system shock enhanced edition mouse look

Fortunately, Night Dive Studios’ recent remaster, System Shock: Enhanced Edition, addresses both of these issues commendably but it’s the latter that deserves special attention, precisely on account of what it doesn’t do.įrom a historian’s point of view Enhanced Edition is a tremendous achievement, changing just enough about the System Shock experience to make it palatable to modern audiences without compromising Looking Glass’ original vision. While its sequel became a cult favourite thanks to its even creepier interpretation of the series’ conniving AI villain SHODAN, the original has remained an unknown quantity, partly because running it on modern systems requires some technical know-how and partly because many aspects of the game are positively archaic. Even among the studio’s relatively obscure output, System Shock is particularly underlooked. To namecheck Looking Glass, however, is to do more than draw upon certain stylistic aesthetic sensibilities it’s to subscribe to an entire design philosophy that’s actually quite rare in modern major studio efforts, one that has confidence in the player to work things out for themselves and let the world do the talking.Įnter System Shock, the studio’s second project and perhaps most unadulterated distillation of their hands-off approach. As well as launching the careers of some of the industry’s household names – Warren Spector, Ken Levine and Doug Church, to name but a few – the studio pioneered the “immersive sim” genre, a more story oriented and exploration focused brand of first person shooter that’s gone on to inspire titles as diverse as BioShock, Dishonored, Gone Home and, most recently, Fallout 4.ĭespite attaining negligible commercial success or mainstream recognition during its mere decade in business, today Looking Glass holds a considerable cachet among contemporary developers and has become something like the video game equivalent of a 'band’s band' (think Big Star or Nick Drake) – a trendy influence to drop when eager to prove your bonafides. It’s hard to overestimate the impact of Looking Glass Studios on the modern first-person game.

System shock enhanced edition mouse look