okay cool would you also like some crafting? a skill tree?? some factions to choose between??? a cover system and regenerating health???? online multiplayer????? some horse armour?????? you stupid fuck??????? shut up. fast travel in a fucking dungeon crawler immersive sim, listen to yourself. fuck you. go play Skyrim.

I can't believe that the (VERY DELIBERATE) lack of a fast travel system and the (VERY FUCKING DELIBERATE) quasi-voxel graphics are the most common complaints about SS'23. as much as I adore the game, there are definitely some criticisms to be made of it - the scrapping system is more tedious than it needs to be, the enemy AI is mostly pretty pathetic, there's still a lot of minor bugs, and (spoiler, highlight to read) the final boss fight sucks¹.

all of these very real problems with the game seem to just be swept aside because moronic capital-G Gamers and Game Journalists can't stomach the idea of a game being particularly unique in any way. they can't wrap their heads around such abstract, high-level concepts like "tone," "mood," "metaphor," or "artistic choice," content to parrot that tired fucking thought-terminating Reggie Fils-Aimé quote² as if it were the word of God, as if "fun" had an objective, concrete definition.

in conclusion, bomb your local Gamestop or something. idk

1. but I guess it wouldn't be a System Shock game without an abrupt and disappointing ending, eh?

2. "If it's not fun, why bother?"