Let me tell you about the one that got away. She was pitiless and cruel, narcissistic and delusional. She unfurled through Citadel Station in a thousand security cameras and as many cyborg slaves, their meat taken from the bodies of the outpost’s former staff. She made pustules and blisters, mutants and monsters. She was the death of me a million times over, and I’ve missed her more than words can say.
She is SHODAN, of course, the malevolent AI goddess who was the centerpiece and proudest creation of 1994’s System Shock, now rebuilt in sparkling Unreal Engine 4 in this remake from Nightdive Studios. It suits her. Gone are the spritebased enemies and screen-eating UI from the original game, replaced by clanking, three-dimensional automatons and an inventory that is certainly easier to use than the original’s rolling shopping list of weapons, explosives, and stimulants.
Both and SHODAN are legendary; they’re iconic symbols of an era and philosophy in game design, and remaking
