. For Zelda 2D this is another debate. Another religion itself. ^^^
We should, one of these four, each interested editor, make a top 3 bad subjective of which our favorite Zelda + the one we hate the most and why :-p
So it's a rich idea but it will be the war between the zelda 2D and 3D! I'd almost have to distinguish the two, otherwise it's a bit of a break. ^^ I keep the idea for the start when I'm done with the last one.
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