System Shock 2

System Shock 2
92
Metacritic
95
Steam
94.455
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$9.99
Release date
10 May 2013
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
95 (5 621 votes)
Recent
89 (28 votes)

"Remember, it is my will that guided you here. It is my will that gave you your cybernetic implants, the only beauty in that meat you call a body. If you value that meat... you will do as I tell you." The cult classic sci-fi horror FPS-RPG has returned.

Show detailed description

System Shock 2 system requirements

Minimum:

  • OS:Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8
  • Processor:1.8 GHz Processor
  • Memory:2 GB RAM
  • Graphics:3D graphics card
  • DirectX®:9.0c
  • Hard Drive:2 GB HD space
  • Additional:Game Patched to version 2.48

Recommended:

Recommended requirements are not yet specified.
Similar games
Popularity
Reviews
Write a new review
sports shoes in disguise
sports shoes i…

Somewhat a victim of early 3D, clunky mechanics and some sloppy design towards the end, but generally it's a tense, tight, wonderfully creepy and atmospheric immersive sim. It's worth it at ten bucks US.

The premise is, you're cryogenically frozen security upon the Von Braun starship, the first commercial transport capable of travelling beyond the speed of light. A big song and dance is made about how amazing this all is, but in true capitalist fashion, something in the ship fucks up because it wasn't yet ready for the voyage. Not only that, it's also been invaded by an alien hive-mind called the Many, who have subjected crew members to bodily mutations in order to bring them into the fold AND it's taken over the ship's AI and security systems. All of it is out to get you, and the only tools you have to fight back are an oversized wrench, mediocre weapon repair skills and the one remaining living person on the ship over the radio. Good luck.

If you've played Bioshock, System Shock 2's spiritual successor, you may be disappointed by the much less detailed and philisophical setting. The Many aren't particularly well read in objectivist philosophy or statecraft. However, what it lacks in depth it makes up for in raw terror factor. Bioshock, controversially, I don't think is particularly scary. Faulty lights worthy of a barroom toilet and and gore aplenty, sure, but, Little Sisters notwithstanding, it's hard to get a grasp on the tragedy when everyone who came to Rapture were already narcissistic and morally bankrupt before they turned their brains to mush with plasmids. That's inherent to the setting, of course, but not particularly scary.

In System Shock 2, every mutant on the Von Braun was once a passenger or crew member. From all those school play-level performance audio logs, almost all of them seemed like decent people caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's clear early on that the Many feel genuinely sorry for the human race for not being in a hive mind, but from the terrifying, violent animals they unleash on the crew that leaves (pixellated) blood splattered across half the rooms in the station to doing "The Thing" levels of body horror that look like they've left the crew in immense pain and then forcing bodies that aren't theirs to murder someone which ends up getting them killed, they're clearly fucking vile and conceited beyond belief if they think that's all worth it to indoctrinate humanity. It's like a conservative parent in the 80's "forgiving" their kid for listening to rock music and then tearfully deciding to beat the shit out of them anyway.

And yet as angry as that might make you now, the overwhelming power of the Many versus your Dark Engine-off-your-face-like-movement-riddled ass leaves you feeling much more vulnerable than aggressive. The gameplay is a bit slow, which is okay once you get the feel of it. At the start of the game, a single mutant can kill you in just a few whacks of their meathooks, so you need to charge up your wrench swings for a quick in-and-out hits. As I said earlier, the security system that operates the cameras has been taken over, so if you're spotted it'll raise an alarm that brings a bunch of mutants to kill you - this tiny little piece of metal can do so much damage, so you either need to run at it down a corridor before it sounds the alarm or duck back behind cover while your heart jumps into your mouth.

Once you turn off the techno music (which I didn't because I'm a pussy in a love-hate relationship with horror) the only thing that's left when there are no enemies around is the drone and groan of air and technology that rarely, if ever, leaves you feeling safe. The mechanical whirring of a camera or its alarm, the weird voice modulations of the mutants can pierce through the silence and seize your heart in an instant. It's great. Also, the environments frequently bounce back and forth between those blood-splattered rooms I mentioned earlier and some clean, sterile environments with nothing at all. The atmosphere remains in both. You never know if it's safe because it may be that the only reason this room is clean is because everyone was off for lunch when the aliens attacked, that there was no reason to come in here because there was no one to assimilate - until now.

I must mention the big gameplay issue most people talk about when they review this RPG, which is that it's possible for you to fuck over your playthrough if you don't put enough points into the right skills. This happened to me and it's the reason I never actually finished SS2. I was mostly getting by on taking shotguns from fallen mutants and repairing them to use myself, switching from regular to armour piercing to long-range slugs where necessary and peeking in and out of cover to deal damage. The game is hard, even on easy, but it worked fine and I was okay with it and the weapon degredation system because it made me feel vulnerable. It is a horror game, after all. I started putting skill points into other skills like research, etc., rather than repair or upgrade skills that would let me keep a single shotgun from breaking and continue to up its damage. Unfortunately the difficulty got to a point where I literally could not keep going with the weapons that I had, but also had no remaining skill points to buff up my damage or defence. I was constantly running out of ammo because I just did not have the damage to kill with what I had. Eventually I gave up. It left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

Still though, the experience I did have was worth the money I paid. There are some great ideas and neat twists before the end and a massive amount of depth to the characters and world to read about in between getting throttled by robot nurses. It's probably spawned the most spiritual successors out of any game in human history, which started in the 1960s, and that's for good reason.

76561198169055269
76561198169055269

Better to get now, before remake. Not sure but time has told me once there is a remake you lose the chance to buy the Original. As you can clearly see this is a beloved game. And personally I see remakes as a double edge sword, you gain better stuff but sometimes you risk losing something from the original that was magic.

Biggest gripe is, buy 1 and 2 separately, not in the bundle/package. you save 1 cent.... ya I am that petty and cheap.

Molding
Molding

I want to stick my **** inside the machine mother and have my metal goddess chop it off and augment it into perfection

Keurosaur
Keurosaur

Over 20 years later this game is still engaging and fun; thematically, mechanically, and atmospherically. Only problem is the ending feels a little rushed, and there's not more of it.

JorisV
JorisV

Review based on my non-steam playthrough of the game.
Instant classic, got this game back in the day with a pre-order and did not understand that it did not get as much attention as Half Life got.
I am truly happy that this game became more appreciated as the time went on.
Play it with a mod-manager and update the models/textures and enjoy a superb game (or wait until the official remaster hits the store).

ludogator
ludogator

That's the most important game of my life. In terms of overall excellence, It has been my benchmark for the last 20 years and the only game that could ever compete with SS2 on equal terms was the first Deus Ex.

It has sloppy meelee combat and low-poly enemy models, but these are just minor impurities. Story is deep, well built and very immersive. Each enemy has its origin explained and while their models are ugly (Enhanced edition should fix this), design is really good (and cyborg midwife's is one of the best designs in the whole game industry)

The thing that deserves special attention is the game's sound. It creates atmospheric ambience, tension, and builds the horror experience as the game doesn't go for cheap monster jumping of the closet approach - instead it lets you know exactly where the enemy is, you just have to handle it with your 3 bullets and 8 points of life left :) Overall sound design is outstanding and even today it is almost impossible to find any game with this part as polished as in SS2.

To sum things up - this is definitely a game worth playing.

P.S. my personal advice - play on hard difficulty and stay away from cheats. Oh, and prepare to meet some really nice and kind lady :)

matanazulay
matanazulay

While the game itself is incredible it is buggy and basically cannot be finished due to some weird elevator bug after command center part.

♀ Miriam
♀ Miriam

I associate good memories with it ❤️

the best game of its kind undoubtedly a masterpiece! Such deep single player games are not produced anymore these days.! in 2022 it's all about loot boxes and ingame purchases stupid kids who bully others because others may not have a cool gun skin Such games used to be appreciated because one had to save one's pocket money to get this :) this game shaped me

nerdgeekman's spooky AF!
nerdgeekman's …

I am not crazy! I know this game is trash! I knew it was 45100. As if I could ever make such a mistake. Never. Never! I just - I just couldn't play it. It - it covered its tracks, I got that access card for that door which was hard to find! You think this is something? You think this is bad? This? This game? It's done worse. Those critics! Are you telling me this is one of the best games of all time? No! It's not! It has blocky gameplay! And I gave it a chance! And I shouldn't have. I took it into my own firm! What was I thinking? It sucks. It sucks! Ever since it came out, always the same! Couldn't keep its hands out of the cash drawer! But not System Shock 2! Couldn't be precious System Shock 2! Stealing them blind! And iit gets to be the best game of 1999 over Donkey Kong 64, Silent Hill, Shenmue, Tomb Raider, Mario Party 2, Super Smash Bros, Resident Evil 3 and Pokemon Snap!? What a sick joke! I shouldn't have bought it when I had the chance! Fuck this game!

SocioJoe
SocioJoe

before system shock 2: adjusted, employed, productive member of society
after: hardcore fetish for robodommymommies, drum and bass addiction, pee pee jailbreaked to 12 inches
50,000,000/10

Accept Christ ✞
Accept Christ ✞

I am really sad I don't enjoy this. I loved Bioshock 1 and 2, and I loved Prey, but this is just too much.
The learning curve is extremely steep, the combat is clunky and terrible (it feels like Morrowind combat,) and there's a lot of backtracking and other poor design choices.
Maybe because I played through Prey right before I bought this game that it's impossible for me to enjoy, but it's just not for me.
If you are looking for an immersive sim that takes place in space, I recommend Prey over this any day.

aidan
aidan

if you hold left/right and forward at the same time and pop a speed hypo you can become sonic the hedgehog

Japan Nights
Japan Nights

Can't believe a game from 20+ years ago is still this good.

snus enjoyer
snus enjoyer

i don't know what to say
incredible