Shadowrun Returns

Burntout on turn based CRPG types, but it was this IP's odd mixture of magic and future tech that peaked my interest. Lots of cool concepts with very accessible gameplay. A good introductory game for those new to the genre and those who have been away from the genre for a very long time.

It is not a bad game. It is not a very good one either. Graphics: They are nice and have a very nice aesthetic. They do their job nice, delivering a feeling of a cyberpunk, fantasy, magic world. Unfortunately this world feels empty and without a soul. I would like to see better magical and weapon effects too. They look simple, uninteresting, without any serious impact when they hit. Sound: Nice music but repetitive. Once again, the audio effects are on par with the visuals: simple and uninteresting. Controls: You use the mouse to move the cursor. Story: Interesting. With a small twist. What seems like a simple job at the beginning, all of a sudden you save the world. Could be expanded more. Not bad on average. The whole "hacking" thing falls flat on its face though, it was a missed opportunity there. In conclusion: It's a small game (10-15 hours depending on how you play), a nice effort but it feels a bit rushed or unfinished. It's the result of a small team with a small budget I guess. Certainly worth getting on a discount.

Some people complain about the linearity of the game. It's true the game is linear, but I don't really mind linearity as long as the story is good enough. And it's well beyond good enough here. It's really fun to design and level up your character. There are many dialog options and actions based on your character's attributes which really help to cement the feel of immersion, that you really are this character and not just an excel sheet of attributes and statistics. Strategic combat is deep and engaging. -Cons: It's part of the story that you can hire henchmen to go with you on missions. It would have been great if it were possible to create custom henchmen(Like in Divinity Original Sin) instead of only picking the ones that are on offer. However, I'm pretty sure that custom henchmen would break the balance of the game.

I've had the game in my library for ages before I finally gave it a shot. Better late than never I guess. I enjoyed my time in a Cyberpunk version of Seattle. Great atmosphere, gripping story, plenty of customization options and interesting and (for the most part) likable characters. There are only a few minor hiccups as to why I didn't give it five stars: the slight lack of variety in the soundtrack (especially the music during the combat can get annoying if you take your time), the Matrix bits were a little tedious and I do miss voice-over, at least for the major characters. Still, all in all, I had a memorable 20 hr journey through an immersive Sci-Fi/Noir story. Now on to Dragonfall and Hong Kong...

I may say I am quite satisfied after my first turn of gameplay. It took me around fifteen hours to walk throughout the story. English isn't my native language, so I had a couple problems with well-understand whole text. I mean about as describtions as dialogues too. I cannot fully give feedback of game's content, I guess but basicly The Shadowrun is a simple game. My first feelings about gameplay was quite average, because there was too much text and too less action at the beginning (that's for me). After a few quest the gameplay's rising and the story seems to looks like sensable. Mid and endgame is addictive. I'd say the story has couple of twists and isn't linear. The Shadowrun Returns has a decent mechanic of develope character and there's a few kinds of races to pick. It's good start with cRPG games, I would say. In my opinion the game gives a well-expenrience with solid gameplay. It has everyting what should have a game like that. A story? Check. A turn-based fights? Check. A couple of character to play? Check. A character tree development? Check. Some of us could say "yeah, yeah... but it's not enough, not that cool and so on". Then I think it's a decent entertiemant, maybe not on a big Scale, but pretty well for starting.