System Shock 2

Overview

System Shock 2 is the sequel to Warren Spector's 1994 action-oriented role-playing game System Shock. Set in the future, the player takes on the role of a nameless soldier aboard the military starship UNN Rickenbacker as it serves as a defensive escort on the maiden voyage of the first faster-than-light starship, the Von Braun. The game begins as the player is brought out of cryogenic stasis -- with no memory of the previous few weeks -- to find the ship in ruins, devoid of intelligent human life, and overrun by a host of hideously mutated, feral former humans who refer to themselves in garbled speech as "The Many."

Over the course of the game, the player discovers what has happened by making his way through both ships and uncovering clues left behind by deceased crew members. Several months into the flight, the two ships encountered a distress call sent from a planet in the Tau Ceti system. Investigating this signal resulted in The Many's infiltration of the ships, the compromise of the Von Braun's FTL stardrive, and -- in a stirring mid-game plot twist -- the resurrection of the first System Shock's antagonist, the malevolent rogue artificial intelligence named SHODAN.

Reception and heritage

System Shock 2 was noted for the original aspects of its design, including the usage of found crew member audio logs as a narrative device. These voice recordings tell the story of what happened aboard the Von Braun and in some cases document the horrific transformation of the crew into mindless, savage agents of The Many. This method of storytelling allowed the story to flow at the pace of the player's progress, instead of sweeping the player along by force. The game is also noted for its atmosphere and tension, and to this day it ranks on many critics' lists as one of the scariest games ever produced. Despite the game's critical acclaim, piracy and a lack of marketing resulted in lackluster sales, and System Shock 2 is known today more as a cult hit than a commercial success.

Although it wasn't a huge commercial hit, a lot of game mechanics and ideas were refined and used many years later in its critically and commercially acclaimed "spiritual successor" Bioshock (including audio logs to push the story forward, plasmids in place of cybernetic upgrades, and almost similar mid-game plot twist regarding the player's antagonist).  Deus Ex, another well received game of System Shock franchise creator Warren Spector, also used many of the ideas of it's predecessor, most notably cyber augmentation and strong, skill-based RPG elements fitted into FPS gamplay. GLaDOS , the main villain of Portal is often considered to be an homage to SHODAN, as both AIs are "female" and have a similar manner of speech.

Keeping the game alive