Remakes are becoming more and more common in the gaming industry. After the success of remakes like Shadow of the Colossus and Demon's Souls, fans are clamoring for more of their favorite classic titles to get the modern-day treatment. However, some remakes carry a bit more weight than others and are attempting to recapture something that was a bit more special than simply a retro title that was pretty good. One such remake is Nightdive Studios' System Shock Remake.
Originally funded via a Kickstarter campaign, remaking such a legendary game was no easy task, as it carries with it a boatload of legendary pedigree. The Deus Ex and BioShock series, as well as 2017's Prey, are all spiritual successors to System Shock and its sequel. As such, the series' influence on game development is undeniable. However, System Shock is also an excellent sci-fi survival horror game in its own right, meeting all the challenging and frightening benchmarks of the genre. It's easy to make a critical misstep while exploring Citadel Station, and there are a few key tips players should keep in mind as they try to take down SHODAN.
10 Save Constantly
There is a mechanic in System Shock that hasn't persisted in modern-day gaming. Almost every level in Citadel Station contains a Restoration Bay that is controlled by SHODAN, who uses it to convert humans into cyborg slaves. Players need to find these Restoration Bays and shut down their conversion process (done by pulling a lever somewhere nearby) in order to be able to respawn in that level.
The thing is, Restoration Bays can be anywhere. Sometimes they're early in the level, sometimes they appear much later. Until they're activated, player deaths will result in a "Game Over" screen, forcing them to reload a save. Until the level's Restoration Bay is found (and even afterward simply because it's a good habit) players should save constantly to avoid losing progress.
9 Keep Track Of Quest Items
Pretty much everything players pick up around Citadel Station will take up some space in their inventory, with the only exception being keycards. The inventory operates similarly to Resident Evil, with a grid system where different items require a different amount of space.
While managing their inventory, players will discard, recycle, and vaporize various items they no longer need. However, they can easily do this with quest items without realizing the mistake until it's too late. Therefore, it's important to remember which items are quest items and avoid destroying them. It's worth mentioning, the game will prevent players from making this mistake on the lowest difficulty setting.
8 Pick Up (And Empty) Stray Guns
After players defeat a group of enemies, they will often find that those enemies will have dropped their guns after death. Even if those guns are duplicates of something players already have - or are simply a weapon they aren't interested in carrying around - they should still pick them up.
There are two reasons for this. First, those guns often contain stored ammo, which players can empty in their inventory screen, adding that ammo to their reserves. Then, players can vaporize or recycle the now-empty weapon, turning it into a hefty amount of Scrap or Credits which they can spend down the road.
7 Find A Sparqbeam
There are various types of weapons found throughout System Shock. Players will start out with their trusty wrench, which is great for melee attacks. They will find a Minipistol shortly afterward, which fires ballistic rounds. After that, if they look hard enough, they can find a Sparqbeam.
The reason this weapon is ideal in the early game is that, instead of bullets, it uses Energy. Bullets are a finite resource, but as long as players locate a Recharge Station nearby, their Sparqbeam can essentially shoot an infinite number of times. There is a Sparqbeam located in the Beta Quadrant of the Medical area in Level One, but they will also be dropped by most early-game enemies.
6 Vaporize Regularly
As stated earlier, players will collect all sorts of items as they progress through the game. Some will be quest items, weapons, ammo, or healing items. Others will be useless junk, which will be indicated by a red background. Any piece of junk players collect - as well as items they no longer want or need - can be vaporized, which is done in the inventory screen.
Vaporizing will turn those items into Scrap, and 10 Scrap can be exchanged for 1 Credit at Recycle Stations around the map. Alternatively, players can take the items directly to the Recycle Station. It's the 2070s after all, everything is recyclable. By highlighting the item in question, they can see how many Credits it will net via recycling, which will help them decide if vaporizing it is worthwhile or not.
5 Lean Around Corners
At its core, System Shockis a survival-horror game. It has elements of action and first-person shooting, but the scarcity of ammo and resources is undeniably a feature meant to encourage cautious and patient gameplay.
Because of this, players will find that the ability to lean around corners is invaluable. It can be used to pick off enemies without alerting others, or to simply scout out an area without drawing any attention. Either way, players should make a habit of peeking into the next area before entering it fully.
4 Become Familiar With The Map
This tip may seem obvious, but levels in Citadel Station are huge. Despite being confined to one main location, dozens of rooms and looping paths will greet the player in every new area, and there usually isn't a clear indication of which way will lead to progress.
As such players will be making constant use of the game's map, and should become familiar with both its layout and with what its various symbols indicate. Being unable to remember where that last Recharge Station was can be a dangerous situation, and the map is the ideal tool to get out of it.
3 Explore Every Corner
Another feature of System Shock's map is that it will indicate which rooms have been thoroughly explored and cleared out, and which ones still contain hidden items or secrets. Not all of those items will be valuable, but many of them will be.
Because of that, it's worth the effort to thoroughly explore every area of the map. Players never know when they'll discover a passage to a new area, a new weapon, a hardware attachment, or any one of the Recycling, Recharging, or Restoration Stations mentioned earlier.
2 Save Powerful Weapons
There is a mindset that modern games have tried (and failed) to discourage where players hold on to their best items because they might need them later. Inevitably, those players end up with a boatload of powerful items as they walk into the final boss fight and never get a chance to use most of them. This is less of a concern in System Shock.
In fact, it's good practice for players to hold on to their best items until they're facing off against a tough enemy. Often, players trying to take on such an enemy with the Sparqbeam or other standard weapon will face an uphill battle. Swapping to the best gun they've got will make those tough fights go a lot smoother.
1 Match Ammo To Enemies
There are a variety of ammo types that players will make use of on their journey through Citadel Station. There are kinetic and energy weapons, but each of those can be altered to deal damage in different ways and will be more effective against different types of enemies.
When encountering enemies, players should make use of their Target Identifier to determine the best ammo type to use, and then switch to it before engaging in combat. As a rule of thumb, organic enemies are weakest to kinetic weapons, and robotic enemies are weak to energy weapons, but with ammo types like armor-piercing and incendiary bullets available, there's a lot more nuance to be found in each encounter.
System Shock Remake was released on May 30th, 2023, and is available on PC, with current- and last-gen console versions planned for the near future.