Analysis of System Shock Remake for PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series

In May 2023, a remake of the famous Looking Glass Technologies game “System Shock” from Night Dive Studios was released on PC (I recommend the review by Mark Fernandez). A year later, System Shock Remake is released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series.

System Shock Remake is an amazing game. The care and attention with which the remake was made is a sign of love for the video game and a good job despite the problems and changes in direction undertaken by the development team during the almost 8 years it took them to finish it. project. However, the result is outstanding in almost every way: the work done here is worth taking note of by many studios.

Once we get started, we can choose the gender of our avatar (not possible in the 1994 original) and customize the difficulty of the game, choosing from one to three levels for each aspect of the adventure: combat, missions, cyberspace and puzzles. It’s true that this isn’t the first game to offer this feature, but it’s a very noticeable positive aspect because, like a good classic game, it’s no walk in the park. System Shock Remake forces us to pay attention to the map, texts and audio we find. In fact, we will often have to revisit one of them if we get lost and don’t know how to move forward.

The cyberspace portions (we recommend playing with the “death in real life” option activated) provide variety and madness as they are needed to access areas of the space station that would otherwise remain closed and locked. Another remarkable aspect is the soundtrack, which will perfectly accompany us during most of the events.

Overall, this video game has some problems that have been overcome (or should be overcome) today. Text or audio files that we find in almost all games (contextual narration) originated here. Which brings us to the next question: Is it really impossible in thirty years to update the way the media communicates things to us? The most obvious, or perhaps most common, answer is no. But in System Shock Remaster this is clearly justified.

As for the filming sections, although they seem somewhat dated, they start again with the original material. Let’s not forget that this is not a typical “shooter”, but rather an adventure game with specific confrontations, a touch of horror and a lot of cyberpunk. Likewise, the pipe puzzles will seem very familiar (did someone say Bioshock?). But this is a remake of a classic among classics, it has that aged taste and, like a fine wine, it’s filled with nuance, making for a fun and entertaining experience like few others. It respects the original and doesn’t intend to offer a completely different experience than a Resident Evil 2 remake could have been; It always reminds us that this is an old game, even though it looks great and runs great.

For those of you of a certain age, System Shock Remake will make you smile. It’s a game full of personality and rich in detail, where you have to touch everything to find interactions, whether it’s turning on the lights in a room (which doesn’t do much) or opening a hidden panel. Moreover, the villain will remain in your memory for a long time. Perhaps the best thing that can be said about the software is that it pushes us to go further, to want to open that door that is stopping us from passing, to go deeper into the story and continue to advance level after level.