Given all this talk about the system shock remake, it’s time to include it in our recurring series where I look at some memorable RPG enemies and monsters. You may question whether Shock should actually be classified as an RPG. After all, it lacks the sort of character progression and customisation mechanics we normally associate […]

Night-dive have recently released a pre-alpha demo for their remake of System Shock, available on GOG and steam. It’s very brief, just a few rooms and corridors, probably less than 20% of the first deck. So there’s not a lot to comment on so far. What we see keeps to the blocky level geometry of […]

Looking Glass Studios cyberpunk first person shooter System Shock, released in 1994, spent many long years as abandonware. Then last year, Night Dive Studios came along, sorted out the legal rights, and released an enhanced version via digital distribution. It was recompiled to run natively in Windows, and featured slightly sharper graphics and greatly improved […]

Recently I took 10 mins to play a bit of the newly enhanced System Shock. Some observations: Most importantly we have the option of mouselook. Shock was originally lumbered with clunky controls, where the mouse moved a pointer around the screen, and you had to click in certain places or use the keys to turn, […]

I’ve been waiting for this for years – System Shock is finally on gog.com. This is the game we once called the Thinking Man’s Doom. In those days all shooters tended to be described by reference to Doom – but this one had some rather different DNA. Its direct ancestor from Looking Glass Studios was […]

System Shock was, for me, the greatest of the early first-person shooters. Known as the “Thinking Man’s Doom” it was slower paced than most of its peers, with more emphasis on atmosphere, story and exploration. Some of my fondest 90s gaming memories are of prowling around Citadel Station’s executive deck and hangar bays, ion rifle […]