System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster is refreshingly scary
- Camila Buck
- Jul 9
- 2 min read
System Shock 2 got a beautiful facelift with its 25th anniversary remaster release.
Remember the original game? The original Alien: Isolation vibes with creepy background music? The anxiety-inducing puzzles you had to solve while fighting for your life against Hybrids and worse? Well, these lovely memories can now be relived in prettier and smoother graphics!
Originally released in 1999, System Shock 2 takes place 42 years after its predecessor, System Shock, and sees the antagonist AI entity named SHODAN and her army of merciless mutants violently take over the starship Von Braun. You play as a soldier who awakes from cryo-sleep after having cybernetic implant surgery. As he sets out to unravel the horrifying mystery of what in the cosmos happened to the Von Braun, he’ll need to upgrade his skills and use things like weapons and psionic abilities to survive SHODAN's nightmarish monsters and her god complex.
System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster Key Features
Taken straight from the press release sent out by Nightdive Studios, here are some features to look forward to with System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster:
Completely remastered visuals, extending to cutscenes and character and weapons models, with up to 4K 144 FPS support on PC and up to 120FPS on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S
The game includes settings for an adjustable FOV, post-processing effects, and ultra-widescreen support
Choose from an O.S.A., Marine, or Navy background to experiment with different playstyles
Drag your friends into the hell that is the Von Braun starship in cross-play co-op multiplayer
Play from the comfort of your couch with gamepad support, then celebrate with an ice-cold medical stim when you unlock 50 new Trophies/Achievements
Full mod support on PC and the ability to implement community-made missions at launch
Having played the game for a little bit on the PlayStation5, I can confidently say that this remaster will make any System Shock 2 fan happy. The only problem I ran into about three times were small little "snags" where I'd get stuck and be unable to move for no apparent reason, and it'd require reloading the game from my last save - and it got a little annoying. It didn't happen too often, though, and it seemed to be happening more towards the early stages of the game.
Other than that, the game was smooth, the graphics were really nicely remastered, and the features above have given the game a sense of freshness while still keeping my anxiety on an all-time high. Below are some screenshots from my game play as well as some graciously provided by Nightdive Studios.
System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster gets a nod of approval from us here at Pixigonal, and we recommend it to those who have both played the original game or are brand new to the franchise.
The PC version was released back on June 26th, and the game will release on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch on July 10th (tomorrow).
Pixigonal was given a free copy of System Shock 2 Anniversary Remaster in exchange for an honest review.
Comments