I could list some more parallels, but I don’t know how much good that would do. They posit liberation through the abnegation of desire itself. In the eyes of The Many, you are but a sheep that was separated from the flock. Biology, on the other hand, is masculine, collective, and preoccupied with unity above all else. It sees you as an insignificant nothing, and it posits liberation through the acquisition of power. Technology is feminine, individualistic, and lacking in emotion. And although System Shock 2 is just as interested in social issues as its predecessor, more of its interest lies in exploring Xerxes and SHODAN as contrasting deities.

Already, we can see a similar framework to that of Phantasy Star II : warnings about a technological utopia future in which we sacrifice all agency to the goddess within the machine. Xerxes, the AI made to control the ship, has been taken over by a life form known only as The Many, and the rogue AI goddess SHODAN threatens to make a return. As an elite soldier enhanced with cybernetic upgrades, you find yourself exploring the remains of the USS Von Braun. It’s a discussion that makes itself known from the story’s earliest moments. These are already common motifs in science fiction, and although System Shock 2 hedges closely to its source material, it carries the discussion into unexpected new territory. What stands out about System Shock 2 for me (IE what I think the game devotes most of its energy to) is its deep interrogation of the biology/machine divide. System Shock 2 is such a dense, multifaceted game that picking one point of discussion feels impossible.

This has nothing to do with its popularity (there’s still a lot to be said about this game), but because there’s just so much to talk about.

System Shock 2 is going to be a difficult game to write about.

Xerxes system shock 2