Over time its legacy has grown, explicitly influencing games like the aforementioned BioShock and Dead Space, but also Dishonored, Prey, and Deathloop. Originally developed by Looking Glass Studios, it was a moderate hit at the time, but not explosively popular like its contemporary Doom. īefore I was deeply entrenched in the world of video games as a critic and a journalist, I knew about System Shock, but it wasn’t possible for me to play it. If you want curated lists of our favorite media, check out What to Play and What to Watch. When we award the Polygon Recommends badge, it’s because we believe the recipient is uniquely thought-provoking, entertaining, inventive, or fun - and worth fitting into your schedule. Therefore, it's often found in alcoves or other concealed areas.Ī more powerful variety, the Greater Psi Reaver, also exists.Polygon Recommends is our way of endorsing our favorite games, movies, TV shows, comics, tabletop books, and entertainment experiences.

The brain is defenseless and cannot move. The Psi Reaver’s brain is physically separate from the “body” - the “body” is a psychic projection of the Psi Reaver’s will. As psychic beings, they are capable of flotation, which is their primary means of movement. A small fleshy sack hangs behind this stalk, and a pair of green eyes sit at the creatures sides. They are squid-like, vaguely jellyfish in appearance, with four tentacle-like appendages dangling from their bulbous flesh-tone body, with a fifth less-developed one in the back, as well as a short eyestalk ending in a green eye. The Psi Reaver projection lacks any humanoid features whatsoever. In order to permanently kill a Psi Reaver, the player must locate and destroy its vulnerable brain stem. Killing only the Psi Reaver’s floating “body” is a temporary measure - when destroyed, this projection will reappear after 30 seconds. Psi Reavers float through the air, mostly keeping their distance from the player, as the rely on ranged psychic attacks. Psi Reavers are psychic beings and the most advanced and metabolically expensive forms for the Many to produce. These structures project powerful floating Psionic forms. The remains from this process form a structure of nerves and bone, which resemble a brain and spinal column.

When an Annelid Hybrid has mutated enough, its physical body is absorbed by the Many’s biomass. The Psi Reaver represents a final stage in the Annelid’s parasitic life cycle.

The many system shock