A recap of...
System Shock (2023 Video Game)
In the year 2072, an unnamed hacker is caught while attempting to access files concerning Citadel Station, a space station owned by the TriOptimum Corporation. The hacker is taken to Citadel Station and brought before Edward Diego, a TriOptimum executive. Diego offers to drop all charges against the hacker in exchange for a confidential hacking of SHODAN, the artificial intelligence that controls the station. Diego secretly plans to steal an experimental mutagenic virus being tested on Citadel Station and to sell it on the black market as a biological weapon. To entice cooperation, Diego promises the hacker a military-grade neural implant. After hacking SHODAN, removing the AI's ethical constraints, and handing control over to Diego, the hacker undergoes surgery for the implant and is put into a six-month healing coma. The hacker awakens from their[a] coma and finds that SHODAN has commandeered the station. All robots aboard have been reprogrammed for hostility, and the crew has been either mutated, transformed into cyborgs, or killed.
Rebecca Lansing, a TriOptimum counter-terrorism consultant, contacts the hacker and informs them that SHODAN plans to use Citadel Station's mining laser to attack Earth, destroying all major cities on the planet in a bid to establish herself as a god. Rebecca promises to destroy the records of the hacker's incriminating exchange with Diego if the strike is stopped. The hacker destroys the laser by firing it while the stations shields are raised. In response, SHODAN prepares to seed Earth with the mutagenic virus that Diego planned to steal. The hacker confronts Diego, who has been transformed into a powerful cyborg by SHODAN, and jettisons the chambers used to cultivate the virus. SHODAN then attempts to upload herself to Earth's computer networks, but the hacker prevents the download's completion by destroying the four antennas that SHODAN is using to send data.
Soon after, Rebecca contacts the hacker and says that TriOptimum has authorized the station's destruction. The hacker initiates the station's self-destruct sequence and flees to the escape pod bay. They defeat Diego again and then attempt to disembark. However, SHODAN prevents the pod from launching; seeking to trap the hacker aboard the station while the bridge containing SHODAN is jettisoned to a safe distance. Rebecca tells the hacker that they can still escape if they reach the bridge; SHODAN then intercepts and jams the transmission. After fighting Diego again and killing him, the hacker makes it to the bridge as it is released from the main station, which soon detonates. They are then contacted by a technician who managed to circumvent SHODAN's jamming signal. The technician informs them that SHODAN can only be defeated in cyberspace due to the powerful shields that protect its mainframe computers. Using a terminal near the mainframe, the hacker enters cyberspace and defeats SHODAN, restoring her to pre-hack state. After being rescued, the hacker receives an offer of employment from TriOptimum, but they decline in favor of continuing their life as a hacker.
Rebecca Lansing, a TriOptimum counter-terrorism consultant, contacts the hacker and informs them that SHODAN plans to use Citadel Station's mining laser to attack Earth, destroying all major cities on the planet in a bid to establish herself as a god. Rebecca promises to destroy the records of the hacker's incriminating exchange with Diego if the strike is stopped. The hacker destroys the laser by firing it while the stations shields are raised. In response, SHODAN prepares to seed Earth with the mutagenic virus that Diego planned to steal. The hacker confronts Diego, who has been transformed into a powerful cyborg by SHODAN, and jettisons the chambers used to cultivate the virus. SHODAN then attempts to upload herself to Earth's computer networks, but the hacker prevents the download's completion by destroying the four antennas that SHODAN is using to send data.
Soon after, Rebecca contacts the hacker and says that TriOptimum has authorized the station's destruction. The hacker initiates the station's self-destruct sequence and flees to the escape pod bay. They defeat Diego again and then attempt to disembark. However, SHODAN prevents the pod from launching; seeking to trap the hacker aboard the station while the bridge containing SHODAN is jettisoned to a safe distance. Rebecca tells the hacker that they can still escape if they reach the bridge; SHODAN then intercepts and jams the transmission. After fighting Diego again and killing him, the hacker makes it to the bridge as it is released from the main station, which soon detonates. They are then contacted by a technician who managed to circumvent SHODAN's jamming signal. The technician informs them that SHODAN can only be defeated in cyberspace due to the powerful shields that protect its mainframe computers. Using a terminal near the mainframe, the hacker enters cyberspace and defeats SHODAN, restoring her to pre-hack state. After being rescued, the hacker receives an offer of employment from TriOptimum, but they decline in favor of continuing their life as a hacker.
