Unlike BioShock and more like Human Revolution, you have an actual limited inventory in SS2, and it seems like resources are almost always scarce, especially later in the game. This goes into SS2’s heavier emphasis on resource management. Experience points are either discovered as items or doled out for completing objectives (this even has a strong connection with the story), so you can’t grind, and you really have to watch where you spend them. SS2 has almost the exact same gameplay mechanics, but it is balanced much more heavily toward role-playing and survival horror.Īt the beginning of the game, you choose a general development path for your character: guns, hacking, or psionics (basically plasmids). That stuff might be true in a manner of speaking. BioShock is definitely a much more action-focused game.

PC elitists might tell you that BioShock is basically the same game as System Shock 2 but dumbed-down for console gamers - or that SS2 has much deeper gameplay and is still scarier despite outdated graphics. However, SS2 is largely considered to be the better game, and I would also agree on that. Now, some might take this to mean that SS2 is a less advanced version of BioShock or that it’s only interesting to play as a history lesson on where BioShock’s ideas came from. The first Dead Space game also probably owes its existence to SS2 (rumors abound that it was originally going to be System Shock 3).

If you still don’t really know what SS2 is, it is the direct predecessor to BioShock, having been made largely by the same team. SS2 definitely did not invent this style of game (that credit probably goes to Ultima Underworld), but it’s usually considered to be the best example of it, and I would agree. The current console generation has seen the popularization of what some like to call the “first-person simulation role-playing game” genre - games like the ones I just mentioned, which combine elements of first-person shooters with RPGs in extremely detailed worlds. If you ever enjoyed contemporary games like BioShock, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Dishonored, Dead Space, or Fallout 3, then you probably owe it to yourself to buy System Shock 2.

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