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System shock 2 plot12/28/2022 ![]() ![]() During her exile on Tau Ceti 5, the Many turned against SHODAN, forcing her to sneak aboard the Von Braun as they rampaged through the front door. SHODAN requires the player's help to destroy the Many, the biological hivemind that she created in a stealthily added plot point to the original System Shock. What we don't expect is to end up working with her, or to be more accurate, working for her. "My analysis of historical data suggests a 97.34 per cent probability that you are aware of my birth on your planet." SHODAN herself recognises that anticipation, stating in Terri Brosius' stuttering, electrifying tones. We expect it with a mixture of trepidation and masochistic glee. This is after all a sequel, one in which SHODAN's zero-Kelvin smile features on the box-art. ![]() SHODAN's appearance in the game can only be so surprising. Unlike BioShock, it's what happens next where things get truly interesting. System Shock 2's introduction blends tutorial and character creation in a way that is surprisingly accessible, morseo than many modern games.ĭespite the fact that you've been completely used, and your entire relationship with the one other surviving human on the ship is a lie, ultimately, it's not that big a deal. By comparison, System Shock 2's revelation is basically SHODAN's way of saying hello. BioShock saves all of its narrative impact for a single moment, a spectacular power-fantasy that pulls the rug from beneath the player's feet two-thirds of the way through. Both are games dedicated to the exploration of player agency, or more specifically the lack of it. It's only when you examine the two side by see that it becomes clear why this is. On deck four of the ill-fated spaceship Von Braun, the character you've been working with for the first half of the game turns out to be the dead puppet of SHODAN, the malevolent AI introduced in the original System Shock. It's also surprising that, at the time, more people didn't see it coming, as the setup and delivery echo an equivalent reveal penned by Ken Levine in System Shock 2, the game to which BioShock was marketed as a spiritual successor. The flurry of half-baked ideas that follow - your plasmids don't work, you're sort of a Big Daddy - fail to rebuild the momentum which leads up to that clarifying moment. In fact, so successful is this scene that it ends up hurting the remainder of the game. The scene in which you finally encounter Andrew Ryan, your body buzzing with adrenaline after the rigmarole you've gone through to find this megalomaniac, only to be delivered the debilitating narrative gut-punch that you've been guided like a puppet the entire time, is often considered one of gaming's greatest feats of storytelling. System shock 2 plot series#System Shock series was a major inspiration for Bioshock series, which is considered its spiritual successor, as well as, to some extent, Portal series.2007's BioShock blew everyone away with its momentous second-act twist. The game was created by Ken Levine, the Irrational Games founder and famous designer behind such titles as BioShock and Thief: The Dark Project. The player can use guns, but ammunition is scarce, which forces the player to use it prudently and move ahead with caution. To survive and find out what happened, the protagonist sets out to explore the dimly lit corridors of Von Braun, encountering his former friends mutated into abominations. ![]() Janice Polito, who instructs the player via radio. The only other survivor is presumed to be mysterious Dr. The rest of the crew was affected by some disaster that either killed them or turned into brainwashed slaves of an alien entity called The Many. The plot follows the main character who awakens from the cryosleep, with no idea what's going on. We are onboard the spaceship Von Braun that returns from humanity's first interstellar expedition to Tau Ceti system. The game is set in the distant future of 2114, 42 years after the events of the original System Shock. ![]()
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