Starshock demo teases a chunky indie shooter in the style of System Shock 1, Doom

If you like the old id Software games and you can play the original System Shock without vomiting pixels, you're going to want to check out Starshock . It's an indie first-person shooter that's "about 95% done", and with only 7% left to go - why yes I was bottom of maths at school, why do you ask? - developer Quarry has uploaded a demo for the entire world to try. It offers three levels of claustrophobic shooting, terminal-reading and pixel-deciphering action, minus most of the sound effects (those must be part of the remaining 12%).

Starshock's chunky, jagged look is sure to be divisive, but I think it looks rather lovely (the well-defined colour palette helps). If you're tempted to give the demo a try, don't let the near-immediate onslaught of enemies put you off, as they're relatively easy to defeat with the sword (press 3). From the demo, this seems like a more action-focused take on the original System Shock, which is no bad thing. Starshock is out soon - head over to the game's TIGSource devlog for further Starshocking developments.

Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.