So, after a year of silence, an update for the "System Shock" remaster
has been announced. It apparently will drop on April 11th.

Although largely bug-fixes and tweaks, there are at least two
signficant changes. The first - and probably most important - is that
the end-boss fight has been reworked, which is very welcome. Although
"System Shock" games have always had pretty terrible end-boss battles,
the one in the "Remaster" in particular felt out of place, with brand
new mechanics and setting that felt half-baked.

More controversially, a 'waypoint' system has been added to the game,
directing players where to go next. It is apparently going to be
locked to 'easy' mode, probably to keep complaints to a minimum
(personally, I think it should be a toggled function, or perhaps
something that requires a special item to be found on harder
difficulties). The original "System Shock" was designed back in the
"Doom-clone" era, when maze-like levels were expected (and often used
to artificially extend gameplay length). It wasn't really fun to
wander about the maps looking for that ONE button or object necessary
to further the quest even in 1995, and it feels incredibly out of
place after 30 years of progressive design development. That the
remake so slavishly followed the original's design was one of its
worst parts. I finished the remake largely because - even after all
these years - I still had the basic layouts of Citadel Station
imprinted onto my brain. Had I been required to go into the remaster
blind, I'm not sure I would have bothered to finish it. So I welcome
the addition of waypoints.

There's also been a ton of optimizations made, particularly aimed at
making the game run better on SteamDeck. I'm less concerned about that
(not owning a Steamdeck), but what's good for the mobile version will
likely also benefit those running the game through the Proton
compatibility layer.

I don't think any of this will get me to replay the game anytime soon.
I still think the best way to experience "System Shock" remains the
2015 "Enhanced" edition (being a 'purer' version of the game whilst
still having necessary QOL enhancements). But I know there are some
fans of the remaster here, so this update is probably welcome news.
Especially since the developers have been radio-silent for months, to
the point that some people were wondering if the game had been
abandoned already.

>More controversially, a 'waypoint' system has been added to the game,
>directing players where to go next. It is apparently going to be
>locked to 'easy' mode, probably to keep complaints to a minimum
>(personally, I think it should be a toggled function,

Including this is certainly a good move, but tying it to difficulty is
inexplicable. Make it a toggle and leave it at that!

>I still think the best way to experience "System Shock" remains the
>2015 "Enhanced" edition (being a 'purer' version of the game whilst
>still having necessary QOL enhancements).

Yep. I'm happy the remake exists, but the original is just plain better.

rms