I've wanted to play through the first System Shock for a while, but it's one of those games where the dated graphics and UI genuinely makes it difficult to parse in the modern era. My understanding is that this is very close to a 1-1 recreation of the game, but with a more modern UI, engine, and graphics.

Despite being a remake, it feels much like a modern Immersive Sim akin to later entries in the genre like Prey, which speaks volumes about why this is one of the fathers of the genre. I have only a few minor complaints as someone who didn't play the original:

- The cyberspace sections are all a drag. I give them mostly a pass because it looks like it replicates the original really well, but I never *liked* playing them.
- On the hardest difficulty for combat, the later enemies feel a *bit* too bullet-spongey. On difficulties 1 and 2, they feel fine.
- The ending sequence *sucks* for a number of (spoilery) reasons, and looking on Youtube it seems like it's the only major departure from the original. I understand the difficulty of translating the part of SHODAN trying to take you over, but...As soon as you step into that last cyberspace section in this, the only failstate is if you were like me and went in with little time left over; if you're not playing on the hardest difficulty, you've basically won the game at that point.

In short: they did a really good job. The complaints above are mostly nitpicks.

EDIT: Since the most recent update said to change the ending, I replayed it. It's much better, still not perfect but at least it's actually kinda fun this time.

I've wanted to play through the first System Shock for a while, but it's one of those games where the dated graphics and UI genuinely makes it difficult to parse in the modern era. My understanding is that this is very close to a 1-1 recreation of the game, but with a more modern UI, engine, and graphics. Despite being a remake, it feels much like a modern Immersive Sim akin to later entries in the genre like Prey, which speaks volumes about why this is one of the fathers of the genre. I have only a few minor complaints as someone who didn't play the original: - The cyberspace sections are all a drag. I give them mostly a pass because it looks like it replicates the original really well, but I never *liked* playing them. - On the hardest difficulty for combat, the later enemies feel a *bit* too bullet-spongey. On difficulties 1 and 2, they feel fine. - The ending sequence *sucks* for a number of (spoilery) reasons, and looking on Youtube it seems like it's the only major departure from the original. I understand the difficulty of translating the part of SHODAN trying to take you over, but...As soon as you step into that last cyberspace section in this, the only failstate is if you were like me and went in with little time left over; if you're not playing on the hardest difficulty, you've basically won the game at that point. In short: they did a really good job. The complaints above are mostly nitpicks. EDIT: Since the most recent update said to change the ending, I replayed it. It's much better, still not perfect but at least it's actually kinda fun this time.