Shadowrun Hong Kong - Extended Edition

Overall, mechanically the game is almost the same as SR: Dragonfall, with a couple of improvements: - Bioware affinity skill under Body, and Cybernetic Weapon implant slot, with several cybernetic weapons, including a great, short-range (not close combat), filament whip. - A much better decking/matrix implemention. Now, in absence of black IC (homing, aggressive defensive software), it is a simple stealth game, where you avoid, in real-time, white IC following fixed routes. Only when spotted, turn-based combat, like in previous games, starts. This is a huge improvement. - Etiquettes and Charisma have a larger role, and the outcomes of several early runs affect how the final run plays (although not its final result). Sadly, the story is a bit more of a fantasy cliche. It serves its purpose and doesn't venture into camp/cringe/pastiche territory, but is totally predictable. Fortunately, your fellow runners are, if anything, more interesting than in Dragonfall, and have 'companion quests' as cool as Glory's in the previous game. The overall plot is more fantastical than in the previous games, it's harder to ignore the fantasy aspect of the game. If you liked Dragonfall for the mechanics, you'll enjoy this one, too. It does a good job of scratching the itch for a party-based, tactical cyberpunk pseudo-stealth RPG, that few, if any other games do, but stands out neither as a turn-based cover squad shooter, nor an RPG, if you ignore the setting.

devellopers received a lot of money for this third game, they said there will be a system with reputation, and plenty of newly stuff compared to Shadowrun Dragonfall. the game is short, really short, like Returns, and the scenario construction is EXACTLY the same that Dragonfall, meaning there are almost no improvment. the game is still good, but it is really disapointing after what they (the devs) said.

Don't let 3 stars fool you. I would rate it as 3.5 if I could, which is well worth playing. Perhaps I subconsciously rounded down due to the high rating. I like all the HBS SR games, but I see much room for improvement. On a mechanical level SR is just as good as ever. I have a few axes to grind with the ruleset adaptation, but those issues don't really get in the way of the fun, especially if you make a point to avoid builds that are disappointing in the CRPG version. The combat can be described as an XCom-like take on the turn based RPG, which is a great direction imo and very enjoyable. The setting is another high point. HBS does a great job of painting the more colorful fantasy take on dystopian scifi. The art, NPCs, and music all pull me. The main story for the core game is a bit simplistic but is still satisfying when taken with all the mission and character side plots. I would personally like to see more realistic and detailed art design, but it's still beautiful and detailed aesthetic.. enough for an isometric view. SR:HK falls short primarily with the overall structure that threads the content together. Once upon a time we had CRPGs that let you wander and discover, but for a while the genre seemed stuck in hubs and single visit zones. In a world where several open world games come out every year, it would be wonderful to see SR follow suit. SR:HK has taken some strides toward a less linear model by adding more choice in mission selection and order, but it's not far enough imo. As a result, I felt more like an observer of the world than a character within it. One final note, you might consider stopping after the main Hong Kong story line if you've had your fill of the mechanics. No spoilers, but the extended missions serve as a less than fulfilling epilogue to the far more interesting whole game that precedes it. Do yourself a favor.. save the extension for after you've fully digested the main game and come back craving one more mission.

... but sadly, it lags far behind. I ended up uninstalling shortly after the first set of main missions. What could be an excellent game and lovely successor to the previous installments feels empty and incomplete, especially considering years have gone by since release. The various bugs and QoL issues have not been addressed, most glaringly the UI: There are only a tiny handful of hotkeys, none of which are remappable. But for most of the actions you need to do (e.g. selecting an action, selecting a dialog option) you must simply point and click, no keyboard shortcuts. I've seen better UIs from the 1990s. Most of the time, you will be staring at a small portion of the screen on the right, reading small yellow text, none of which (0%) is voiced. Then you will click on either a small ellipsis ("...") to continue reading or select a dialog option. The writing is decent, but not nearly as excellent as I was let to believe (standard cyberpunk tropes and clichés). The combat gets repetitive fast, being not nearly as varied or interesting as other tactical grid-based games (e.g. XCOM, Marvel, etc.). The world environments feel empty and forlorn, the only things you can interact with are the stock characters (who stand around waiting for you to trigger their dialogue options) or pieces of money lying on the ground, highlighted for your convenience. I was greatly dissapointed.

solid game, great shadowrun setting, great campaign. turn based gameplay at its best