System Shock: Enhanced Edition on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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Re-discover what made System Shock the first of it's kind, a ground breaking immersive sim that would inspire a generation of games to come....
System Shock: Enhanced Edition is a immersive sim, cyberpunk and classic game
developed by Looking Glass Studios and Nightdive Studios
and published by Nightdive Studios.
Released on October 22nd 2015 is available only on Windows
in 3 languages: English, French and German.
It has received 2,172 reviews of which 1,946 were positive and 226 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.6 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 9.99€ on Steam, but you can find it for 0.74€ on Eneba.
The Steam community has classified System Shock: Enhanced Edition into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
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System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS *: Windows 7
- Processor: 1 GHz Processor
- Memory: 128 MB RAM
- Graphics: Any 100% OpenGL capable card (Card or Onboard)
- Storage: 1 GB available space
- Sound Card: 100% DirectX capable sound card or on-board audio
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
It is a real pain for modern gamers to play this game such as me, despite the enhanced edition. You can clearly see how games from the last millennium differ from modern ones: there are no quest icons, no markers on the map, no enemy health indicators, and other elements we are used to. You can only progress in the game by listening carefully to the audio recordings, as this is the only way to find out what to do without looking it up on the internet. A very unexpected feature of this game compared to shooters of that time is the audio logs, different types of ammo for different enemies, keycards and puzzles.. all this was made back in 1994, it's just impossible to believe that the game's design was so ahead of its time. Sadly the technology was the same around that age, so most of the innovative features they have created were junky as hell but are now seen everywhere in a better shape with new technologies available. Personally I liked this edition and the game pretty much, the nightdive is by far the best studio at making remasters and remakes, a masterpiece of which we see on this title here. A must play if you're delving into the old classic shooters, but I'd prefer the remake because it has more refined gameplay and smooths the rough edges of the original game.
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A legendary sci-fi first-person dungeon crawler that actually cares about story and world-building. It's extremely archaic and makes a horrible 1st impression, but if you can persist to the end of Floor 1, you will discover one of the most immersive video games of the early 1990s. The story is an adrenaline-induced thrill-ride as you ascend Citadel Station, fighting tougher enemies and facing escalating stakes as you gradually thwart SHODAN’s plans for world domination. Speaking of which, SHODAN, the corrupted AI in charge of the station, is an excellent antagonist – she is a megalomaniacal, perfected dictator who mercilessly slaughters any resistance and constantly taunts your attempts to stop her – and Terri Brosius’ performance further elevates the character and the whole game. Along the way, you can find audio logs of the deceased former crew that further flesh out this world by filling in the backstory, offering hints for puzzles, or foreshadowing future challenges, all without NPCs, cutscenes, dialogue trees, or endless wiki articles – all without interrupting interactivity. The floors are memorable as there are office desks, storage closets, surveillance stations, flight hangars, and executive suites everywhere that really sell the idea that people once lived and worked at Citadel Station, that this is a real, living, believable world. The graphics (past Floor 1, which looks too cartoony and garish) are still fantastic today and have shockingly high detail – even the generic wall tiles have gradients! The soundtrack is underappreciated too (my only complaint is the music for Floor 1 is too whimsical), and the fact that it changes dynamically based on factors such as low health or in combat is a nice touch. There is a surprising amount of content here – there is an excellent variety of weapons in this game, all with various strengths and trade-offs. Conventional weapons often have 2 ammo types, with further trade-offs, and energy weapons have even greater depth – there is a voltage slider to adjust your damage, a button to overload the blaster to further increase damage at the cost of consuming more energy, and a heat meter to worry about if you shoot too often! There are also 7 types of grenades, which also have varying strengths and trade-offs, as well as 7 unique patches that grant wildly different buffs such as infinite stamina or bullet-time. Inventory management is also serviceable, with only minor issues such as rearranging weapons, and it is not a total nightmare like in System Shock 2. There is also an excellent variety of enemies in this game, and you will encounter every sci-fi trope from mutant humans, mutant plants, flying creatures, cyborgs, cyborg ninjas, robot insects, flying fighter jets, and big stompy robots, all of whom have varying stats and attacks. There are tons of problems and outdated design decisions, as expected from a game this old. The controls are archaic and against modern conventions. Levels are dense, compact, and mazelike, and you pretty much have to consult your mini-map every 5 seconds to not get lost. The UI is infamously atrocious, mainly because so many menus are mapped to the same buttons and panels, most noticeable when looting corpses. Movement is very uncomfortable: walking is too slow and sluggish, running builds your fatigue/drains your stamina too quickly, and the boosters (both modes) are too fast and slippery. Combat is primitive, since too many enemies fight with high-damage long-range hitscan attacks, reducing fights to 50% cover shooter and 50% running around 1-shotting everything with the laser rapier (more on this weapon later). There are also no directional damage indicators when you get hit, so it is hard to figure out where you are being attacked from and many deaths can feel unfair. Like in most first-person shooters, the boss fights in this game are underwhelming bullet sponges, and the final boss is especially anticlimactic as well. SHODAN just floats unguarded within a cyberspace maze and goes down after a few shots. She does not even chase you or fire projectiles back – something every other cyberspace enemy can do – making SHODAN arguably the weakest entity in cyberspace. The final boss devolves into mashing the attack button before the timer expires, which is extremely disappointing. There are plenty of balancing issues with this game as well. For instance, most augments provide useless HUD info or have very niche uses. The only crucial augment is the energy shield, which provides much-needed damage resistance in a game with no HP/armor upgrades. Weapon balance is all over the place: support weapons like the riot and stun guns are worthless (without exploits) and the rail gun and LG-XX plasma rifle are underwhelming. Meanwhile, the Mag-Pulse is amazing for its crazy damage bonus against robots, and the AM-27 Flechette and RF-07 Skorpion are OP against everything due to their high fire rates. But the best weapon in the game by far is the TS-04 laser rapier, a lightsaber with obnoxiously high damage and armor penetration that you find about 1/3 of the way into the game. The laser rapier can 1-2-shot every enemy you encounter from then on, trivializing most fights for the rest of the game – you can pretty easily beat the rest of the game without ever touching another weapon. You can also take berserk patches to further boost the damage, trivializing the boss fights as well. The laser rapier is fun, but it does impact the difficulty curve considerably. Probably the most well-known criticism of this game is cyberspace, and I can confirm it is as bad as everyone says it is. Yes, cyberspace is a cool idea that no other game has replicated, but the implementation is terrible. It is impossible to get your bearings, you constantly collide with walls, tunnels between chambers are too narrow, and the controls here are even worse than in the base game. Most problems are due to the wireframe artstyle, which you know was a terrible idea when the level designers had to insert giant, neon yellow arrows everywhere to point players to the exit. At least the music is good, and you can unlock minigames that serve as trophies for conquering these sections. Perhaps the biggest missed opportunity in System Shock 1 is that progression is linear, meaning everyone’s experience is basically identical. Progression primarily occurs through exploration, whether it be finding shiny loot, cyborg conversion chambers, elevators, or mission objectives like keypads and switches. The game is structured such that you will explore at least 80% of the station and naturally discover every weapon and augment, meaning you will see everything the game has to offer in 1 playthrough. Consequently, every playthrough is identical – everyone goes through the same hallways in roughly the same order, finds new weapons in the same places, and completes the quests in the same way as before. Since everyone can find all weapons naturally (and are presented with all the options), everyone will have the same end-game build: everyone will have the laser rapier, RF-07 Skorpion, and Mag-Pulse to decimate every end-game threat. There is not much reason to replay this game, except on higher difficulties. Overall, System Shock 1 is still an excellent game along with its equally impressive sequel, System Shock 2. One last thing to mention: the System Shock games are not horror games; they are first person dungeon crawlers at their core. I have no idea why people keep classifying the System Shocks as horror games; it’s like anything with a spooky atmosphere is a horror these days. Yes, there are scary moments, but the main focus of the series is still on exploring labyrinthine space stations, battling tough monsters for loot, using scarce resources efficiently, collecting awesome treasure to “level up,” overcoming challenges to become a hero, and all the other tropes in dungeon-crawling. 9/10
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Very good game if you like some chonky graphics! HOWEVER ! ! REMEMBER TO WRITE DOWN THE NUMBERS FROM THE DESTROYED COMPUTER NODES ! otherwise you may, like me, find yourself sprinting around the station for two billion years trying to find them all when you discover you actually need them . . .
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One of the holy trinity of immersive sims, alongside Deus Ex and Thief. It's dated, yes, but still genuinely has a lot to offer, and with a little patience and some rebinding, you'll quickly get over that initial hurdle of familiarizing yourself with the controls. It does come from an era where developers seemed to think you needed to utilize every single key on the keyboard. If the outdated controls or 90's era videogame graphics are somehow off-putting to you, there's always the remake, which mostly tries to provide the same experience, but I do think this game is superior in every way once you get used to the control scheme. The artstyle is less generic, the soundtrack is incredible and so unique, and it's easier to appreciate the things this game did so incredibly well for its time, when it looks the part. There are no map markers, no quest journal to slavishly follow, the game does not hold your hand and tell you what to do or where to go. You have to piece that together yourself by parsing information from audio-logs, through exploration, and good old fashioned trial and error, slowly accumulating more context and knowledge to guide you. You'll come to know Citadel Station like the back of your hand. The story is fantastic, with SHODAN being one of the greatest villains of all time, by far one of the most memorable parts of the game. Not as systems-heavy as more modern immersive sims tend to be, but for me, the way the game presents its story, with its non-linear exploration and its focus on player freedom, still holds up today. It's a really engaging and rewarding narrative experience, the likes of which you'll only find these days in obscure indie titles.
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Know horror. The original haunted house in space. Once upon a time, the developers of Through The Looking Glass finished making Ultima Underworld and looked for a new challenge. Instead of a nightmare of man's fall to demons and black magic, they forged a nightmare of man's folly in crafting his own doom with AI and super-science... the original System Shock. They built a game which holds up to this day. System Shock has: - minigames - sniping - easy mantling - physics models so realistic, they just feel natural - gravity puzzles - a clash with an AI antagonist who gets very very personal, and who sounds more mechanical as time passes and she takes damage - an out of the way observation deck where you can look out at Saturn. must see. - enemies which react to sounds you make - music which adjusts to your current situation - early and mid-career work by big names in the video game industry - a dystopian post genocide sci-fi setting presented via set decoration and audio logs - mods and FMs spread across sysstemshockdotorg, nexusmodsdotcom, and moddbdotcom System Shock is game crack for mentally healthy people who wonder where DeusEx, BioShock, Dead Space, or Prey (2017) got their influences. System Shock is game crack for FPS players over 18 who play immersive horror games with backstories revealed through the environment. System Shock is game crack for gamers who love gameplay over graphics and who wonder how good can a 30 year old game possibly be? System Shock is game crack for any gamer that wants to clear a game using only a lead pipe System Shock is game crack for any gamer that wants to play a character whose employee id is the prisoner number of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. At original release in 1994, System Shock Enhanced Edition had no level editor. In 2008, a community based level editor called InkyBlackness/HackEd was created. This then gave rise to several detailed Fan Missions. Nightdive's Source Port Update breaks all fan missions created with HackEd, so to play them you either have to purchase a second copy via GOG or rollback the Source Port Update, as described at https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1086279994 There does not appear to be a mod manager, so all mods are manual installs. - nexus/sso - Gawain's "Derelict". - moddb/sso - Katrina/Kelis98's "Gamma Grove". What happened in Gamma Grove after ejection? - moddb/sso - Joey 3RDPlayer Lansing's "Rewired". Events on the hospital ship Bismarck, featuring Bethany from NightDive Studios as SHODAN. This mod has a 7 hour countdown. - moddb/sso - Sophia Sinclair's "Lazarus Decλy". In 2167, an experiment in nanobots and life extension went horribly wrong. Fortunately, the experiment happened in a sealed underground facility. Unfortunately, you wake up there... Dos and Donts of System Shock 1&2: - DO play while the sun is in the sky. - DO take plenty of breaks. - DO stay hydrated and eat some protein. - DON'T play while drinking energy drinks/caffeine and/or eating a lot of sugar. You don't need anything to make you twitchy. SS2 will activate your adrenaline without any help. - DON'T play when depressed, or while treated for emotional or psychological issues. If you are already on a struggle bus, this is not the time to play SS, SS2 or their fan missions. Where did everyone go? - Many of the original System Shock team also worked on Terra Nova and Flight Unlimited before TTLG closed its doors. Some worked on System Shock 2 and Thief - the Dark Project. - Lead Programmer Doug Church goes on to do programming work on Terra Nova, Thief: The Dark Project, System Shock 2, Thief II and Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition. He did Audio work for the Harmonix PS2 game, Frequency. - Programmer Sean T. Barrett went on to create the STB libraries, which are re-used in games to this day, continuing to earn him video game credits. His libraries appear in TopSpin 2K25, Helldivers II, and LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Legacy. - Physics Programmer Seamus Blackley went on to collect Special Thanks credits for a number of PS2, PS3 and Xbox 360 games, including Psychonauts, Brutal Legend, Guitar Hero II, and Midway Arcade Legends. - Programmer Marc LeBlanc returned as a Programmer in System Shock 2, Thief, and Thief II. He went on to do Engineering/Programming work on NBA2K2, Oasis, and Arrr! - Programmer John Miles created the Miles Design, a MIDI-based sound driver library for games. He designed the Audio Interface Library 3.0 used in Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (1997). His programming work can be found in Ascendancy(1995), Dark Sun: Shattered Lands (1993), and Wing Commander (1990 DOS, 1992 Amiga, and 1994 SEGA CD). The Miles Design sound system earned him Audio credits in the 7th Guest(1993 DOS and 2010 iPhone) and the 11th Hour (1999). - Artist James Dollar also has his Art/Graphics in LOOM, X-Wing vs. Tie-Fighter, and The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition. - Artist Michael Marsicano has worked on Art for Elder Scrolls Online and its expansions from 2014-2020. - After concept arting the look for baddies of System Shock, artist Robb Waters ended up working on Art for the Bioshock trilogy. - Musician Greg LoPiccolo was Project lead for Thief - The Dark Project. Then, he went to Harmonix and led the project for Frequency(2001) and Amplitude(2003). He became VP Product Managment for Karaoke Revolution and Guitar Hero I&II, then several releases of Rock Band. - Producer Warren Spector has producer credits which include Wing Commander (1990 DOS, 1992 Amiga, and 1994 SEGACD), The Complete Ultima VII (1994), Ultima Underworld (1997), and Deus Ex (2000, and GOTY Edition 2001) - Terri Brosius (SHODAN) continued to do voice work in Terra Nova, Thief - The Dark Project, and Dishonored II, and the incomplete Interstellar Marines. She also has writer credits and level design credits. - Translator Frank Dietz continued to work as a German translator for video games, and returned for System Shock 2.
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Frequently Asked Questions
System Shock: Enhanced Edition is currently priced at 9.99€ on Steam.
System Shock: Enhanced Edition is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 9.99€ on Steam.
System Shock: Enhanced Edition received 1,946 positive votes out of a total of 2,172 achieving a rating of 8.57.
😎
System Shock: Enhanced Edition was developed by Looking Glass Studios and Nightdive Studios and published by Nightdive Studios.
System Shock: Enhanced Edition is playable and fully supported on Windows.
System Shock: Enhanced Edition is not playable on MacOS.
System Shock: Enhanced Edition is not playable on Linux.
System Shock: Enhanced Edition is a single-player game.
There is a DLC available for System Shock: Enhanced Edition. Explore additional content available for System Shock: Enhanced Edition on Steam.
System Shock: Enhanced Edition does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
System Shock: Enhanced Edition does not support Steam Remote Play.
System Shock: Enhanced Edition is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for System Shock: Enhanced Edition.
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Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 14 March 2026 10:04 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 11 March 2026 02:05 |
| Steam price | 15 March 2026 12:45 |
| Steam reviews | 14 March 2026 11:46 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about System Shock: Enhanced Edition, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about System Shock: Enhanced Edition
- SteamCharts - Analysis of System Shock: Enhanced Edition concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck System Shock: Enhanced Edition compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
5
Developer
Looking Glass Studios,
Nightdive Studios
Publisher
Nightdive Studios
Release
22 Oct 2015
Platforms
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