System Shock, a groundbreaking game that has influenced numerous titles in the gaming industry, had an unexpectedly strange origin. According to a report by Rock Paper Shotgun, the initial pitch for System Shock was to create a game akin to “Sonic the Hedgehog in space.”
Designer Austin Grossman recalls, “The first reference I heard to the System Shock project was somebody saying ‘Oh yeah, we’re gonna do Sonic the Hedgehog, but it’s in space.’ That was the original concept. I don’t know whose concept that was, or why that sounded like a super good idea to them.”
This peculiar revelation surprises even the game’s executive producer, Warren Spector, who struggles to recall such an idea, stating, “I have no memory of that at all. Even looking back, I don’t see it. Weird.”
However, Grossman explains that this concept eventually faded away, giving rise to System Shock’s more familiar cyberpunk setting. Grossman shares, “After all of the pretension and forced whimsy of the Ultima franchise, we just wanted things to be dirty and messy and futuristic for a while.”
The report also uncovers other intriguing details about System Shock’s origins. Grossman is credited with the idea of using audio logs to tell the game’s story, inspired by games like Pool of Radiance and scenes from The Fellowship of the Ring. Additionally, it reveals that one of the alternative titles considered for System Shock was BIOSfear, a play on words combining “computer BIOS” and “biosphere.”
For fans of the game, the report serves as a fascinating companion piece to the recently released System Shock remake, which successfully modernizes the original game while staying true to its core design.
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Source: Rock Paper Shotgun
