The RPG mechanics have issues, mostly with how you can mess up a character build early on. The inventory management is alright, lots of choices to make about what to carry. There's very little repeated ideas moment to moment and the game still ends up being quite large. The level design is tight while still allowing you to get lost, which is a hard balance to strike. The Van Braun is huge and you always feel like you can walk from one end of the ship to the other. Gameplay is still mostly in that "immersive sim" quality. The effects and polish is still impressive decades later, even if it probably isn't mixed as well as it could be today. Industrial fans and motor hums can be heard in the backgrounds of audio logs from people on the engineering level. Mutants cry out in garbled screams of their former selves saying "run away" as their bodies come running at you. The UI also looks great, with lots of function that doesn't get in the way of it's cool aesthetics. In other words, the graphics are better here.
The Van Braun, in contrast, looks like a space station. Citadel station looked like a graphing calculator rendering of a wireframe hell. There's a focus on atmosphere through lighting and audio missing in it's predecessor. The shooting feels better, the audio logs are better acted, and the mission design is more streamlined. There *are* some issues with the RPG mechanics, but it's admirable the amount of systems they put into this game. And an overall more enjoyable experience, while still being challenging. System Shock 1 did this, but's it's more immersive here I think. Looking Glass Studios really didn't make any bad games huh? This one captures that immersive element of being stuck on a desolate space station while scavenging around for supplies and a path forward.
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