I love sci-fi horror movies that take place on ships like Event Horizon, Pandorum, Sunshine, and the episodes of Firefly with Reavers, but I've never heard much about System Shock 2 outside of GoG's incredible demand for it. Does anybody know how its atmosphere and horror compares to those movies?

it's like the giant Australian earthworm crawling up your rear while holding a frozen pipe with your throat completely dry and a giant tarantula spider dancing behind your neck.

go get it.

Honestly, if you played some of the games in the recent years, the horror aspect is quite flat... there are many "tricks" that, when SS2 first came out, were quite intriguing, but now that they've been used over and over in Doom3, Dead Space, F.e.a.r etc... they kind of lost their freshness.

This does not diminish too much the quality of the game, which is still great, but i'm sure it won't have the same effect it did when SS2 shipped 15 years ago

it still holds up really good and system shock kinda horror is my favorite horror because it plays with your mind and finding out what happen on that station keeps you going. and i love the concept with the cyborgs in the game like some still yells KILL ME and FORGIVE ME when they attack you

It have the haunted spaceship feel of Event Horizon, but you feel much more alone than the crew of both Event Horizon or Sunshine. Also expect some good company like the reavers.

The ship is very detailed and "realistic" designed, it even have a cultivation area like Sunshine.

To tell you the truth, System Shock 2 is the only horror game that I find good apart form the Penumbra/Amnesia series. The complexity of the character customization and the scarcity of resources also helps you panic sometimes :)

I fondly remember playing it alone at night

The horror in System Shock 2 is incredibly good and immersive - some games tried to match its level of mental terror but every single one failed to do that in my opinion. And these are not memories of my youth - i've replayed it not so long ago and i'm still impressed of the ideas implemented in this one-of-its-kind masterpiece. There will be no game in predictable future that could be compared to System Shock 2. Thank you GOG, thaaank you, this is the best release of 2013. Now - with all due respect - i have to go, and you all know why :D

The films you listed are a pretty good indicator that you will love this game. The horror elements are very well done, and run the spectrum from purely psychological to "Oh shit! Ruuuun!"

It's a terrifying game with one of the best uses of atmosphere in the genre. The Von Braun will stick around in your mind for a long time after you play the game.

Well, I found that the horror kept up well even when playing co-op. That isn't something I can say about any other game I've ever played.

There is no safety in numbers, there's just more people to scream.

Thanks for the information, everyone. Sounds like I'm getting System Shock 2.

This game scared the pants off of me when I first played it. Even though graphics are a bit aged now (still good though), the scare factor is still there for me. Brilliant game though, still one of my all time favourites.

What made SS2 frightening for me (if I'm remembering correctly) was relying mostly on the crowbar for most of the game because of weapon breakage and the shortage of ammo.

Downloading now, will find out soon if I'm remembering correctly.

Neil.

it's a wrench, not crowbar.

It's good.