BioShock, billed as a “spiritual successor” to System Shock, is the closest there ever was to another sequel.Īccording to Rock Paper Shotgun, an independent company called Night Dive Studios did the legwork on securing the rights to distribute System Shock 2, while modifying it to work on today’s PCs. When Looking Glass shut down, its rights went into the hands of Star Insurance Company and its affiliate, Meadowbrook Insurance, where they’ve remained to this day. The short version is that the rights were split up between Electronic Arts, which held the trademark to the series, and developer Looking Glass Studios. (That idea, of discovering little bits of exposition on your own, has also been duplicated countless times.) SHODAN, the cerebral digital entity that taunts the player at every turn, routinely finds her way onto lists of the best video game villains.Ī couple years ago, I wrote about the rights issues that prevented System Shock from making any sort of comeback. That’s no monumental feat today, but in the age of twitchy shooters like Quake and Unreal, an extra layer of role-playing was practically unheard of.Īnd it was such a creepy game, set in a desolate space station overrun by monsters, with only scattered audio logs telling the story of what went wrong. It gave you a choice of specializations - guns, hacking or psionics - and let you build upon those skills, which in turn changed the way you played the game. Although the original System Shock, released in 1994, paved the way for shooters with role-playing elements, System Shock 2 took it all a step further. It’s a topic that’s dear to my heart, as someone who experienced the game’s psychological thrills more than decade ago. Finally, a game that’s widely seen as one of the best will get its chance to stand the test of time. But until now, a mess of rights issues have prevented the game from ever coming back after its 1999 debut. At a time when games are routinely repackaged and re-sold, this might not seem special. Starting Thursday, GOG.com, a website that specializes in selling old computer games optimized for modern PCs, will sell System Shock 2 for $10. Follow Effect, Dead Space, BioShock, Borderlands, Fallout 3 - if you’ve played any of these modern shooters, you’ve felt the influence of System Shock 2.
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