How to enable respawn
If you played Bioshock or either of its sequels, you’re probably familiar with the concept of Vita Chambers. Essentially, when you die, you respawn at the closest one without penalty. In System Shock, there’s a similar system in the form of Restoration Bays. However, you’ll notice that when you die at the start of the game, you’ll simply see a Game Over screen and need to reload your last save.
The reason for this is that the hostile AI that has Citadel Station in its grasp, SHODAN, has changed the Restoration Bays into Cyborg Conversion Chambers. If you want to respawn as normal, you’re going to need to reverse SHODAN’s modifications. It’s not difficult, but there are things to keep in mind, and we’re here to help you with that.
First things first
Shutting down the Cyborg Conversion Chambers should be one of your biggest priorities upon reaching a new floor. System Shock is pretty sparing with its autosave. If you have a momentary lapse in muscle memory and forget to continually jam on the quicksave button (F5 by default), you’re going to appreciate being spared from losing progress.
On the first floor, the medical facility you start out in is located on the Northwest section of the floor, directly North of where you start. It’s never a straight trip in System Shock, but I’ll provide a map of where you should be looking. You’ll know you’re near it, as the doors in the hall it’s located in aren’t like the normal steel shutters. Instead, they’ll be forcefields crossed with a metal “X.” Cyborg Conversion Chamber door is on the West side of the hallway. You’ll know you found the right one because, on the opposite side of the door, you’ll see a sign that reads “Cargo Lift.”
How to activate Restoration Bays
Once you clear the cyborgs out of the room, you’ll see the Cyborg Conversion Chamber. It is a force field crossed with two lasers on the East wall of the room. To change it back into a Restoration Bay, you’ll need to throw the switch that is on the panel directly to the left of it.
The process is largely the same on every other floor. Your first order of business will be to find the Cyborg Conversion Chambers (usually located behind green doors with a medical label on them). You always just need to throw a switch, and the switch is normally very near the chamber itself.
Once you do this, you’ll respawn at that Restoration Bay whenever you die with no penalty. However, there are exceptions to this. For example, if you die in a boss battle, you’ll hit a Game Over screen rather than respawn. Shutting down the Cyborg Conversion Chambers is a great way to avoid losing progress, but it’s no substitute for mashing the quicksave button.
