Shadowrun Returns

Beautiful, hand painted backdrops in which you drop your character to experience the darkly neon Shadowrun. The combat is highly addictive with a huge amount of options. The adventure that comes with it, while very liner, is extremely well written. Seriously, some of the best writing I have ever seen in a computer game. Also, the content that has come out already from the editor is amazing. Ranging to tight storyline's to open setting exploration. You can guarantee countless hours of simple RPG fun. Save system could be better, but I have play much worse. And it will be fixed this Jan. In addition to another campaign with, expected, high quality writing. Defiantly a fun game. Especially for the price and no DRM.

It feels more like a tabletop rpg session than any other game, really. Great story. Yes, you kind of know it's on rails, but it feels so damn good -- like playing with a really good DM. And it's a great length. I don't always want another 60+ hour epic. This never overstayed its welcome. And I loved that it was a murder mystery. Felt very different. A lot of people like the expansion Dragonfall more, where they tried to do more (added a persistent team, a hub, etc.) but I liked it less... it felt like it was trying to be more, but the cracks showed more too. Still great fun, though! Can't beat the setting ^__^

To paraphrase my favorite movie review of all time, for the 1999 "The Mummy", I can't speak for (many) individual parts of the game, except that I had an absolute joy playing it. I came to this game from larger isometric experiences like Pillars of Eternity and Baldur's Gate, so after my first evening of play, about 4-ish hours in, I did have to sit back and adjust my expectations. Comparatively, it's linear and sparse, with not much side content (only 2 or 3 larger optional missions that have their own maps) and not many interactables onscreen--you can tell, they're all highlighted. Skill selection for characters is wide but shallow (I played a Mage, for context). I finished everything in about 12 hours, plus some load screen dithering when RL conversations happened. I still had an enormous amount of fun. I think they got the atmosphere perfect, and I do really like the art style. It being short comes out a net neutral, or even minor positive, as it means I have something that's easily repeatable when I want to try different things, or I want an isometric game for a bit but don't want to worry about the plots I left off on. The NPCs that aren't merely henchmen are memorable in a tropey, noir-ish way, and the combat was tactically interesting even though I played on Easy--I still died more than once on some of the tougher fights. I like the Etiquette system, though I think it's not evenly implemented here, as I saw far more Corporate and Security options than Academic or Socialite. I got this on sale; I don't know if I would've paid the full $15, but since it was on sale I did pick up the other 2 games in the series before I'd finished it. I will definitely play this again.

It is not. Ironically, Dragonfall was originally released as an expansion to this game, but, because it was a vastly superior campaign, it was later re-released as a stand-alone game. Play that first. Then SR: Hong Kong. If you still want more, this game has the same engine and mechanics, but feels much more generic in every aspect. You don't have a party, but assemble a team of mercenaries on a per-mission basis. Some missions may have either a mandatory member, or a heavily suggested one, but, otherwise, the relationship is purely professional - no dialogue, no backstories. Available archetypes play differently but have a negligible effect on dialogue or available options - with a proper background you can bypass some small fights, and that's it. The story, as every review states, is very linear and quite crazy. Saying it's badly written would be too harsh, but it certainly feels as if the concept was laid out by an enthusiast in their early teens, and offers nothing memorable. Pair that it was already an old-school, indie, low-budget title, targeting also mobile devices in 2012, and you get a properly vintage experience, and not in the 'cult-classic' sense. It's not that it aged badly: the gameplay is still solid. It simply aged, and did not distinguish itself to begin with. The only unique aspect - the strange fantasy cyberpunk combination - isn't particularly significant to the story, which could be easily rethemed to almost any setting, and still play the same.

Really disappointing for a game claiming RPG... The good : - Art is pretty decent - Combat system tactical - Didn't finish it, but decent story so far. The bad : - The lack of animations : everybody is static, nobody walking in the streets. Poor combat animations and general lack of variety. - 3 musical themes for the whole game, seriously ? - No voice-over, instantly killing the few immersion the story could have set. The ugly : - The RPG dimension lacking for the most part : no choice or action could be made to screw a quest, the player simply couldn't fail anything except dying in combat. - No meaningful dialogs to influence the outcome of quests and the game in general. - Horrendeous inventory management, you simply cannot reequip yourself when launched in a mission, and have to wait the return to "hub"... - ûber-assisted missions, you find everything very easily, simply kill the guys and click the icons to progress... To be short, a game that had been casualized to the extreme, without any "hardcore RPG" content, and pretty sad considering the work already done on similar (and less founded) projects, like Satellite Reign. You seek for a real tactical RPG with real choices and mass content ? Stick on Fallout 1&2, that's my advice. ;)