I never understood how/why Bioshock got that reputation besides for marketing. It's not a bad game, but putting it next to System Shock as a "spiritual success

I never understood how/why Bioshock got that reputation besides for marketing. It's not a bad game, but putting it next to System Shock as a "spiritual successor" only sets people up for wrong expectations which can ultimately lead to a lot of disappointment. Imho the immersive sim and RPG elements in Bioshock are very minor parts of the game compared to System Shock, Bioshock doesn't even have an inventory. Personally that really soured my experience with Bioshock, I was expecting something like System Shock, yet ended up getting a FPS game that was rather "of it's time" mechanics wise, which I was a bit tired off at that point.