System Shock: Enhanced Edition has launched on GOG

While everyone enjoys System Shock 2 thanks to its slick interface and modern (late 90s, anyway) FPS controls that were given to it courtesy of the Thief engine, the first game doesn’t have that same level of user-friendliness in its GUI.

Fresh features include mouselook controls and support for higher resolutions up to 1024×768 or 854×480 in widescreen.

It’s time to buy SHODAN a beer, because System Shock is hitting the big 2-1 and getting an upgraded re-release to celebrate.

System Shock is set in the cyberpunk future of 2072, where a nameless hacker – that’s you – is arrested and blackmailed into committing a crime.

The Enhanced Edition also comes with a classic version of the game, just in case you’d rather re-live the action as you did back in the day.

A new version of System Shock, a classic DOS adventure and the spiritual forebear to Bioshock, aims to fix that.

Judging from the launch video, the effect with all the options turned on is to clean up the rough edges of the original, but largely leave it intact – this is no extensive “remaster”, and will probably be all the better for it, so long as you like pixelated sprites, hard-to-read text and entertainingly low-res textures. The game is on sale for 20 percent off ($8) until next Tuesday, September 29-or, if you own System Shock 2 through GOG it’s 40 percent off. Happy hacking.

An Enhanced Edition of System Shock is now available. GOG.com also tossed in some goodies as well, including the soundtrack, a hintbook, a full strategy guide, and even the 1990s TV commercial.

The game has been an important game in gaming history; however playing it on Modern PC’s has become a bit of an exercise in frustration.