Almost a year ago Nightdive Studios finally released the hotly anticipated (well hotly anticipated for immersive sim fans) remake of System Shock. The remake originally launched on PC only and our very own Kyle Nicol wrote up a fantastic review detailing the changes and upgrades in great detail. If you want the full review of the System Shock remake I suggest checking out his review. I will be going into the console port that launched a year after the PC, and while nothing has changed content wise, there are some console specific things that need to be pointed out.

Welcome home.

I have to say I’m so impressed by the overall quality of this remake in general. Nightdive really kept true to the original from the feel, and even to the look. The pixel art visuals are truly something great. From a distance it’s hard to tell it’s even pixel art, but when you get up close you see all the little detail. It’s a fantastic way to stay true to the original, but have it look clean and updated. This also allows the console port to look fantastic, as well as run flawlessly. Through my time with System Shock I didn’t run into any performance issues on the Xbox Series X. Obviously there will be higher resolution and frame options for the PC version, but overall it doesn’t feel like the console port is lacking in any visuals and it runs 60fps here.

Audio design for the port remains incredible as well; no downgrades here. You still have all the fantastic sci-fi sound effects coupled with the eerie ambient sounds of enemies groaning. Mix that in with SHODAN popping in to mock you or send enemies after you is a real treat. SHODAN is definitely the star of the show, even though the other voice actors from the audio files do a great job as well. The combat sound design is also stellar with a wide variety of weapons that all have their own punch and unique sounds. This is a game I definitely recommend wearing a headset for.

I absolutely love the visual blend Nightdive pulled off here.

The only major downgrade from the PC version to the console port is the gameplay. The general gameplay remains just fine as it has your typical controller layout for a FPS. However, when it comes down to your inventory management this is where it is clear it was made for a keyboard and mouse. Inventory management is quite clunky having to use the d-pad to move everything around. This is especially annoying when moving items out of the inventory into another storage or your quick select bar. For example if you have you’re trying to move items to the storage or the recycle box, you can’t just toggle to the left and it auto bring you to that storage. You need to actually bring it up right next to the box before it will let you bring the items into it.

This also happens with your quick select bar. There are specific slots that items fit into, and if you try to bring a weapon down over a health slot it will just block you instead of automatically moving it to the weapon side of the bar. These are small annoyances, sure, but it all adds to the clunkiness of having to use a controller to do all of this instead of the ease of a mouse. Luckily, that is where the annoyances of this port start and end.

These hacking sections played a lot better on controller than I expected.

System Shock remake is a fantastic success in bringing a beloved cult classic to todays standards. Nightdive clearly put a lot of love and effort into making sure this felt new, but didn’t ruin the ambiance and feeling of the original. Luckily, they put that same care into the console port since it doesn’t lose anything from the PC version. Unfortunately, there is a bit of annoyance with the inventory management, but overall it is a flawless port. For any fan of the immersive sim that perhaps never had a chance to play this classic, this is the perfect chance to hop in.

System Shock is available now on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5.

Reviewed on Xbox Series X.

A copy of System Shock was provided by the publisher.