Top 25 PC Games of All Time, Part Three
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Looking Glass and Irrational Games' System Shock 2 excelled in many ways, but perhaps the strongest was the genuinely frightening atmosphere and that pervaded throughout every polygon. Pitted against a seemingly ubiquitous Artificial Intelligence with a singularly haunting speaking voice, your character had to escape the clutches of monstrosities and altered crewmates aboard the space vessels Rickenbacker and Von Braun. The game, like many others on our list, emphasized player choice over strict, predetermined progress. A widely varied and upgradeable skill set, as well as a large range of weapons and tools were at the players' disposal. It was a game that demanded precision as well, where player decisions had noticeable and lasting repercussions, since items degraded quickly with use, ammunition was difficult to come across, and there were multiple ways of tackling nearly every obstacle. System Shock 2 wove together compelling storytelling, oppressive atmosphere, a wide range of abilities, and addictive first-person RPG gameplay to create an experience impossible to forget, and still remains one of the most cohesive, affective games out there.
