A new all-time favorite for me. I've never played the original, but this version felt great to play and really immersed me in Citadel Station. Some of the cyberspace bits were frustrating, and in general this is NOT an easy game. You will fight to the end, but it will be worth it.

This is what you want, this is what you get

This game is absolutely phenomenal, an absolute cornerstone of gaming history. I never played the original, but I've now beaten the game twice, and it'll probably be one I revisit every couple years.

The game has 4 different difficulty sliders, and I recommend not setting them to the highest setting on your first run, just leave it on setting 2 for each category unless you feel like you need the help in a particular area of gameplay.

Unless your story difficulty is set to the lowest setting, you will need to pay close attention as you play through the game. The map is very intentionally a labyrinth that is not friendly to navigate. You will find audio logs (a mechanic that the original introduced to the gaming landscape) which give you information ranging from throw away lines to extremely important information which is vital to progressing the game. It is very helpful to take notes to keep track of things like codes and locations of importance. You can also use the pins on your map to mark any location you might want. Immediately after placing a pin, you can type out whatever you want, which is not very obviously displayed, but which makes your pins much easier to keep distinct from one another.

Combat in this game is the bread and butter, in my opinion. The weapon variety is very good, and it feels like each weapon (aside from the starter melee weapon and pistol probably) is completely viable through to the final boss. Cycling out which weapons you carry on you is encouraged by the fact that you're trying to conserve ammo, meaning dipping into a different weapon's ammo reserves can keep you from having to fall back on your melee weapon. Later, as you have access to more guns, you can cycle melee out of your inventory if you manage your ammo well enough. You can also ignore every gun in the game and beat the brakes off your foes with a pipe or a wrench (or a later, much more high tech variety of whackus bonkus). Use cover to your advantage, or you will get deep fried by most enemies.

The small puzzles are nothing groundbreaking by today's standards, but the original was the game that introduced many of these types of puzzles to videogaming as a whole. The larger story puzzles are more entertaining as you need to find certain items and complete certain actions on multiple floors of the space station.

Cyberspace is my least favorite part of this game, it mostly feels like something I have to deal with to get back to progress the actual fun part of the game. I can see what the original devs in 97 were going for, but it's just not fun. I understand its inclusion in the remake, as its removal would drastically alter the game's identity, definitely for the worse.

As an immersive sim, this is still one of the best in the genre. It can feel a bit clunky and outdated in areas, but progress feels rewarding and earned every step of the way. Inventory management has a few hiccups that I think could have been easily resolved, but it's functional. Exploration is enjoyable, and slowly mapping out each floor of the space station scratches an itch in my brain.

Finally, the setting is just phenomenal. It's cyberpunk, it's sci-fi, and each floor of Citadel Station has its own character. Speaking of Citadel Station, the AI inhabiting its walls is one of the best written villains in any game out there. SHODAN, the rogue AI (whom your character causes to go rogue in the first 5 minutes of the game), is ever-present. She watches you through every camera, every monster you kill an abomination crafted by her in an attempt to make lifeforms superior to humans. She's got one hell of a god complex, and she's going to make it your problem. Thwarting her plans makes you feel like a badass, but she's swift to remind you that you're not indestructible. You're guaranteed to walk into more than one trap during your playthrough, and it makes SHODAN feel like a proper threat, not just some voice chattering in your ear.

If you like immersive sims, games that require you pay attention, well written villains, or using a railgun to blow the head off of whatever poor shmuck crosses you, play System Shock. There's nothing else quite like it.