2014's Alien: Isolation, unhindered by its hardware, is constantly reminding you of your place in the universe through large windows and skylights, and is all the more powerful for it. This is probably due to the technical limitations that the developers faced back in 1999.

Surprisingly, instances where you can actually look out and see space in System Shock 2 are pretty few and far between. The colored sky you saw back on Earth couldn't feel further away. It instantly sets things up as dangerous and unpredictable-after all, there's only a thin layer between you and a breathless vacuum. As you awaken from your cryo-chamber aboard the Von Braun, a damaged radar dish careens into a window, causing the cabin to depressurize. The second scene hits immediately after the tutorial and serves to contrast the two environments. It's important that the game begins planet-side, as although the sequence is brief, you catch a glimpse of both a cityscape and the open sky above. The tutorial takes place at a training center on Earth. Two scenes come to mind when I think about how it effectively establishes the game's setting. System Shock 2 wouldn't be the same without its great, inky backdrop. The idea of outer space-a lifeless vacuum where humans don't naturally belong-is a pretty unsettling one. You were stuck on the Von Braun-a great hulk of metal aimlessly drifting in the void with neither a captain nor a pilot. There were no ellipses between levels for you to catch your breath, and there was no escaping the star ship or the corrupting forces on board. Every segment of the Von Braun was believably structured, creating a really fascinating sense of place.

There was nothing arbitrary about these levels. It was a virtual tour that had you rummaging through Medical and Science labs, getting lost in Engineering and wandering the Recreational deck. While a lot about its narrative is borrowed from elsewhere, System Shock 2 was unique in allowing you to directly partake in the cosmic horror.

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