"System Shock" has inspired countless games, from immersive sim games like "Deus Ex" to direct spiritual successors like "BioShock". Even "Dead Space" was initially conceived as "System Shock 3. But new reports suggest that System Shock's origins are stranger than one might imagine.

The report, published by Rock Paper Shotgun, tells the story of the game's birth through the voices of the game's developers. And in his recollection, designer Austin Grossman states that the initial inspiration for the game was none other than Sonic the Hedgehog.

"The first time I heard about the System Shock project was when someone said, 'Yeah, we're going to do Sonic the Hedgehog. ' That was the initial concept. I don't know whose concept it was or why it sounded like a super good idea to them." [Warren Spector, the game's executive producer, has a hard time recalling it. 'I have no recollection of that at all. I don't even know if I look back. It's bizarre."

Grossman explained that the idea eventually "disappeared," at which point the more familiar cyberpunk premise of System Shock took over. Everyone was watching Ridley Scott movies, and I was a big William Gibson fan. After the pretentiousness and forced whimsy of the Ultima series, I wanted something dirty, messy, and futuristic for a while."

The report unearths some other interesting facts about the origins of System Shock. For example, Grossman is credited with the idea of telling a story in an audiolog, and programmer Rob Fermier states that he "had a desire to make the mechanics a bit more diegetic." Grossman cites the game "Pool of Radiance" and the scene in "The Lord of the Rings" where Gandalf reads the record of the Dwarves' destruction in Moria as inspirations for the audiolog idea. It was also revealed that one of the alternative titles for "System Shock" was "BIOSfear".

The story behind the creation of System Shock can be read here. It is a fascinating companion piece to the recently released "System Shock" remake and does a great job of modernizing the game without compromising the original design. As Joshua's review states, "I can confidently say that this is the definitive way to play "System Shock" in 2023 and beyond."