Livestream – 4/1/2021 – System Shock 2

The livestream this week was System Shock 2. A great game in the “immersive sim” genre and really one of the level setting ones at that. When we say immersive sim consider games like Deus Ex, Bioshock and the modern Prey. All games that give you a toolset and with multiple ways to accomplish your objectives. Shoot your way through, hack things or sneak the solution is up to you.

System Shock 2 was released in 1999 being the sequel to well… System Shock but it improved on it in just about every way. System Shock I think had a bigger vision than the tech could provide at the time but the sequel was able to realize that in a way that wasn’t possible before. The pace might appear to be a little off putting at times since it looks like a shooter you are constantly scavenging for resources, planning your route and exploring your surroundings carefully. It’s also pretty creepy since it follows the “something bad happened and you are the only survivor” path asking you to piece together what happened. An evil AI is the cherry on top talking to you in a glitched and even creepier way. Either way it’s still a really fun game and if you haven’t played it but have experience with the Bioshock series you’ll definitely see where the inspiration came from!