Under the ocean lies Andrew Ryan’s dream in the form of a place known as Rapture. Here Ryan wished to create a utopia for people who were tired of the land above and wanted an escape from it all. Despite Ryan’s grandiose plans to make this dream city work things fell apart and spiraled out of control. Unfortunately for Jack he’s about to see the ruined ideals of Ryan very soon. Jack will enter a place that had potential to be great but ended up becoming a hellish landscape filled with those who can’t be considered human anymore.

Our 6 Games Like System Shock list begins with BioShock, a title that implores many elements from System Shock. Players run around in a destroyed underwater landscape fighting various enemies—known as splicers—in hopes of escaping alive. Multiple elements of System Shock’s gameplay can be found in BioShock such as finding tapes, that reveal the lore and story of BioShock’s world, as well as, the use of various powers that allow players to go into battle with multiple tactics at the ready. BioShock has seen several sequels being released but we still feel the very first one needs to be treated the best as it started this franchise off on the highest note possible. We highly recommend fans of System Shock’s gameplay to purchase BioShock and enjoy one of the best FPS titles made in the last decade.

When a second nuclear devastation hits the already radiated Chernobyl, things spiral out of control. Creatures and humans that somehow survived the blast have become mutated beings known as STALKERS. Waking up amid the chaos you who are also one of these beings still have your mentality and haven’t truly become a STALKER. Now you must journey into this desecrated land and search for clues that have been left to you to figure out what your goal was here. Welcome to the newer version of Chernobyl in S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl.

One of the many great elements from the System Shock series were the world environments. Sure you may have been mostly on ships for the games but they felt alive and terrifying thanks to the always persistent enemies that faced you. In S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl, we’re reminded of this great feature but with added worries. Players will not only have to battle against zombies and mutants in S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl but they must also deal with hunger and radiation poisoning that slowly will kill them. Thanks to developer GSC Game World S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl feels like an environment you want to explore and all the while try your best to not die in. If that doesn’t sound like System Shock than we don’t know what else will.

Agent JC Denton has just recently completed his training to become a full-fledged UNATCO Agent. Unluckily for JC, his wish is about to come true when a huge mission requires his skills. A large shipment of vaccines to stop a deadly virus has been hijacked by an unknown group. However, while this seems like a simple case of stolen property JC is about to enter a war that is hidden from the public and is growing larger with each pressing day. While the year 2052 should be a year of advancement and boon, it now looks like it may become a year of life altering events.

System Shock 1 and 2 both had huge landscapes thanks to multiple missions and plenty of hidden lore to be found from NPCs and collectibles. That’s why we here at Honey’s Anime love Deus Ex so much. Those same amazing gameplay elements are richly ingrained in every nook and cranny of Deus Ex’s gameplay. Deus Ex may seem like just another FPS title but thanks to a huge amount of freedom in choice—heck there are three endings based on your decisions—and freedom in where to go and what to do, Deus Ex feels like a journey more than just a game. While Deus Ex may be almost two decades old, that doesn’t mean this title has lost that shining gameplay we remember and love.

Corvo Attano fifteen years ago restored order to Dunwall thanks to his actions. With Emily Kaldwin—the daughter of the later empress of Dunwall—now in power, Dunwall has faced a peace that it has never seen before. Despite all Emily and Corvo have done for Dunwell, they find themselves being labeled as crown killers when a serial killer appears and kills off those who oppose Emily. Then to make matters worse, during a celebration held for Emily’s late mother, Duke Luca Abele of Serkoos arrives along with a powerful witch and begins attacking those at the celebration. Now, you must choose to either play as Corvo or Emily in order to fight against these invaders and restore order to the city once and for all.

While players may not be dealing with aliens and/or mutants, Dishonored 2 was put on our list for various reasons. Mirroring System Shock, Dishonored 2 aims to give players freedom of choice—akin to our previous entry Deus Ex—as well as various powers to stop their foes. Both Emily and Corvo play differently but this also gives Dishonored 2 a reason to be replayed after completing the game using either one of these characters. Dunwall is a full of lore to be found and things to do, like System Shock your exploration skills will give you the most enjoyment as you learn about the story outside of cutscenes and main events. We give high praise to Dishonored 2 thanks to some beautiful graphics and some truly epic FPS adventure gameplay that may be even stronger than the previous entry in the series.

Black Mesa was supposed to be put on the map thanks to their newest experiment about to take place. New employee Gordon Freeman could have won awards and many accolades for being part of a truly momentous occasion. However, little did Gordon or the rest of the staff at Black Mesa realize, their experiment was about to change the world in a horrible way. During the test run Gordon and his colleagues end up opening a portal to another world and unleashing an alien race upon Black Mesa. Now Gordon must somehow become a soldier and strive to escape the facility before he gets killed by the various beings from another world.

In 1994 System Shock changed the gaming landscape, it would only be several more years before another game would come along and do the same. Half-Life has been known across the gaming world as one of the best FPS titles to ever be released by developer Valve. Assuming the role of Gordon Freeman players had to navigate through a Black Mesa that was falling apart all while killing off alien beings using various weapons and tools. Players may want a third instalment of Half-Life—but most likely it will never happen—but for now, replaying the first title reminds us of a gaming era that was all too amazing even now. If you’re one of the few who have never tried Half-Life out we hope this little bit of information helps persuade your hand.

Taking place in the year 2508 humanity has begun to use giant ships like the USG Ishimura to extract ore from various asteroids and planets in the universe. However, when a distress signals comes from the “planet-cracker” a team is sent in to assess the situation. Engineer Isaac Clarke as well as several other are sent to investigate but find something is terribly wrong inside the Ishimura. With large amount of damage and bloody messages on the walls of the ship, it doesn’t take long for Isaac’s team to run into what caused the distress signal to go off…

Dead Space ends our list of 6 Games Like System Shock and truly this was the best title to do it with. Besides the story of the two games being pretty close—without spoiling anything let’s just say humanity needs to not mess with alien artifacts—the gameplay is where both titles differ in some regards but not in every detail. Players take control of Isaac as they kill alien creatures called Necromorphs by using precision shots to de-limb the beings. A majority of Dead Space’s story can be found via data logs—akin to System Shock—that shows players the last moments of most of the crew members of the ship. Dead Space has an incredible amount of lore—only matched by an incredible number of jump scares—that truly make this survival horror all too alike to the System Shock series. With three games, several novels and even an animated movie, it’s not hard to see that Dead Space is very popular and worthy of playing.