One thing that I liked about the original system shock was that there was an option to turn down the combat without turning down the rest of the overall difficulty, so that you could play it as a puzzle\environmental RPG rather than a shooter.

Is that option still going to be available?

I'm looking for a more story based experience rather than a combat one.

It's already available in the 1.0 demo. :)

That's what I liked about the original System Shock as well, and that's what made the game so great - it was so customisable.
You could effectively play it as a puzzle adventure, 'blast everything that moves' shooter.

Sadly, with this new Nightdive version, plenty of monster attack you, even on the lowest combat setting.
You have to constantly keep an eye out for monsters approaching you, and trying to attack you. So you can't really play it as a story-based game anymore. Nightdive have ruined the game because of this.

I recommend you stick with the original game, that has proper, customisable options, and doesn't force you to play it as another shooter.