Throwback Thursday: Shock!
System Shock as one of the golden standards of storytelling in videogames
![Portrait of Shodan, a character from System Shock.](/img/screen-systemshock-shodan_hud1cafdbc62eee7aab63d847e223e205c_161265_1280x720_resize_q75_h1_lanczos.fb1c1d68f9e08741d7b9697cbf3805949853f906547dfd7f2090c4869f0d0dfd.webp)
Jed from OMGeek.net talks about System Shock as one of the golden standards of storytelling in videogames, and rightfully so: the game heavily inspired the Bioshock franchise (indeed, it’s considered to be the spiritual successor to System Shock) and also influenced the direction of Deus Ex - yet another PC game classic.
More than any other game before it, System Shock let me experience a well-written story at my own pace, and let me put things together and fill in the gaps with my own reasoning and imagination. Maybe I’m looking at the wrong genres in games today, but I hope this kind of storytelling challenge will still live on somewhere.
![System Shock character dialog box.](/img/screen-systemshock-dialog_hu2ce85bbf5742942a7e51829f4ad33386_56371_675x200_resize_q75_h5_lanczos.3a66c80094c2f1bb8cad10a903d048d9bb96314fb36b5ec1e3a59101ea28cec7.webp)
Having played System Shock myself, but not all the way through, Jed’s write-up makes me want to return to the game and appreciate its masterpiece of a story. I’m willing to bet that, after reading the article yourself, you’ll feel the same way. Check out the rest of it at OMGeek.net.