The smartest take on the formula can be found in the overlooked BioShock 2, where the code appears in the fogged-up window of a locked sauna, as if somebody had pressed their finger against the glass pane in a desperate plea for escape. Given BioShock’s close association with System Shock via Irrational Games, it’s no surprise that 0451 should crop up multiple times over the course of the series. But the connection suits Deus Ex, which has a powerful political bent. He put together the Liberty Island map, and later worked on both Dishonored and Redfall.Īlumni from Looking Glass and Ion Storm are divided on whether the code references Fahrenheit 451, the 1953 dystopian novel about an American bookburner in a censorious society. Funnily enough, before joining Ion Storm, lead designer Harvey Smith worked in satellite communications for the US air force. Tucked away behind the helipad of UNATCO headquarters on Liberty Island – the scene of Deus Ex’s first terrorist standoff – is a comms van with a satellite dish, made accessible via the famous code. Ion Storm Austin’s beloved spy story arrived half a decade after System Shock, yet was many players’ first introduction to the four digits that would shape a genre. We’ve collated some of the most inventive and memorable below, and won’t even ask you to crack a combination lock to see ‘em. Redfall is the latest to pay homage, but follows nearly 30 years of riffs and twists on the code that first allowed you access to Citadel space station’s healing suite. The legendary developer secreted the door code to its office into the first level of System Shock – and ever since, the numbers 0451 have become a calling card for those who share Looking Glass’s immersive sim values studios that tap into System Shock’s deep worldbuilding, dense level design, and reactive simulation. If Looking Glass Studios had survived until this day, its premises would be the least secure in the US games industry.
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