Shadowrun Hong Kong - Extended Edition

Awesome game. No regrets picking this one up!

Its great if you can enjoy the writing, the art work, and the challenge. It's wonderfully written and the art work is amazing, especially the other Shadowrun games.

In Dragonfall there were lots less spellcaster enemies so you might not notice, but in HK there are tons more so more likely would find cover does nothing for players. It blocks flank/critical shots for enemies but not players, and this include the ki protective spells. You'll miss more 99% than you miss 95% hits in battle brothers. It revamps tabletop rules so it feels like enemies get free Edge on them so they do better. With console command you can start with maximum agi elf character and first tutorial fight mobs would still hit him 1/3 of times. It also changes morale system of tabletop, where enemies flee dependent on their rank. Here enemies are all fearless rookies, fearless street s__m, etc.

I keep going back to play it time and again.

What sets this game apart are the DETAILs, the authentic cultural and linguistic details married to the original flavor of the trademarked Shadowrun genre. There is enormous side flavor detailing that you really ought to read to get the full enjoyment of this HBS offering. Everything from Shadoweb poetry contests to job ad chitchat and hilarious banter. Every character has a different personality and some real depth. Even shopkeepers are memorable folk in this story. There are some REALLY tough challenges. Stealth was NOT my forte. Though I played a Decker, WHAMBAM was more my style most of the time. Stealth taked more skill and offers more rewards. There is more than one path forward, but the story is mostly linear. I think it might be good for 2-3 playthoughs, unlike BG & BG2 which can be played multiple times with slightly differing paths. What sets this story apart is it's flavor. HBS did an incredible job giving the feel of a gritty underworld game without forcing players into too much dirtiness. If there was any room for improvement, I would slow down the Karma point awards, offer more job options and vary the banter based upon the chosen background (from a few options) and skill set of the player character. All in all, I found this game thoroughly delightful, challenging and tense sometimes but mostly just plain like doing a deep immersion in a series of really well-written science fiction books where you get to change some elements of the story as you read it.