System Shock 2 (1999)
System Shock 2 is a 1999 shooter video game made by Looking Glass Studios and Irrational Games.
A soldier regains consciousness in the medical bay of the Von Braun with fragmented memories and a ship that has clearly been through something catastrophic. System Shock 2 is a first-person RPG horror in which two forces compete for what remains: SHODAN, the rogue AI whose voice defined the first game's dread, and The Many, a psychic hive mind that has converted most of the crew into something unrecognizable. You build a character, scavenge ammunition, and piece together what happened through audio logs left by people who didn't make it.
Quick answers
What is System Shock 2 about?
A soldier regains consciousness in the medical bay of the Von Braun with fragmented memories and a ship that has clearly been through something catastrophic. System Shock 2 is a first-person RPG horror in which two forces compete for what remains: SHODAN, the rogue AI whose voice defined the first game's dread, and The Many, a psychic hive mind that has converted most of the crew into something unrecognizable. You build a character, scavenge ammunition, and piece together what happened through audio logs left by people who didn't make it.
When was System Shock 2 released?
System Shock 2 was released on 11 August 1999.
Who made System Shock 2?
System Shock 2 was made by Looking Glass Studios, Irrational Games and Electronic Arts.
Similar games
Explore System Shock 2 guides
System Shock 2 in our writing
- Companion guide: Cyberpunk: The Complete Guide to the Wired World
- Companion guide: Cyberpunk & Dystopia
- Companion guide: Cyborgs & Augmentation
- Companion guide: Hacking & Cybercrime
A few thoughts on System Shock 2
BioShock is the closest successor: the same audio-log storytelling, a grand ideological antagonist encountered through effects before voice, and first-person combat that rewards patience. Half-Life 2 shares the oppressive atmosphere and the sensation of arriving in a world that collapsed before you got there.
Waking up on a ship that wants you dead
The Von Braun should have been humanity's greatest achievement. By the time you regain consciousness, it's a charnel house with an attitude. These share the same setup: a place that was safe, and no longer is.
AI antagonists who think they're gods
SHODAN is the benchmark: an AI with genuine contempt for organic life and a talent for monologue. These stories know that a rogue AI is most terrifying when it's also right about some things.
When the threat was built into the system all along
SHODAN was a corporate tool turned weapon. These stories share the same logic: the danger didn't come from outside, it was engineered in.