So, this board game is bonkers. I enjoy playing it with my friend because of how wacky it is. If you're looking for a "good" board game, this isn't it. If you're interested in playing something silly, then this is the board game for you. This adaptation is very good. It takes care of all the rules for you, and lets you just enjoy playing. There's options for "house rules", to change up the ending conditions, and various other tweaks to gameplay. (I highly recommend turning on the one that prevents characters from healing once you get the crown of command.) However, there are some problems. The UI lags a bit, and sometimes it isn't clear what you're doing. You can "queue" up spell cards to automatically activate the next time they're capable of being played (such as at the beginning of a character's turn), but if it triggers at the wrong time by accident (say, at the beginning of the wrong character's turn) there's no way to undo it. It would be great if it would ask for confirmation at the appropriate time before being played. Also, sometimes the AI will get stuck. For example, in my last game, one of the AI players got stuck moving back and forth between the same two squares until the game ended. As others have mentioned, there's tons of DLC. I don't mind so much, because if you were playing the IRL board game, you'd have to buy the expansions separately. It's inconvenient that there's not a "complete edition" or something, and the price is a bit steep for what you get, but I don't mind waiting for a sale. Overall, this is a flawed game, but I enjoy it immensely anyway. I got it on sale, and am very happy that I did. Don't take it too seriously, and play with friends who also don't take it too seriously.
Great story, immersive atmosphere, unique insight into psychosis, and all that... I was surprised, however, with how much I liked the combat. It was fluid, responsive, and fun! All around great game.
I loved Season 1, and was super excited to play Season 2. I was very disappointed. There was a noticeable drop in the quality of writing. Whereas Season 1 was complex and poignant, Season 2 was just confused and frustrating. Season 1 could be quite upsetting, but always seemed to have a narrative purpose; Season 2 was just arbitrarily terrible all the time. That said, I still played the entire thing, and would probably at least try a Season 3 (albeit with quite a bit of trepidation, and in the hope that it would make up for season 2).
I couldn't play Shadowrun Returns because it was broken. My friend bought Dragonfall for me because he said that they had fixed everything. I disagree. I tried really hard to like this game. I ignored as many problems as I possibly could. I put hours into this game, and had a lot of fun with the story. I just can't do it any more. Here are some of the problems I've encountered: - Cannot hack a computer despite bringing a decker with me for that purpose (most times you can tell your decker to hack it, but sometimes that option is missing) - Can purchase two hydraulic jacks, but activating one activates the other without even giving you the benefits of both - Cannot rotate the camera or easily tell the line of sight, so sometimes my sniper can't shoot someone or my mage can't cast a spell even though it looks like nothing is in the way - Loading a save takes at least 5 minutes, even though I have an SSD; wouldn't be too much of an issue, but I have to do it a lot (see next point) - On a stealth mission, there's no way to tell your teammates to stay put, so they lag behind you and get caught by patrolling guards; again, could be manageable if they at least kept up, but the following algorithm is broken, so sometimes they will stand still until you get to your destination before following - Stat bonuses from items don't help you pass challenges in dialogs; for example, the option requiring 5 Willpower was greyed out despite me having 5 Willpower from my cyberware and drugs After spending hours upon hours on reloading and fighting against this game, I'm just done. I love the Shadowrun setting, and there's a lot of good ideas and story in this game series, but it's shoddy work. In addition to the bugs, the usability and design of this game is just bad. Honestly, Returns was at best an alpha, and Dragonfall should barely qualify as a beta release. I feel cheated, and I didn't even spend any money on it.
I had a great time with this game! It was chill, nostalgic, and I was into the story. I was spooked at times, and I had fun discovering all the clues. It wasn't exciting. There wasn't much in the way of gameplay. The story was interesting, but not unique or riveting. I can easily see why some people don't like it. If you think you might enjoy a relaxing, weird, alternative gaming experience, then I'd very strongly recommend it. If you are bored easily, don't care about normal stories about normal people, or want a challenging gaming experience, then by all means pass this by.
