System Shock Turns 21, Gets Enhanced Re-Release

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 turning 21 today. To celebrate, GOG has released a special enhanced edition of the first-person RPG. System Shock first launched in 1994 and was released by Looking Glass Technologies. It took place in a cyberpunk future where you played a hacker on a space station trying to stop an evil AI called SHODAN.

Developer Looking Glass Technologies was known for their work on Thief, System Shock and Ultima Underworld. While they went out of business due to a financial crisis with their publisher, Eidos Interactive. Most of its team members ended up heading over to John Romero's studio Ion Storm Austin, where they developed the first two Deus Ex titles and Thief: Deadly Shadows. Irrational Games was created in 1997 by former Looking Glass members Ken Levine, Jonathan Chey and Robert Fermier. They would go on to release System Shock 2, BioShock and BioShock Infinite before going defunct last year.

According to GOG, here's what's in this revamped version of System Shock:

System Shock: Enhanced Edition now comes with official support for resolutions up to 1024x768 (compared to the original 640x480), and a native 854x480 widescreen mode. Gameplay is streamlined with a toggleable mouselook mode, including more intuitive inventory and item management. Combined with assorted bug-fixes and remappable controls, System Shock is now truly enhanced. Still, some gaming experiences are truly worth preserving, so you can also return to the authentic 90's gameplay with System Shock: Classic - ready for modern systems, completely unaltered in all other aspects, and available in both the CD and Floppy editions!

System Shock: Enhanced Edition is currently available for $7.99 on GOG (it's currently on a 20 percent discount from its price of $9.99).

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