System Shock 2’s Ending Wasn’t the REAL one

You remember the classic, System Shock 2, right? Irrational Games’ Ken Levine says that the ending that happened, wasn’t supposed to end that way.

As far as I can recall, the player defeats SHODAN, and then it skips to a cutscene where the player is given the choice of teaming with SHODAN to rule the universe, or take her (or it)out, which is what he does, because you don’t really have a choice in the matter.

Then the player is back aboard one of the ships, and sends a message to the pod that was ejected from the Von Braun earlier on, which contained Tommy Suarez and Rebecca Siddons, who managed to escape. They were about to return to the ship when Rebecca all of a sudden looks and sounds like SHODAN (probably a lot to do with the hair and the voice), and so one assumes that SHODAN ends up back on the ship with or without Tommy.

If you thought it was strange that Rebecca turned into SHODAN, then you might remember that she was bitten by one of those creatures - I think it might have been the arachnids. So I suppose left unchecked it may have possibly changed her in the end, seeing as those creatures were basically SHODAN’s “children”.

System Shock 2's Ending

Ken Levine says that’s not the ending he had in mind, as he had written a script for a different one. He says that time constraints, differing ideas, and lack of communication resulted in the ending we know to the great title. This wasn’t the only thing that was changed or taken out of the game, as other features and even story ideas have been revealed by Irrational that didn’t make it in to the final release.

The ending also suggested that there might be a sequel, which to this day hasn’t happened, although I’m praying to the gaming gods above that the game that Irrational is going to unveil sometime just might be System Shock 3, even though most think it’s an X-Com game, which he says you shouldn’t believe. The chances are slim, but wouldn’t it just be the greatest piece of news this year if it did happen?

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Source: Irrational.com - Kotaku

System Shock 2’s Ending Wasn’t the REAL one

Apocalypse Then: System Shock

On this day, in 1994, System Shock was released. Even though it was largely unnoticed due to interest in Doom and later Doom II: Hell on Earth, for it’s time it was quite innovative, with an RPG-like inventory and an intriguing storyline.

A sequel, System Shock 2, was released in 1999, and happens to be one of my favourite games of all time. There is talk of a System Shock 3, but so far there has been no news about it for some time, with some just dismissing it as another vapourware title.

Apocalypse Then: System Shock

Games I want: System Shock 3

It’s been nearly ten years, and I’m surprised that they haven’t done a true sequel to System Shock 2. Yes, we had BioShock in 2007, and BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams is due to be out sometime, with BioShock 3 planned as well, but that is obviously a spin-off series, which consists of spiritual successors.

We all know that the System Shock series takes place in space aboard starships and space stations in the future, and BioShock takes place under the sea in the 1960s- big difference apart from the similar sounding names.

The end of System Shock 2 ended with Rebecca, one of the survivors of the Von Braun, on an escape pod with her partner, Tommy, heading back to the Von Braun. Rebecca was seen to look like a version of SHODAN, so obviously there must exist some form of an evil plot. Perhaps like Doom II: Hell on Earth, SHODAN, with her anti-humanist views, will crash the ships onto Earth and spread her cybernetic empire there.
 
Critics worry that if it is ever released, they will be debase any future prospects of the series, perhaps because they are under new developers’ leashes.

Some people who worked on the original games, from both Looking Glass Studios and Irrational Games, have concerns that EA won’t really bother putting the required and desired effort into the game that it needs.

Games I want: System Shock 3