System Shock 2 is a First-Person Shooter / Immersive Sim with Survival Horror and RPG Elements and the sequel to System Shock. It was developed by Looking Glass Studios and Irrational Games, and published by Electronic Arts, releasing in August 11, 1999. The game is set 42 years after the first game; due to the events of the. System Shock 2 wasn’t quite the start of the immersive sim genre – that would’ve been the original game, or Ultima Underworld – but it was a turning point. It was where the genre went full. With this blueprint, Nightdive found that there was a solid enough foundation in System Shock 2 to begin fleshing out a full VR version. Kick says System Shock 2 Enhanced Edition will be fully.
System Shock 2019
Players Guide: Part 1
There's no doubt in our minds that System Shock 2 is one of the greatest games ever - it's certainly one of the most atmospheric and downright scary. In fact, you're likely to become so immersed in it, you won't be able to stop until you've completed it. To avoid any unnecessary frustrations, here is the first part of our thorough guide to getting to the end. Keep in mind that you create your own character and develop him as you progress through the game. Choose your skills wisely and read on.
MED/SCI
As you wake up you receive an email from Dr Janice Polito.The message explains your partial amnesia, warns you that something has gone drastically wrong with the ship and instructs you to meet her on the operations deck (deck 4). The elevators have no power; in order to restore it, go to the engineering deck through the maintenance access shaft. The shaft is locked, so get the code from Dr Watts in the crew sector. The crew sector is also locked, but you can get an access card from Grassi in the medical sector. Unfortunately, the door to the medical sector has lost power as well, but it can be reopened with a power cell. There's one by the door, but it's not charged, so you have to find a recharger.
Just down the hall from the door to the medical sector you find a room with a quantum bio-reconstruction machine.Once this machine is activated, your body is automatically reconstructed inside the machine whenever you 'die'.The machines have a limited range, so try to find and activate them whenever you enter a new sub-level.
You can find a recharger under the pump station, but watch out for the nearby turrets. Recharge the power cell and proceed to the medical sector. Grassi is in the lower level of the biopsy lab in this sector. Get his access card, go to the crew sector and find Dr Watts' quarters (they're clearly labelled). He's not there, but he has left a spare access card to the R&D sector in his desk, so try his office there. You find him when you get there, and he gives you the code to the maintenance access shaft.
Engineering
To restore main power and get the elevators working you need to get into the engine core. However, the seals on the core have been automatically locked due to a radiation leak in the coolant tunnels. The leaks are pretty bad, so you need plenty of anti-radiation hypos while travelling through this area. You could purge the radiation from engineering control, but Sanger has recoded the door lock. Sanger is hiding in cargo bay 2, which is also locked. You can find the access card for cargo bay 2 in cargo bay 1 (though you might want to stop in at command control first, where there's a quantum bioreconstruction machine). Sanger is in cargo bay 2B, all the way back, on the top level; you can get the code to engineering control from her.
When you get there you find that Xerxes has locked out the controls. Luckily, a log left here by Delacroix tells you how to perform a manual override. First, you need to get part 45m/dEx from a storage room in the coolant tunnels.
Bring this part to the command control centre at the far end of engineering and install it in the system's monitoring unit. Return to engineering control and purge the radiation.
You are now able to enter the engine core and restore main power. You need to reset both nacelles on the lower level of the engine core, then reset the master power computer on the upper level.Once power is restored, you can (optionally) use a lift from the engine core down to a tunnel in the lower level of engineering. This is a shorter route back to the elevator than going through the coolant tunnels, but there are a lot of monsters down there, so you might prefer to take the long way around.
Hydroponics
When you try to take the elevator to the ops deck you find that the elevator can't get higher than the hydroponics deck. The aliens are using the hydroponics deck as a breeding chamber, and some of their biomatter is clogging the elevator shaft. To clear the biomatter you need to find (and research) an experimental substance called Toxin-A, and place some of it in each of the four environmental regulators on this deck. There are five vials of Toxin-A (though you only need four of them): one is in the administrative offices of sector C, two are inside a locked office (you need to break a window to get in) in the biological survey area of sector C, one is in the chemical storeroom in sector B, and the last one is on a corpse just inside sector A. If you don't want to buy the research skill, you can research the Toxin-A with the help of a lab assistant implant, although even with this you still need two units of antimony and one of vanadium; these can be found in the chemical storeroom in sector B, or by going back to the chemical storeroom on the engineering deck.
There is one environmental regulator in each of the four sectors, marked on your automap with an'A'. The elevator lets you out into sector C, but the other sectors are all locked.
You can get into sector B by breaking some windows that overlook it, either near the administrative offices or near the experimental office. A body in the biological survey labs has the access card for sector B, so you can get in and out without having to jump through windows. Another body in sector B maintenance has the access card for sector A.Once you're in sector A, you need to find the access card for sector D, which is on a body near an assault rifle.
Place Toxin-A in each of the environmental regulators.
Operations
Your first task is to go to Dr Polito's office in sector A. Turn right out of the elevator, and go through the bulkhead on your right. She explains how a bizarre hive-mind (called 'The Many') evolved from the mutants SHODAN created back on Citadel Station. The Many have taken over some of the crew members of the Von Braun with their telepathic powers. Worse still, SHODAN herself has gained a foothold in the computer system. However, she and The Many seem to be working at crosspurposes, and The Many is the more immediate threat.After this meeting you need to perform tasks on both the operations and recreation decks. You can go on to recreation now and go back to the tasks on this deck afterwards if you prefer.
The three simulation units on this deck have been co-opted by The Many to engineer a mutagen which will create a new kind ofhunter-killer hybrid - you have to reprogram all three sim units to prevent this from happening. In order to do so you need to get three special chips (one for each sim unit) that are being carried by special red cyborg assassins.
These are tougher than the ordinary cyborg assassins (who are no pushovers!), and are programmed to try and avoid you whenever possible. Watch which way they run, track them down to their hiding places, and kill them. There is one red cyborg assassin in sector B (hiding in the systems administration area), one in sector C (hiding in the storage area), and one in sector D (hiding in the command centre, not far from the brig). Take the chips from their bodies and place each one in the matching sim unit to reprogram them. One sim unit is in sector C in the power administration offices, one is in sector D in a security station near the brig, and the other in the lower level of power operations.
Recreation
Some crew members on the recreation deck were building a transmitter to warn Earth. They were unable to complete the job, so you must find and activate the transmitter. The activation code is hidden in art terminals scattered around this deck, so cycle through all available pictures at each art terminal to find pieces of the code.The locations are: sector A (across the hall from the upgrade units and upstairs in the crew sector); sector B (in the pool hall) and sector C (in the ArTechnology store in the mall). The transmitter is in the athletics sector, which is locked. The access card for it is in the crew sector, which is also locked, so find the access card for the crew sector in the maintenance tunnels under the garden in sector B.
Soldier G65434-2
In the year 2114, forty-two years after the events described in System Shock, a soldier joins the military organization Unified National Nominate (UNN), receiving the number G65434-2, and is shortly thereafter assigned to the military space ship Rickenbacker. This ship’s duty is to escort the Von Braun, an experimental faster-than-light starship, on its maiden voyage. However, the next thing the soldier can remember is waking up in a cryo-tube on the Von Braun. It appears that both ships were infected with something so horrifying that nearly the entire crew was either killed or mutated into monsters. The soldier is contacted by a woman who identifies herself as the only human survivor. His first task is a rendezvous with this woman, for which he will have to traverse the monster-infested corridors of the ghost ship.
System Shock 2 is a hybrid of first-person shooter and role-playing game. In the beginning of the game the player chooses a career for the protagonist in the UNN. This choice grants bonuses to the protagonist’s initial skills. Marines specialize in combat, navy officers can repair weapons and hack computer terminals, and OSA agents may begin the game with psionic powers. Notwithstanding this initial choice, the player may choose to learn any of these skills as the game progresses, spending acquired cybermodules to develop the main character in a RPG fashion.
As the hero traverses the corridors of Von Braun, he will have to avoid death at the hands of hostile creatures and robots on the way, acquire a variety of items, and complete missions to unlock new areas and advance the story. The game emphasizes survival rather than elimination of enemies; in many situations the protagonist is underpowered, and new enemies may appear in already explored areas.
Combat is done in FPS style, with both ranged and melee weapons. The ranged weapons can accept a few different types of ammo, each of them efficient against different foes, and can shoot in two firing modes. However, ranged weapons deteriorate quickly as the player character uses them, and will eventually break down after prolonged use.
Healing items, such as medical hypos and medikits, will save the hero’s life, while other items will shield him from radiation, cure him from poisoning, or temporarily boost his attributes. The soldier can find armor to wear and implants which will amplify his skills, as long as their battery doesn’t run out. There are also some alien items that the player has to research (which usually requires finding specific chemicals in the ship’s chemical stores); researching weapons and items allows the player to use them, and researching enemies’ organs makes it possible to deal more damage to them.
Apart from finding them lying around, items can be bought from “matter replicators” for nanites, the game’s currency. Nanites are also used for cybernetic activities (hacking electronic systems), repairing broken weapons and improving them, healing the protagonist on surgery tables, and, after death, resurrecting him in special chambers found on most levels.
Cybermodules are received for successfully completing objectives or found during exploration. They are used to enhance the main character’s attributes: the player can improve his strength, agility, endurance, as well as his cybernetics and weapon skills; psionic powers are also acquired in this way. Psi powers allow the protagonist to move objects from a distance, paralyze enemies, become invisible, etc. A special “psi amplifier” must be found in order to use them, and the hero spends “psi points” each time he uses a psi power.
Like in the first System Shock, much of the background story in the game is revealed by finding messages left by crew members before they fell victims to the mysterious infestation.
Game Info
System Shock 2 Cheats
- Genre: Action
- Developer: Irrational Games LLC, Looking Glass Studios, Inc.
- Year: 1999