There is gameplay actually, but it is more of an adventure game where you are trying to solve environmental puzzles than an action shooter. Action shooters were

There is gameplay actually, but it is more of an adventure game where you are trying to solve environmental puzzles than an action shooter. Action shooters were incredibly popular at the time and anything remotely first person with realtime 3D graphics had the expectation to be one, so that also played a role (remember that even System Shock released earlier was often criticized for essentially not being a Doom clone). These days there are more games that have similar gameplay where you are trying to solve puzzles with physics and i'm certain a remake of Trespasser that was mostly the same but with more robust subsystems would play great. The main issue was really that the subsystems that the gameplay relied on were very janky - physics kinda worked (though they worked much better than what the article seems to imply), player control was wonky, IK/animations often spazzed out, etc.