The MasterClass in Horror and Immersion that is SYSTEM SHOCK 2
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 10 авг 2019
- www.humblebundle.com/store/sy... It's a wonderful time to experience System Shock 2 if you haven't already (affiliate link)System Shock 2 is perhaps the finest example of an immersive sim that there is. It's combination of RPG and shooter elements wrapped up into a horror package that many, many modern games can trace their roots back to like Bioshock, Prey, and so many others.
/ charlatanwonder
System Shock and System Shock 2 pioneered so many gameplay features that we take for granted today like Audio Diaries, Hacking everything in Sight, and an antagonist that is more than just a boss battle towards the end of the game. 
Игры
"It looks like 2020 is going to be a very good year..."
2020: **stares in biblical apocalypse**
Would be a great video game. What do you think ?
Some might say it feels like we're straight up living in an immersive sim.
When he said that I laughed really hard lmao
Yeah I'm still waiting for the part of the year when I can upgrade my stats to let me hide in the vents for the rest of 2020.
@@CharlatanWonder Haha... Funny! You have some great videos
Another useful tip for System Shock 2: The *elevator* cannot have enemies in it and is a safe haven where you can rest and fiddle with your inventory. Also, using it's a great idea to use it as your extra gear mobile warehouse that will follow you from floor to floor!
I suppose somebody in Nightdive Studios took notes: they implemented a dumbwaiter next to the elevator for storage purpose in the System Shock remake.
I really wish more love was given to System Shock 1. It takes some getting used to but once you get past the barrier to entry you find a really high quality survival horror metroidvania.
I honestly think SS1 has held up better than its sequel
“Metroidvania”. Bruh that genre didn’t even exist at the time.
@@Yomom12388 Well no one played SS1 at the time whilst metroid and castlevania became so iconic they popularized and entire genre so imma just refer to it as metroidvania as opposed to "exploratory survival action game with backtracking, unlockable abilities, with an emphasis on environmental storytelling".
Even with the stupid controls, I absolutely love it. Luckily it's been fixed.
@@Yomom12388 There were numerous releases of Metroid and Castlevania games before there was ever a System Shock. The style may not have been recognised as a ''genre'' or philosophy at the time, but it is now and the term is fitting for System Shock. ''Immersive sim'' was not a term at the time either, but most people agree that the System Shocks are immersive sims..
Played it when I was 13, scared me to death five minutes in. Didn't play it again until I was 14.
10/10
This game won 18 awards and even was featured as a PC classic and was being sold in stores all the way up to 2004
Sadly, Looking Glass Studio still went bankrupt after how much praised and achievement they got after developed this. I wish they're still around :-( ...
@@aaadj2744 let's hope the remake comes out🙏
@@Gerickmb eh no need steam release+ the quality of life n grphx mods
@@blindedjourneyman HAVE YOU PLAYED THIS GAME?; This game is dated AF, its fantastic yes, its still dated
@@davidbanan. I PLAY SS2 at least once a week, I just love trying wonky builds and doing certain limitations. ^^ idk if its dated you weirdo. it's very fun next week imma go all in with energy weapons XD
Major tip: after reaching Hydroponics, start overcharging your laser pistols
Also, don’t bother with Repair. Maintenance is much better as it not only prevents your weapons from breaking, but also improves damage
_"The Polito form is dead, insect. Are you afraid?"_ -S.H.O.D.A.N.
When she first revealed, I swear I nearly shat bricks. Every wonky AI character in gaming owes a debt to 'The Perfect Immortal Machine'.
I basically started going, "Uhm...HOW THE FUCK DO I GET OUT OF HERE?"
I love thr remake of this scene one fan made in unreal
Same: The floor started coming apart, and I was jumping around to try and avoid it. Also shot SHODAN in the head when her face was revealed. Then kept shooting the worms that were part of the illusion.
Yeah. An immersive game.
Look at you, hacker ;)
As great as SHODAN is, she's just a more vicious version of HAL, and at least HAL had the explanation of him being programmed to never allow the crew to find out about the Monolith.
Though SHODAN definitely has a much better voice.
"2020 looks like a good year for System Shock 3" not so sure about that anymore...
We still get the remake though
This video of System Shock 2 reminded me to turn on suit sensors
Uhhhh I just finished it... how do I do that lol
SUIT SENSORS TO MAXIMUM OR CATGRILL WILL D O M M Y MOMMY YOU IN MAINTENANCE
@@1glitchyboye344 assblast USA woop woop
@@pr3historic647 suit sensors to maximum and "captain is condom"
"SILENCE THE DISCORD"
The Many, giving good advice to content creators since 1999.
"2020 is going to be a good year"
yea, we wish
"you're never going to get to the point of power creep"
*CACKLES IN OSA MELEE*
@Shane McKenzie you're not wrong
but at the same time
osa melee is more fun
Dammit, Nightdive, hurry up and finish the remake!
Also, dammit, now I want a BLT. :/
I'm playing it atm, it's great!
I have resisted the urge to watch this video until I finished the game for myself, not because I don’t want to hear your thoughts but because I wanted as fresh an experience as possible. God. This game is top 10 if not top 5 for me now
Here’s some Easter eggs from the system shock universe from way back. I remember playing crusader no remorse and included in the box was a fluff newsprint with the WEC announcing the building of shodan on Saturn. Also if you watched the end game cut scene closely you could see that the hacker was looking at a mobile power suit from the strike force centauri game.
That's actually pretty cool
"Nah"
*screams in SHODAN*
I remember playing System Shock 2 out of curiosity and I have nothing but respect for the guys that made it. I’d honestly consider it one of my favorite games of all time, and I’ve seriously recommended it to other people. Seeing someone talk about it and how much of an influence it is makes me really happy.
Omg I never realised how much arcane is really trying to keep the immersive sim alive, prey is very system shock, no wonder its name was supposed to be phyco shock. The weapons look very similar
"Nah."
-The coolest guy ever. 207something.
His only line and yet it’s super badass in context
He saw what shodan does and is willing to do id refuse it too lol. Hmmm.... serve a rogue ai who WILL betray me... nahh
No game in my life has given me nightmares, but System Shock 2. It’s an absolutely chilling video game, and truly is a masterclass in horror and immersion. It scared me for such a long time that I couldn’t beat it for years.
About nightmare...try AVP 2.
"Are you the one with us?"
Its also comedic ever crush security bots with an elevator? Oh no stop help error ect lmao
Always saw this as the predecessor to Bioshock and to hear what Kevin Levine was doing before Bioshock, is a bit funny as to how simple things can change the course of history.
"Most things that were good in System Shock 2 were dumbed down in Bioshock." There, fixed that for ya.
After beating system shock 2 for the first time it was kinda hard to go back to Bioshock. It just feels so simplified.
@@stupid90able I prefer Bioshock's setting and better FPS emphasis and i love it more, but i agree SS2 has better mechanics, RPG elements and nailed horror better, those low poly eggs, annelids, and the voices of The Many, and SHODAN freak me out, (ngl i wasnt actually that scared of SHODAN compared to The Many tho) it is so rare for a game to make me feel afraid because i dont play horror much. Also weirdly, i personally find the clunkiness of the shooting to be oddly satisfying, as well as being able to hold the wrench and releasing it to strike, the research skill limiting what you can use makes it very difficult tho.
The ending was kinda funny but it broke all the tension and sense of helplessness that was built up as i was playing the game
@@derpoi for some reason, despite how old the game is and how many times I play it, when the walls slide down to reveal shodan in that big room on the ops deck sends chills down my spin, makes me feel like I'm about to face an eldrich god not an AI.
all my 20 years of gaming experience, I have never played BioShock when it came out even near end of 360's life cycle. I have played, completed System Shock 2 - which is one of my favorite CyberPunk FPS RPG. And recently, I dive into my collection of games I collected, and decided to play BioShock for the first time in 2022.
Yes, what you state basically feels as a dumb down version of System Shock 2. It is hard on medium setting, I won't lie. Though, System Shock 2 is the game I can go back to and play anytime. Its hold up so well in its sound design, immersion, atmosphere, and storytelling. Bioshock I like it bit more on FPS but that can be debated.
I didn't get the greatest first impression from System Shock 2, but after giving it a second shot years back I finally felt it click. It's such a fantastic game.
I'm a massive BioShock fan (not Infinite admittedly) but calling BioShock an Immersive Sim is a stretch. It is far more linear than System Shock 2, which itself was more linear in level design than System Shock in my opinion (not in gameplay though). For everything BioShock improves though I believe it takes away, or at the very least streamlines. I don't mean streamline as a bad thing though, it has peaks and drops. Great video though, and the recommendations were a really nice addition to it all. I'm really glad this channel exists with all the Immersive Sim content. Thank you for continuing to upload
Not sure if you’ve played it but prey is an amazing game. Probably would have been more suited to be named system shock 3 instead of taking the name prey from the previous game
@@Guywithupsyndrone I have, multiple times. Really enjoy it, have played it multiple times, it just isn't System Shock, really. Which is okay, what isn't is that it almost is. I just kind of wish it was able to forge its own identity, But it had no chance to do so given its naming and the very unsubtle homages to past games. I think it's time for immersive sims design as a whole to move on and do the same. Else we may get less Prey and more linear experiences.
For each thing Bioshock improves, it dumbs down Other 3 mechanics.
But in the end, Bioshock gives you two options the entire game: do u wanna shoot shoot the things or zappy zappy, burn burn them?
Erick Norskr I actually kind of wish BioShock went all in with Plasmids and gene tonics. Integrating them fully into gameplay so they are an extension of the mechanics. We see glimpses of this with some obstacles only solvable by Plasmids. But it makes me wonder why hacking or even armour/shields weren’t tied to them. It could have allowed for specialisation while still keeping them tied to the game, really making it stand-out amongst other Shock games. The more grounded realism of BioShock’s powers is still unmatched to me and I fear that has yet to reach its potential. And likely never will.
"GLORY TO THE FLESH.
GLORY TO THE MANY."
"An assault rifle will get you through the game much smoother than a laser sword will."
This makes me kinda sad.
I mean, this applies to all difficulties except Impossible. You wanna save every bit of ammo for that.
hell even the handgun n shotty can, appropriate ammo+ 3 round burst kills all. don't use shotty alt tho double dmg for 3 rounds is only worth vs the robots since they hurt like hell
0:50 - The true insipiration of most of it is System Shock 1.
He mentions that later in the video, but he honestly should've established that earlier on. He definitely made it seem like System Shock 2 was the source of everything, when in reality SS2 was just what made it more widespread.
I remember after I finished prey 2017 (which I absolutely adored and love so much ) a lot of online people said to check out system shock and I am just now looking into it ;-;
@Ecard Ecardian I mean I liked the newer prey and from what I saw of the older one it doesn’t look like something I wanna play.
"Oh my god what is that supposed to be?!"
That's what happens when you play a game that has early 3D graphics.
Just finished system shock 2 and i loved every second of it. You sparked my love for immersive sims.
Thank you! This was the first game that made me feel something. Can't believe it has been 20 years.
I came back to this video to say, THANK YOU MAN! I LOVE THIS GAME I've been doing so many playthroughs with just the grphx and ease of life mods this game came to be my top 5 by my 2nd failed playthrough. I legit can't thank you enough for helping rec this game. It wss THE FIRST thing I nabbed when my.laptop finally arrived in july. I also thanked the other madlad who told me about this brilliant gem
The Thing right is that this game much like the original is a space dungeon crawler, not a horror game, they just pulled it off so perfectly, that its scarier than many horror games
Just finished this game, from your recommendation, and I LOVED IT SO MUCH. I will be recommending this to everyone interested in games, generally.
I played this masterpiece back in the day, and although difficult to set up co-op games, the hoops you had to jump through to play multiplayer were well worth it as playing with others took the game to another level.
It's about time. Thank you for this.I thought people had forgotten about this gem.
Bought it on steam sale years ago and will be installing it for the first time tonight, thanks CW!
The tips at the end on how to enjoy SS2 with modern control schemes is what drove me to like AND subscribe.
Amazing vid but also more cat please
Man I love these videos keep up the good work
Awesome video about one of my favourite games ever! THX a lot! ;)
how has this channel not gained a larger following yet? Like seriously this has a lot more worth while within it then a lot of channels with 1mil+ channels nowadays. AND it covers obscure realms of gaming in great detail. Not the most common thing an thus an attractive thing to anyone with an interest in gaming and the like. All im saying is. This channel has to be the best thing I've come across on youtube in a long while.
God System Shock 2....should play it again. Keep thinking about it from time to time.
I bought the game thanks to this video and it really is as great as you say it is, maybe even better. Thanks for finally convincing me to play it, it's been on my mental "need to play" list for far too long.
Just started to play this game.. i freaking love it.
A sci-fi first person horror game with RPG element like System Shock is the best thing ever happened in gaming at the time
To this day my second favorite game of all time, right behind Deus Ex. A Masterpiece. Hope third game from the series will hold this level.
My kind of guy. What else have you played and think is somewhat on par with these? I'd recommend Satellite Reign wholeheartedly; amazing, little-known game.
@@memedbengul4350 Playing VOid Bastards now, rogualike FPS, similar atmosphere to System Shock, also EYE DIvine Cybermancy, veeeery bizarre game, but holy shit, ambience is awesome. And maybe Starcrawlers, if u like dungeon crawlers.
Not many people realize but with lazer pistol, u can fire overloaded round then swap setting to normal and keep on firing without losing momentum. Most usually fire overload round then cant shoot again until pistol cool down so they give up using overload altogether and stick with low dmg normal setting till end of game.
SS2 was hands down the BEST accidental video game purchase I ever made! In '99 I knew NOTHING about it or its predecessor; just thought the SHODAN artwork on the box looked cool. The best part of the game for me was the ambiance...I didn't dare play this game at night without all of the lights in my house on!
A video about System Shock and Bioshock featuring an adorable cat? Man this is the best channel ever!
i just finished SHOCK2 yesterday!! total run time of 16 hours and a whole lot of save scums, but genuinely loved the game and am excited for the enhanced edition/future VR support!
Heh it's been a long time since I've seen the original models and textures in SS2, having only played runs with mods for many years
God bless people how make such content! Thank you man! Very interesting story
Jesus. This game's so scary I freaking jumped when the hybrid cam out at 2:20 and it was just you talking over gameplay footage
This group of people invented the first-person stealth game and the first-person rpg-shooter. All these youngin's forget where the predecessors come from.
When I was younger, I never understood the BDSM world and why anyone would be a sub; taking constant verbal and physical abuse, being ordered around, and somehow enjoying it... Then I met SHODAN...
Best toxic relationship ever!
Lol
So, no redheads then? xD
@@afrog2666 why does it never fail that they're wild???
Bro you didn't have to spoil the working for shodan part. That was the best twist of the game
I bought Shock2 on discount games bin from a shop at $9.95 - this was the best $10 I ever spent.....brilliant game.
For System Shock 2 is the best game ever made - even slightly higher than Deus Ex.
First played system shock 2 like 4 years ago when I was like 12 and did not get it and gave up but I’ve been playing it recently and it has to be one of my favourite games
Playing it for the first time co-op now in 2023, and while some RPG aspects are tedious and some other in general have aged poorly, it's still a very great game with a lot of depth to it.
“You can get an assault rifle...”
around the time you board the Rickenbacher
“and shoot your way through this game...”
what, are we revisiting earlier levels?
“but where’s the fun in that?”
I don’t know, I tend to keep going once I’ve gotten the assault rifle.
Lol you can get the assault rifle as early as Hydroponics. If you dump all available modules into standard weapons to use it and repair to keep it working it can and will carry you through most of the game.
@@CharlatanWonder It's hands down the best overall weapon. Ammo is same as the pistol (thus very common) but does much more damage. And you can switch types on the fly. I tried to like the weird rare weapons but they're way too situational and often the ammo's utterly scarce.
Best to get the AR in the Crew Quarters armoury. It has slightly better stats
then there are the morons like me who start as a psychic on first playthrough without having played an RPG/FPS hybrid before... still did pretty good and was almost OP at the end with my shields, adrenaline upped, making yourself invisible... soon you are a ninja, one-hitting enemies from the shadows with your trusty wrench or shard.
In the beginning I never thought I would actually finish this game. I was (and still am) new to the entire immersive sim thing. And like for every newcomer, SS2 was slap in the a**! But as time progressed, I LEARNED to PLAY this game! And eventually completed it and LOVED it!
Don't judge a game immediately when you start playing it! But if you are for example a BioShock fan (like myself), be aware that this isn't your typical FPS.
I played SS2 and I thought the controls were really wonky, then like a year later I tried it again and it turns out the devs updated the game and made the controls feel like a modern today's game, I was impressed they would still update such an old game, I just had to play it.
I preordered System Shock 2 because I was a Thief fan and I liked the demo a lot.
Fighting that Protocol Droid at 1:36 with a basic pistol and 3 HP made me tense the fuck up just watching it.
such a great game. no hand holding, just heres a map and heres your objective, work it out yourself. the modern cod era gamer would be stumped.
6:43 - that Thief animation though
SS2 is 21 years old this year. And it is _still_ utterly batshit, even on the "Normal" difficulty. I'm back on Operations deck right now, and I've hit the part where I'm *really not going to win any popularity contests.* Rumblers and Cyborg Assassins swarm me right out of the regenerator pod. Wooh! XD
One of the weirdest things was learning that the guy who wrote System Shock 2 was also the same guy who wrote the trash that was BioInf
Like..what happened, Ken?
Bioshock Infinite was hindered by production time and many other things it had nothing to do with his writing..
@@Gerickmb I mean you can’t say that definitively. There’s no alternate version of Bioshock Infinite that has a proper version of the plot.
Whoever remembering playing it back in 1999 knows for a fact that this game was a masterpiece.
You know, it's funny that I love the immersive sim genre, but I only learned that it's a genre called immersive sim like 3 days ago.
If only the makers of Alien isolation would make a system shock type game
That would be something, great idea.
@Fresh Beginnings Dont you mean SS1 or?
I played this about a month ago, but I only wanted to sample it since i haven't beaten System Shock 1 yet. In fact i was talking about it on discord saying how Bioshock was inspired by it and you came out saying that you were actually working on that video.
@Fresh Beginnings I like it so far, just been playing a bunch of games lately. It's shocking how advanced SS1 was in its time.
@Fresh Beginnings Eh, I don't recommend skipping the first one at all. The Enhanced Edition fixes all the issues that it really had other than some of the things not being explained well enough.
You can even use VirtualMIDISynth to change the soundfont! I personally recommend SSS_arranged_final.sf2, it's a soundfont someone completed last year specifically for System Shock and it fits really well!
Just searching the name of the soundfont should get you to the video with the download link.
@Fresh Beginnings Fair, but I think it'd be more accurate to simply explain to people to play the first one with a few helpful tips, skipping to the 2nd one if they don't enjoy the 1st one enough.
The main reason I say that is people like me couldn't get into the second one as much as the first one. I'm the type of person who doesn't really like having things like weapon degradation and slot-based inventory elements in shooters, but enjoy the immersive factors and audio log style of storytelling.
This reminds me of those noisy ghosts in thief.
This is a amazing video for a game that deserves much needed praise. my only nitpick of this video is the word masterclass. I feel is already overused.
Ohhh the nostalgia 🤤
18:28 - 18:42 this aged like milk in the desert on a hot summer day.
:(
Can't WAIT for Nightdrive Studios SS2 Enhanced Edition!!!!
Ahh yes. The only game where monsters attacking me apologize to me.
How dare you? Don’t you ever accuse me of taking psychic monkeys for granted in modern gaming, good day sir!
>shooting your way out of situations
>not banzi kamakazie wrenching everything in sight
I had a blast playing recently but I got a more thriller feeling then horror, maybe if I played back when it was released it would have been more terrifying but the aged graphics and writing took away much of the horror, honestly died laughing at the end and that made it entirely worthwhile. The gameplay holds up amazing though and had a really fun time!
You know what killed me.... Now, I knew of System Shock, but I was so caught up playing Doom, Street Fighter II, Virtua Fighter, etc... to really pay it much mind. All throughout my life, I have played on consoles and PC. So you better believe I was all over System Shock 2 in 1999. However, I always thought (was it Looking Glass Studios?) really dropped the ball with System Shock 1+2....
If there was ever a set of games begging for a Sega Dreamcast release, the System Shock series was it. I remember playing Half-Life on my Dreamcast/PS2, thinking where is System Shock? Especially since if I remember correctly the company behind System Shock wasn't making the kind of money they deserved as their games weren't reaching their full audience potential.
Addendum- Both the Dreamcast and PS2 had the graphical chops to run the System Shock games quite well. Both consoles had mouse & keyboard support, which would have made their transition a breeze. The only issue I can maybe see is the games would probably need new shorter loading zones, and with the Dreamcast, maybe multiple discs. What do you think?
Imagine if the Internet itself became a sentient AI. And had full control and immediate access to all the technology and information on Earth and in space. And ruled the world as an immortal digital God. That’s a terrifying thought.
*Makes agility build*
Forest Gump: wakes up from cryochamber
TFW you run so fast that if you don't turn around in time you'll hit the wall so hard you'll literally die.
I'm amazed how this game, 20 years after I've first played it, still has some ungraspable atmoshpere. I can only describe it as a visual charm, it has a unique lighting or something that can make up for the aged visual quality, no matter the year. It gives a lot to the experience as somehow, it makes the visuals more immersive and plausible than competitors of its time Half-life or Unreal. Dunno it's maybe just me seeing it. I can't see this 'magic' in those remake projects or in any other 3D engines.
I would be curious how well this 3D engine could have worked as an archviz system in its time period to depict actual places.
😍
Ohhh I want to buy it.
I've been meaning to, and I want to right now, but I just can't right now.
Nice, sounds like 2 had the same memorable impact that the original did on me. I didn't find 2 as enjoyable as releasing Her Perfection upon an unsuspecting universe but it was good.
✌😏 what a coincidence, i recently bought this on a GOG Sale, thats cool, i was wondering when u were going to revisit Bioshock again 😇
Only game that has ever genuinely scared me
My glory is endless
I finished the game two days ago. absolutely amazing. I Played every single Immersive I could find. only Prey is left which runs poorly On my pc
System shock is 23 years old damm it can drink now
System shock 1 was good and all, but system shock 2 perfected the recipe
I just bought this game on GOG for £1.19... Then I see ur video... Then I get excited..... Shame the GOG deal runs out in 20hrs
The few things I did not like about SS2 is that there are sometime too many enemies and not enough ammo and health to complete the objective. The other is that it gets confusing to figure out what one needs to do or where one needs to go since there are no direct instructions or clues as to how to get there. The map, inventory system and abilities upgrade could be better designed as well.
this game is a masterpiece
I am 56 years old. Yes, System Shock was "jump Scary" back then. Then again, so was Raid On Bungling Bay. Nothing is scary anymore.
i first played system shock 1 and 2 a month ago. got it from GOG for i think 6$ for both copies, couldn't turn it down. :)