The Hacker was contacted by a TriOptimum Marketing VP, Edward Diego, who offered him a deal - he will help Diego reprogram SHODAN, the AI in control of TriOptimum's Citadel Station. TriOptimum security forces quickly tracked down and apprehend him. On April 7 th, 2072, a Hacker broke into the network of the TriOptimum Corporation and tried to access their confidential files. The Hacker, accessing the TriOptimum Network. There was also a limited-edition big box re-release special edition and vinyl record that were announced in September 2019 and came out in October 2019. The game got an enhanced port in the form of System Shock: Enhanced Edition and System Shock: Classic on September 22nd, 2015, and later a remake announced in November 2015 and released in May 2023. The game received a port on DOS, PC, and Mac with the developers later regretting the DOS port due to the limitations of no voice acting. However, despite the praise, the game's sales were deemed underwhelming by the developers. Today it is considered a cult classic, and many have gone as far as to call it a masterpiece.

It was also praised for its incredible storytelling and atmosphere, both of which would be influential to many games later on, such as BioShock, Dead Space and Singularity. It was revolutionary, being one of the first first-person experiences ever to creating true 3D environments, allowing players to look up and down, jump, lean, crouch, etc. System Shock was a critical success and considered far ahead of its time. It was followed up in 1999 by System Shock 2. System Shock was the first game in the System Shock series, developed by LookingGlass Technologies (later to be called Looking Glass Studios), produced by Origin Systems and released on September 23rd, 1994.

System shock 1 title screen