Ignoring hacking or psionics means there are crates I won't get to open, or powers that won't be available to me. That tension carries over to your character's upgrade options, where every new power or skill meant I was missing out on other possibilities. I crouched behind boxes or desks for much of the game, waiting for a hybrid to pass or a camera to turn before rushing in for the kill or hack. That tension directly contrasts with BioShock: instead of shooting my way past enemies, I had to wait them out, or outsmart them. Security cameras quickly alerted monsters to my presence – and those alerts last for (what feels like) forever. Thanks to SS2, I'm convinced to this day that all monkeys hide psionic powers and plan to overthrow us.īecause SS2 provides so few resources, I found myself hoarding ammo, health and psionic hypos though most of the game, and relying on melee attacks with the wrench. The logs also show off the game's impressive audio design, particularly in the menacing sounds of hybrids and cybernetic midwives. The vocal performances in these logs are as chilling now as they were in 1999 – listening to the horror descend on the crew intensifies the terror of your own predicament. System Shock 2's backstory is told through audio logs discovered throughout the ship, a storytelling trope that has inspired lots of modern games.
But while the studio's later games are shinier, its first outing is both more complex and, ultimately, more terrifying. Nothing builds fear and tension like isolation, with limited resources and no one to help you. Irrational Games' first game is where it developed the mechanics familiar to anyone who's played BioShock: build a world the player wants to explore, drop them in, and watch them uncover how that world fell apart. System Shock 2 is about fear and scarcity above all else. But it sees me, shoves its shotgun out and shouts, “Kill. Seizing my chance, I rush out, holding the mouse button down in order to prep my wrench swing. My only chance is to bludgeon it with a wrench before its friends show up. I have no ammo, and I'm out of psi-hypos. there?” I hear it ask, dragging a shotgun along and searching for the intruder – me. I lean around the corner quickly to look, catching the back of its head as it turns the corner.
I can hear it through the door, wandering around the hallway.
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