System Shock (1994)
DOS · Mac · PC (Microsoft Windows) · PC-9800 Series
3.72 from 192 ratings
2574 members have it in their collection · 20 playing now · 1862 backlogged · 180 wish listed
How long? Main story 13h · with extras 16h · 100% 19h (from 7 logged playthroughs)
Details
- Developers
- Looking Glass Studios
- Publishers
- Dong Seo Interactive, Electronic Arts, Origin Systems
- Genres
- Role-playing (RPG), Shooter
- Themes
- Action, Science fiction
- Series
- System Shock
- Steam
- View on Steam
Release dates
- Sep 22, 1994 (Full Release) (North_America) DOS
- 1994 (Full Release) (Korea) DOS
- 1994 (Full Release) (Europe) DOS
- Dec 1995 (Full Release) (North_America) Mac
- May 24, 1996 (Full Release) (Japan) PC-9800 Series
- Oct 14, 2015 (Full Release) (Worldwide) PC (Microsoft Windows)
Also available on
- System Shock: Enhanced Edition (2015) · PC
Related
Bundled in
Remakes
- System Shock (May 2023) · LIN, MAC, NSW, Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PS4, PS5, XONE, XSX
Featured in lists
Rating distribution
5 stars
48
4 stars
71
3 stars
48
2 stars
22
1 star
3
Community All Reviews Statuses
Status thebigmack Jan 17, 2025
I defeated SHODAN this morning.
While it has aged in places, System Shock: Enhanced edition truly gobbled my attention.
A 1994 title is contending for my 2025 goty.
System Shock, indeed!
Status thebigmack Jan 5, 2025
I'm having an incredible time.
The 90s enemy designs are painfully dated but end up making a full circle back into intimidating as they hunt in the dark, while you're low on health and gripping to your last pistol clip.
The inventory system is atrocious but also strangely emergent, like searching through a bag in a cumbersome panic.
The VO …
I'm having an incredible time.
The 90s enemy designs are painfully dated but end up making a full circle back into intimidating as they hunt in the dark, while you're low on health and gripping to your last pistol clip.
The inventory system is atrocious but also strangely emergent, like searching through a bag in a cumbersome panic.
The VO however, is laughable. A best effort from the design team, I hope. It tears the experience away from the surprising amount of atmosphere garnered by visuals and design, a single year older than DOOM itself.
I've found a new appreciation for modern VO performances but still entirely captivated away from Modern AAA titles.
Status thebigmack Dec 20, 2024
There are many things wrong in the world but 90s pc games on sale for $2 is not one of them.
Status Arkalliant Jan 27, 2024
Okay, I tried. I can’t keep playing, but I’m definitely going to play the remake… whenever I find it at a good discount, since it seems it is one of those remakes that “replaces the original”.
Full disclosure: Beat the first 2 levels, and most of another one, so I think that if I forced myself, I could probably beat …
Okay, I tried. I can’t keep playing, but I’m definitely going to play the remake… whenever I find it at a good discount, since it seems it is one of those remakes that “replaces the original”.
Full disclosure: Beat the first 2 levels, and most of another one, so I think that if I forced myself, I could probably beat the entire thing, but I wouldn’t be having a good time.
I can see the skeleton of something great, but its age is showing too much. For me, there are 2 fundamentals problems:
- Too many buttons to do something simple.
- Lack of a direction for where to go next, which, granted, is something I use to not mind when I was younger and had a lot of time and very few games, but nowadays, I can’t be bothered with it. So, that’s more of a me problem, I suppose.
These problems are something common in many games that aged poorly, in my opinion.
I was determined to try it, at least, since I’ve been told that once you play the remake you can’t go back to the chunkiness of the original, and that the second game is better after playing the first one. So, I guess my journey into this franchise continues.
Status Arkalliant Jan 21, 2024
Imma do it. Imma fucking do it.
I'm going balls deep in this old ass game that looks completely inaccessible for me
I know the remake is out, but this has been in my library for a couple of years now, so might as well give it a go
Status kupomog337 Jul 16, 2023
Game music I like:(ripping off @inc) day 1 Reactor/flight deck from System Shock
This theme really sounds like an assembly line of death, which is probably what they were going for. The enhanced edition one sounds cleaner in terms of the whirs and clicks, but the original is more aggressive which fits the tone a lot better IMO. There's …Game music I like:(ripping off @inc) day 1 Reactor/flight deck from System Shock
This theme really sounds like an assembly line of death, which is probably what they were going for. The enhanced edition one sounds cleaner in terms of the whirs and clicks, but the original is more aggressive which fits the tone a lot better IMO. There's also a lot of influence from Nine Inch Nails' Head Like A Hole (which is an absolutely amazing song, too). It's particularly noticeable at 0:34 seconds into the eng.s flight deck theme, which sounds incredibly similar to the drums at around 0:20 in HLAH
Status Olink Sep 23, 2020
I'm going to stop playing because of the level design. If it weren't for all the nonsensical mazes, like the reactor level, and me not knowing what I'm supposed to do next, I'd definitely continue. I really like it otherwise. I hope the remake strays a bit from the original and fixes some of those levels. If they don't, these …
Read moreI'm going to stop playing because of the level design. If it weren't for all the nonsensical mazes, like the reactor level, and me not knowing what I'm supposed to do next, I'd definitely continue. I really like it otherwise. I hope the remake strays a bit from the original and fixes some of those levels. If they don't, these levels will stick out like a sore thumb with fancy, modern graphics.
Read less
Status BMO May 16, 2016