What System Shock 2 Means To Me

[6648d83cd9544DoomGaze]

I vividly remember the first time I saw a screenshot of System Shock 2.  It was in 2006 after I had started playing BioShock. 

Now I'd followed the production of BioShock since the announcement it was being made.  When I saw Ken Levine's post E3 video/demo I became a devout fan of him and the kind of work he does.
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I loved BioShock.  Played through it a number of times.  Talked about it on IGN forums, and someone said "Amazing game but still not as good as System Shock 2". 

When I saw that term, System Shock 2, it was like walking into a five star Italian restaurant when you're starving.  I googled the term and this was the first image I saw:

Now that I'm a vet of the game, this image means something different to me than it did back then.  But when I first saw this picture the impact it had on me was so intense that I am even today able to retroactively put myself back into that state of ignorance and remember the feeling.  I was confused, disturbed and perhaps most importantly, intrigued. 

Whoever this individual was, she was obviously 1) at one point a normal person, and 2) had experienced something awful.  The expression is so pronounced on her face- it is one of excessive pain and agony, yet also an eagerness, a frenzied joy. 

When I saw that picture I immediately decided to buy and play the game.  I looked at the Wikipedia page for System Shock 2 and it had the following genre tags:
Shooter/RPG/Horror

Horror. 

System Shock 2 is the nightmare you don't want to wake up from.  I have such a difficult time trying to pin down what exactly is the quintessential SS2 moment.  Is it when you find Polito?  Is it when the OS/Cyb Module mechanism dawns on you?  Is it gingerly walking down the dimly lit carpeted corridors of the Recreation Center?  Or is it the hilarity, the self-aware "Nah"? 

For me it is after you have created your strained alliance with Shodan.  The masterful music of "Ops 2" blaring, while she gives you oceans of Cybernetic Modules, making you incredibly powerful, such that all these enemies melt like butter in front of you.  Her digitized, segmented voice commanding and guiding you. 

I've not been a very active member here.  But the dedication and passion I see in the mod community here demonstrates to me that those with more ability than I, also have the same passion. 

My first playthrough was vanilla.  Since then it's been nothing but Secmod.  I'm seeing some other mods here such as the infinite mod and the rebalanced skills.  I'm interested in these.

But I'm also wondering if there's any way we can persuade Night Dive Studios to remake System Shock 2.  As much as I love their remake of 1, and though it was clearly made with dedication and love, it can ultimately only extend from its original subject matter, and SS1 was a bit limited. 

A remake of SS2 with the same level of commitment to preserving the original vision would be absolutely insane.  I want to fund it.  I want to throw money at them until they make it.  As incredible as the mod community is, there is only so much that can be done with the original game/engine. 

Does NDS have any platform in which fans can communicate with them?  Their site yields no such option.

[6648d83cd9769voodoo47]

they do have a discord.

no need for any persuasion, once SS2EE is out, SS2R is the next logical step, they would be nuts to not take it. but nothing has been confirmed.

[6648d83cd98e9fox]

I'd still prefer new content building on evertyhing that was good about SS2. Small correction: Bioshock was released on August 21, 2007 although there has been a demo and I believe a leak before that.

[6648d83cd9d20ZylonBane]

once SS2EE is out, SS2R is the next logical step, they would be nuts to not take it

They would be nuts to try, because a proper SS2R is completely beyond Night Dive's capabilities. They only barely pulled off SSR by riding the "retro shooter" aesthetic HARD, which made the lo-fi textures and environments, stupid AI, and obtuse, clunky gameplay seem intentional.

For an SS2 remake they wouldn't be able to get away with any of that. SS2 is of the era when game tech was just starting to be able to depict realistic environments, with realistic texturing, so to improve on that Night Dive would have to manually build every square inch of the levels, not rely on clone stamping pixelated Duplo blocks like they could with SSR. And they'd need AI at least as good as SS2's, capable of supporting both sneaky and combat gameplay. And they'd need to implement the entire RPG system and properly balance it.

Frankly, even if they were capable of it, I wouldn't want Night Dive to do it, because SSR revealed that they have some really obnoxious sensibilities when it comes to what sort of things belong in a Shock game. If anything they seemed to be trying to make SSR more like Bioshock.

[6648d83cd9e1dvoodoo47]

ah yes, you did mention that previously. guess we'll see in due time.

[6648d83cda048Join2]

SSR is that bad? Still not played it yet.

"I loved BioShock.  Played through it a number of times.  Talked about it on IGN forums, and someone said "Amazing game but still not as good as System Shock 2."

First (and I believe only) time I completed Bioshock my thoughts were: "THIS mediocre game is what has been hyped up to me so grandly?" I had not played SS2 at the time, but had played a crapton of others. Garbage game. Didn't stop me from seeking out SS2 though. Many of the absolute best games were made in the late 90s.

What does SS2 mean to me? A lot. Outstanding game design. I don't want any remake or even remaster, many of my beloved games have recieved that treatment and the number that came out even remotely respectable can be counted on only one hand.
I haven't played SSR yet, but regardless if it is good or not, I still don't really want anyone attempting SS2. Not worth the gamble. If they try, at least it will keep the game relevant in the public eye, but I'd still rather they not.