System Shock 2 cost to play

System Shock 2 is a first-person science-fiction horror game with role-playing elements, developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios and first released in 1999 on PC. Nightdive Studios put it on Steam on 10 May 2013. Since 10 October 2025 the 1999 version is no longer sold on its own on PC: it only comes as a pack-in with System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster, Nightdive's updated version released on Steam on 26 June 2025.

How it plays

System Shock 2 is a science-fiction horror game that Nightdive Studios describes as a mix of first-person shooter and role-playing game. The player wakes from a cryo-tube aboard the starship Von Braun with cybernetic implants grafted on and the crew slaughtered. Infected crew members roam the halls, and the rogue artificial intelligence SHODAN taunts the player while they try to unravel what happened to the ship.

The player chooses one of three branches of the military, each with its own skills, weapons and psionic powers. Skills can be upgraded to improve hacking, weapon handling and psionic abilities. Audio logs and research give an advantage in combat and unlock exotic weapons and items, and ghostly apparitions appear along the way.

Up to four players can play together in co-op, which works on Windows only.

What it costs

On Steam UK, System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster costs £23.99 at standard price, and buying it adds the original to your library. The original's own Steam page shows no price.

Players

The original's Steam page had a 30-day peak of 18 concurrent players on Steam Charts on 21 October 2026, and its all-time peak there is 2,265. The Remaster is a separate Steam app, so its players are counted separately, and console players aren't counted.

Age rating

pegi.info rates System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster PEGI 16 for violence and horror (Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5, 29/05/2026). We found no PEGI record for the 1999 original; its Steam page lists ESRB M and USK 16.

How we checked

Prices and availability are from the Steam UK pages for the original and the Remaster, read on 21 October 2026, at standard price; the end of standalone sales is from PowerUp Gaming's report of the Steam announcement. Player figures are from Steam Charts on the same day, and the rating from pegi.info. The gameplay description is based on the publisher's Steam store page.

It ranks #25 in our best games of all time ranking.

Card art and page images: screenshots from Nightdive Studios' System Shock 2 Steam store page. © Nightdive Studios. All trademarks belong to their owners. GamesChart is not endorsed by or affiliated with Nightdive Studios.