System Shock (2023)

What a game this was ! I was expecting a lot and delivered everything! I really should've played this earlier.

Though I'll be honest, I agree that the ending SUCKS ! And what with that ending credits song lmao honestly who thought that shit was good, bruh

Won't ruin the game for me but after seeing the OG ending, the ending we got made this go from a 10 to a 9. Shame honestly, apart from that I absolutely loved it ! Not gonna play the sequel since I don't have it yet and I'm not buying another game until I finish my current backlog... So that'll take a while...

And kinda on the fence in regards to replay it this too... Problem for future me tbh

Anyway, I could stop here and take a break from gaming... But nah, onwards to my next game ! After all, old habits die hard.

I've hit a bit of a difficulty brick wall with this one, and I'm kinda really frustrated.

See, you have to choose your difficulty right at the start, and the game gives you a brief description of what that entails. Generally speaking, I find the combat and puzzles to be quite tough, but fair. Especially with the revive points being quite generous.

What kills it for me is the cyberspace segments.

See, I actually like SHMUPs. I enjoy Descent well enough. But uh... These segments fucking suck. They go on way too long, they're hard in really cheap ways, and your shots never seem to hit what you're aiming at.

But I can't go back and change the difficulty. I'm 8 hours deep into this game, and I now I can't advance without repeating the same slow, long, boring cyberspace stages until I get good dicerolls on whether or not my shots will even land.

Anyone have advice for these things? Or am I going to have to nuke my playthrough and restart the whole damn thing?

Yo. This game is GOOD. Like really heckin good. I have no idea how close this is to the '94 original, but I have seen what this game does copied and dumbed-down many, many times, but never done so correctly.

This game gives you a bit of story, throws you into Hell, and says "figure it out". But not in a, "Fuck you, we're gonna make the mechanics so obtuse and convoluted you need a phone-book-sized manual to get the basics" like Baldur's Gate 3, but in a way where you think, "Well shit, how do I move forward?" and you can just... Figure it out. Organically. All while something can take you by surprise at any moment.

I finished the entire first floor without needing a single guide or FAQ. Well, with the exception of how to use food. But I would have easily been able to proceed without knowing that. 🤷

This is GOOD horror gaming, fam.