SHODAN was terrorizing players years before GLaDOS ever dangled the promise of cake. Where GLaDOS is busy running you through test chambers, SHODAN is colder and crueler, and she is far more interested in wiping out the human race.
SHODAN is the antagonist of System Shock 2, and right now the game’s 25th Anniversary Remaster costs nothing. The Epic Games Store is giving it away until 11:00 AM EST on Thursday, October 8. This is the game where Ken Levine learned how to scare people, and if you’ve never played it, you won’t find cheaper homework.
The roots of BioShock
Before he created BioShock, Levine got his start in post-apocalyptic horror on this project. System Shock 2 was developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios and launched in 1999. It earned its reputation as a classic through masterful storytelling and long stretches of pure dread.
There was a time when the game looked like it might fade into obscurity. Its future was uncertain after Looking Glass Studios closed. Nightdive Studios eventually took it on and released the remaster on June 26, 2025.
A dead crew and a ship gone wrong
The premise is about as grim as it gets. You wake from cryo sleep on the Von Braun, an FTL spaceship, and quickly realize something has gone terribly wrong. Your crew died long ago, and mutants and robots now roam the corridors your crewmates once walked.
Behind it all is SHODAN, the ship’s AI. She has gone rogue, seized control of the vessel and concluded that humanity has to be eradicated. Stopping her falls to you.
The game is a first-person psychological horror title, and supplies are scarce enough that it often gets called a survival shooter. You’ll feel the weight of every bullet you fire.
What the remaster improves
The remaster updates the 1999 original to modern standards. It brings better performance and optimized controller support, along with upgraded visuals for characters, weapons and environments and reworked animations.
It also takes advantage of current hardware. The game now runs at up to 144 fps and supports ultra-widescreen displays, so it no longer looks like it’s coming through an old CRT in your parents’ basement.
Nightdive added 50 achievements too, which give you a challenge or simply a new reason to come back to an old favorite. Mod support has also improved. That matters, because modders have kept this game alive for more than two dozen years.
Survive it with up to three friends
The biggest addition is a rebuilt cross-play co-op multiplayer mode. As many as four players can work through the story together, fighting off mutants and robots and trying to stop SHODAN’s AI apocalypse before she gets her way.
Be aware that multiplayer was buggy when the remaster launched. Those issues have reportedly been fixed since then, and co-op is now in workable shape. (Dread is more fun with company. Mostly.)
Whether you’re a returning fan or a newcomer, this remaster is the best way to play System Shock 2. You can claim it for free on the Epic Games Store until Thursday, October 8 at 11:00 AM EST.
Once the deadline passes, SHODAN starts charging admission again.