Shadowrun Returns Reviews

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Written by WorstUsernameEver on August 6th, 2013

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Shadowrun Returns aims to bring back the classic RPG feeling much like BioWare's Dragon Age did when it was released and succeeds wholeheartedly. It's not too deep, has a short main campaign, and has design flaws from being built around a tablet, but it's still the best RPG in ages. When it gets something right, it does so with a bang; when it gets something wrong, it's a minor inconvenience at best. As we get more and more user-created and developer-supported campaigns and content, Shadowrun Returns will likely morph from a (great) RPG into a (must buy) RPG. For now, enjoy the fantasy cyberpunk future, and try not to trip on too many hellhounds.

I hadn't touched a strategy game with any serious intent until Firaxis turned my world upside down with XCOM. Though Shadowrun Returns assumes too much about the player's prior knowledge about the universe and too often skimps over introducing key gameplay systems, getting over the hump is worth discovering the deeply gratifying strategy game within.

In short, chummer: this isn't the second coming, but it's not a bad way to spend £15. If you're on the fence or short of nuyen, though, I'd wait and see what the community's deckers comes up with.

Shadowrun Returns is an entertaining RPG that does a good job bringing the world of Shadowrun to life. Although its design weaknesses keep it from becoming an instant classic, the game as it is provides a great starting platform for future player-made content and official expansions. Hopefully Harebrained Schemes can find a way to smooth over some of the game's rough spots in future patches, giving it broader appeal. In the meantime, Shadowrun fans and RPG enthusiasts who loved the late-'90s isometric games from the likes of BioWare should definitely check it out.

While there are a few flaws in Shadowrun Returns, most notably linearity, the lack of a save function and a slightly under-utilized world, the excellent and consistently fun writing and XCOM-inspired combat make it a worthwhile experience. Even better as fun as it is the 15-odd-hour long campaign is not the end of Shadowrun Returns since the robust modding tools and encouragement from Harebrained Schemes near guarantee a steady flow of user content. It's not the greatest RPG ever but it is a damn fun one in an engrossing world, and if you hadn't backed Shadowrun Returns already it's well worth a punt and if you're still not sure, wait a few months and see if the game's Steam Workshop page has filled up with user-made goodies. Honestly though, if you just want to consider it a cyberpunk XCOM: Enemy Unknown with RPG elements that's fine too.

Shadowrun Returns offers an odd mixture of polish and rough edges, and that extends to the presentation. What's there looks beautiful: in an era when faux-retro, self-consciously pixellated stylings are in vogue, it's thrilling to see the crisply hi-res, sodium-lit Seattle you could only imagine playing the SNES game. But what isn't there, well, simply isn't there: there's dearth of unique animations and plenty of jarring scene transitions, and later environments feel rather stark. Shadowun Returns' modding community might overcome some of Dead Man's Switch's limitations, but it'll be working within the rest as it untangles the nuances of an editor that offers the full resource suite available to development staff at the cost of intimidating intricacy. But that's what Shadowrun Return provides, of course: it's not just a single tale of murder and techno-conspiracy. It's a ruleset and a tileset, and a promise of more to come.

It's well written though, and manages to introduce the various concepts without making any of them seem as silly as they initially sound. It's a qualified success then, but given how unlikely it was that it would ever get made at all fans should be happy things turned out that well. Considering I've never even been to a Butlins they've certainly done better at making their dreams come true than I ever have.

Shadowrun Returns' bang-to-buck ratio is largely going to depend on the quality of content that springs up from the devs and the community after release, but as it stands today, it's a mostly average RPG running in a visually underwhelming engine. Between the varied, challenging combat encounters and the somewhat above par (if barely interactive) plot, it's worth the 20ish hours it will take to complete. Like the life of a Shadowrunner, it drags in places and shines in others.

If you haven't picked up on it by now, all of those references to the 90s were a sly way of insinuating that Shadowrun Returns succeeds because, beyond its cyberpunk leanings, it's also a mash-up of many concepts born in that halcyon decade. It's very much of its time, but for many of us, its time was pretty great. Children of the 90s will adore its blatant homages to classic BioWare role-playing games and the general feeling of angsty, grunge-fueled cool. Younger generations may not appreciate it the same way, but for anyone with a closet full of flannel shirts and Sub Pop albums, Shadowrun Returns is like Arsenio Hall-flavored catnip.

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