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If coexistence of any sort were at all possible, I wouldn’t mind. Would certainly be interesting.

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I’ve never finished SS2. The claustrophobic atmosphere coupled with the permanent loneliness and the minimalistic aural environment is just too much for my nervous system. A modded version of SS2 remains zipped up on my hard disk though. You may never know when you need that adrenaline rush again…even despite me having already spoilt everything by reading a walkthrough and waithing many gameplay videos. *Cough*

I’ve developed a deep fascination with the whole universe ever since first reading about the game in a german gaming magazine anno 1999. The story and the way it develops, the dialogues and quotes from characters in the game and of course the atmosphere are very well forged but SHODAN remains the pivotal point of interest in both games. Her “character” and her way of communicating with the player (sh-sh-IFT-ing v-v-oi-cccccccccce pItCH) are among the most interesting ever thought up by writers. She draws you into a true love/hate relationship. You hate her for her motivations and arrogant, cold way, but on the other side you *want* to prove your value to her to make her reconsider. An awesome way to form an emotional bond by fulfilling the whole emotional spectrum and to imprint oneself into the “computer gaming” part of the player’s consciousness and memory.

SHODAN and the whole SS franchise was a truly great exception from the rule. Forget the, even back then, not really awesome graphics, they’re not as important as they may seem. They just provide a claustrophobic levels with all those narrow corridors. You don’t need up-to-date high-res UT3-Engine style models and textures for that. It’s the sound that makes SS1/2 live and breathe. Nothingness and distant humming as the fundamental element coupled with your footsteps and distant, transhuman breathing or droid noises are more than enough to forget all about missing HDR, bump mapping and whatever we’re used to now. Add being all on your own, a thoroughly hostile environment and a constant lack of ammo and you’ll have the horror trip of your life.
Would I need that remade with all those graphical bells and whistles? No, not really.

Let System Shock rest on the olymp of gaming and add an occasional nod to it to modern games (most recently Mass Effect 2) instead. Don’t remake it at all. I know, it’s hard to accept that SHODAN might never return to our PCs, but I’d rather live with fond memories of the few hours of SS2 I could enjoy than having everything ruined by a potentionally subpar remake.

P.S: A Shodan voicepack is *the* mandatory mod for UT2004 when I have it installed once in a while.

P.P.S: So far me and my gaming rig XERXES have neither been visited by a low-poly enhanced human nor was there any hacking attempt from space. :)

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Great dirge, loved the article, one of the best written about it. Hell, that’s the one that should be in Wiki…Cheers~

Dunwyche~

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Those who are bitter about not having played the games should do themselves a favour and get them already. The years that have passed haven’t made them old-fashioned or irrelevant, simply because there are still no games quite like them out there. I have played SS1 last year for the first time myself, and had a hell of a time, after getting used to the interface. And the sequel is a perfectly accessible game by modern standards, so there is absolutely no reason not to play it now, unless you’re really bothered by ugly character models.

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“To all members of the Resistance – stay out of the mall if you can. It crawls.”

I love how just one short, understated log really upped the tension :)

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I’ve never played anything else that conveyed such strong emotions; a continual overdose of loneliness, sadness, and paranoia. Everyone you needed to meet was dead and I never felt safe anywhere due to the continual burblings of Xerxes and the Many.

While it had incredible atmosphere and writing, a fair amount of the actual gameplay was horrible. Infinitely respawning monsters and the utterly heinous jumping puzzle at the end kept me from playing it a second time. It’s a game that could easily be improved upon but will never be equaled.

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KG

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