Compared to the Enhanced Edition (2015)?

[Huggable Cube]

Hey guys and dolls,

Back in 2015 the Enhanced Edition for System Shock came out and introduce things UI options, modern resolutions, and modern control options. While I never got around to finishing it (life got in the way and I moved on to other things) I liked it and felt it was a good update if a little clunky.
Does the remake essentially invalidate the original/EE version by just being a more modern System Shock or is a bit different? Basically is this the same game but modern or similar but different game?

[(N☆G) Jackal ★JJ★]

People have been saying there is now no point to play the original since the remake is faithful and doesnt stray far from the path. (:

[z4v3k]

The difference is quite obvious...

[sircharleythecat]

I think it's a great game. But I miss many off the older soundtracks. The ambiance is nice, but also adding remastered versions of the original soundtrack would be awesome. Could be part time remasters and part time the new ambiance soundtracks. The only old ones that I've heard and recognized have been a soft version of the reactor, and the elevator. Maybe something during combat. I don't know.

Miss being reminded about my memos by the drones. But they are good as they are.

The assassins aren't that sneaky anymore. Used to be the only unit who didn't make a sound. Now they tell you that they are scanning for you in advance, and they blow themselves up once they spot you. Maybe their behavior would benefit from an uppdate at some point. Love their design though.

Cyberspace looks and feels amazing. Probably the biggest improvement from the old game.

I love using good old sparky to save ammo. Can take down enemies quickly with some head zaps. Maggie doesn't have the same punch as in the old game, or I might use the wrong strategy, since there have been some weapon changes. Like replacing one of the machine guns with a shotgun.

Boss fights are either super hard, or super easy, depending on if you try to do them at range or berserk with the rapier. The rapier was overpowered in the old game as well. Though it might have been intended as a backup.

[Here is my card]

Invalidate... funny you said that.

I played the enhanced version again about a year or year and a half ago and I (still) liked it. In my mind it is lot more easier. There are differences, like maps, items, inventory, ... 🤔 maybe some enemies and that, but all-in-all, what matters the most, the story is quite the same and the events too.

Now that I've finished the new version, I thought that I am gonna give it a go and begin to play the old version. Then 😐... nah, maybe not, came up after I played the first five minutes. There are differences with the new one, but it seems more enjoyable. I checked the progress of this new version from backer history, and recalled right that they did oversell it two years ago. For example, the pre-alpha version had a kick ass lead pipe with amazing graphics on it and what we got on this version 😲 what is that pixelated mess? Wtf? What happened? Were my first thoughts when I played the game first time. Yeah, devs claim it to be a "choice". Maybe, maybe not. We can be sure of that it wasn't the original choice or goal but that's what we got. I'm not saying it is bad but I am not saying it is good either. But they lied to me. That is not what they were selling years ago and that's why I am assuming they cut corners and rushed to a release. Of course there were bunch of issues and troubles, but hey, that's the game making world out there.

Overall its a good game. Not great or as wonderful it could have been but good and it may have "invalidated" the "old" one.

[ThatOneGuy]

I personally would recommend the Remake over the Enhanced edition to most people. It has made this classic way more accessible to most of the gamers I know. I have had several friends and family who looked at and tried the Enhanced edition, and bounced off it fast because the controls and UI are very obtuse in comparison to modern controls. The Remake's more modern graphics and controls have removed that barrier for several of them who tried the demo.

The only remaining issue that some have had with the demo revolve around some of the old school design decisions that have been faithfully carried over from the Original.

I'm of two minds about how faithful they were with the maps being fairly close to the Original map layouts. On one hand, if you played the Original you know most of the map layout for the Remake and the same going the other way. I will admit that I am one of the people who saw some of the more drastic changes to level layouts initially (years ago) as potentially a good thing. Not saying it would have been better than what we have with current Remake, but a part of me wanders what that version of the game would have been like (but that's a whole other kettle of fish).

The only reason I would see myself recommending someone play the Original/Enhanced Edition now is if I know that person is willing to put up with the obtuse control scheme, and dated graphics. And that person also liked playing original classic games in there original form. I remember seeing someone on Youtube had setup a legacy Pentium PC to play and record the original DOS version of System Shock a few years ago. For people like that the Enhanced edition makes it easy to get in and play the OG Original without needing to build a legacy PC, so why not keep it available.

[GepardenK]

The difference between the Remake and the Enhanced Edition is about the same as the difference between old-school Resident Evil and it's remakes.

Resident Evil's tank controls make for a very particular kind of adventure game that the remakes cannot replicate (though they are otherwise of great quality). System Shock is in a similar situation.

The remake is much smoother, but it's style also feel a bit more performative. Classic System Shock hits a particular kind of insanity that feels more novel and authentic (though grading for some)

[Rui]

The remake is extremely faithful to the original regarding the plot and whatever you have to do since you start until you finish - which is pretty much the same in the remake and in the original. But to be fair, even though it's a solid remake, and as fun as it can get, I don't consider it's superior to the original game. Or better said, to the "enhanced edition" of the original game. I think the original concept of the Citadel was better; everything felt as creepy as it should, and the labyrinthine maps did make sense back then - more than they actually do now; plus, maybe the map design of a few levels (particularly the executive lvl imo) should've been slightly reviewed to prevent a huge amount of backtracking. Now, do you need to play the original to enjoy this one? Not at all. But if I were to choose between one of them, I'd choose the original. The enhanced edition of the original, better said.

[Crypto Gamer]

So far seems to be 90% same as the enchanced edition I played in 2020.

You can likely use guides from 1995 and most of it will work.

They tweaked guns so they are more balanced.

Eg shotgun was useless in OG it is useful now.

All implants are useful now sense around is now a loot and enemy scanner previously it was useless expect for THE maze in the end.

You can also attack few enemies sensor with targeting implant at cost of energy.

Sadly they removed the fletchete SMG.

Many enemy placements are the same as in OG or very close.

Random spawns now come from hidden elevators so better than in OG.

Enemies now do friendly fire dmg and can kill themselves.Assasin can self proxy mine himself in some cases......I had a robot throw an explosive barrer and it hit a door and it killed himself and 2 other robots.

Maintaince robots,Cortex reavers and Boss fights are now much harder but berserk+rapier still works if used with emp to stun them but still much harder than in OG.

Music is Imo worse.
Controls and cyberspace are MUCH better.
Cyperspace got simplifed and much longer has quite many bugs currently.

Remake is slightly slower spaced enemies drop less ammo but you can also recycle and upgrade weapons so it is about even on resource manegement.

Enemies are somewhat smarter so remake is Imo slightly harder.

Rapier got nerfed to I think 90/150 dmg in OG it was 200 dmg and VERY strong.
Energy cost per attack also seems to be higher.

All melee weapons now have charged attacks that deal more dmg and armor penetration eg 150.

Enemies now have weakspots eg.head so you can deal more dmg.

Og had random chance of crit dmg.

Some enemies when dying explode that deals dmg so overall melee is less useful than in OG.

Hidden doors are much harder to locate this should be improved.Many of them are in same or almost same location than in OG.

And you can no longer writte notes to your map makers which is very bad hopefully get patched in as it is extremely helpful.

That being said most stuff now has map icons so you need like 80% less map notes compared to OG.

Some enemies now have combat dialogs and they patrol more.

Grenades are much easier to use so they are MUCH more useful.You can also cook them.

In enchanced edition I almost always killed myself with them.

Basically 90% same game with heavy improvements expect music and map notes.