Shadowrun Returns - Initial Thoughts

About the Game (From the Steam Store Page)

MAN MEETS MAGIC & MACHINE. The year is 2054. Magic has returned to the world, awakening powerful creatures of myth and legend. Technology merges with flesh and consciousness. Elves, trolls, orks and dwarves walk among us, while ruthless corporations bleed the world dry. You are a shadowrunner - a mercenary living on the fringes of society, in the shadows of massive corporate arcologies, surviving day-by-day on skill and instinct alone. When the powerful or the desperate need a job done, you get it done... by any means necessary.

In the urban sprawl of the Seattle metroplex, the search for a mysterious killer sets you on a trail that leads from the darkest slums to the city’s most powerful megacorps. You will need to tread carefully, enlist the aid of other runners, and master powerful forces of technology and magic in order to emerge from the shadows of Seattle unscathed.

The unique cyberpunk-meets-fantasy world of Shadowrun has gained a huge cult following since its creation nearly 25 years ago. Now, creator Jordan Weisman returns to the world of Shadowrun, modernizing this classic game setting as a single player, turn-based tactical RPG.

Previous Playtime

14 hours

What Was I Thinking When I Bought This

This is one of those games I bought at full price, back before I started the blog. It was not something I thought long and hard about. I like crpgs and I like the Shadowrun tabletop game, so when I saw it, I thought "wow, this is something that I'd like to own."

Hey, not every game in my collection has a story attached to it.

Expectations and Prior Experience

I've already played through the main campaign. I enjoyed it, though in retrospect, my choice of a physical adept character might not have been the right one - Shadowrun has mages and cybernetics and all sorts of guns, so a character who hits things with a sword may have wound up closing off too much of the game's content. Luckily, I now have the ability to rectify that.

I remember the general outline of the plot from my previous playthrough, so I doubt anything will greatly surprise me, but on the other hand, that also means that I'm not expecting any unpleasant surprises.

Getting through the whole thing only took me 14 hours last time, and it'll probably be even less this time. I have the Dragonfall DLC, but seeing as how that got changed into a separate "Director's Cut" program, I'll probably try and play some of the Steam Workshop missions.  It'll be interesting to see what people have done with the level editor.

All-in-all, I anticipate having a pretty easy time with this game.