This is the sort of game that requires the kind of gritted “ I CAN beat this! No matter HOW many times I have to try!” determination that some older games were famous for. But, unless you find the right items, have a “hack” skill of more than six and play through a short “hacking” mini-game – then you’re just restricted to playing a “minesweeper” clone, rather than this cool 1980s style role-playing game called “Overworld Zero”Īnd, as hinted earlier, this is a difficult game! Even on “normal” difficulty, there were moments where I’d try several times, make a tiny amount of progress, save my game… and then repeat the entire process again. To give you an idea of how complex this game can be, you can actually play a game within a game…. Not only is the underlying story of the game about a conflict between two powerful entities who both hate the very concept of individuality and/or free will ( SHODAN wants to be a god, and “The Many” want to form a hive mind), but there are also moments that will make you question the nature of reality, moments where you’ll be compelled to help out a villain, moments where you will see “ghosts” and moments where you’ll hear the zombies talking to you. On top of this, the game also contains some absolutely excellent cosmic horror, moral horror and psychological horror elements too. ![]() The creepiest of these – the “Cyborg midwife” – not only looks genuinely horrifying but will also say eerily maternal phrases too. Not only that, a fair number of the monsters are genuinely creepy too – with the zombie-like mutants still keeping enough sentience to talk to you. The corridors of the Von Braun are littered with the grisly remains of former crew members, some of whom leave tragic and/or creepy audio logs for you to listen to. Given the length of the journey, you are placed in a stasis tube.ĭon’t let the first-person perspective fool you, this game is as suspenseful – or more suspenseful – than any classic 1990s/early 2000s survival horror game.īut, in addition to some really excellent suspense, there are numerous other horror elements too. This is a military support vessel for the maiden voyage of the Von Braun, an advanced long-distance vessel run by the Tri-Optimum corporation. However, you then end up being assigned to a spaceship called the Rickenbacker. After a tutorial or three, you can choose your specialities and put a few points into various skills. Set in the future, you play as a new military recruit who is just about to enter basic training. So, let’s take a look at “System Shock 2”. So, I re-downloaded it and decided to give it another go. I happened to see something on the internet which hinted that “System Shock 2” (1999) was technically a survival horror game. However, at the time, I just “couldn’t get into it” and ended up abandoning it without even completing the first level.įlash forward to a few days before writing this review, and I was trying to work out which horror game to review next. Since I’d previously tried to play the first game from 1994, I was at least curious about the second one. Well, this review is long overdue! Sometime during the second half of the 2010s, GOG had a giveaway and I was able to pick up a copy of “System Shock 2” (1999) for free.
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