Shadowrun Returns Review
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My overall impression is that the project was really afraid to take any risks. It shows an almost metahuman level of control, a will to make smart business decisions: starting out small, avoiding feature creep, concentrating on essentials. All good advice to any startup indie game developer, I am sure. But as a result, when I think of words to describe this game, what comes to mind are words like solid, neat, groomed, polished, focused, controlled... ultimately: a little boring. It lacks passion. It's not the wild whacky fun that I remembered. To be clear: I don't consider Shadowrun Returns release campaign Dead man's switch a dud; it delivered 15-20 hours of linear story-driven fun (note: I am a slow player and including some reloads it took me over 25 hours, but most people seem to clock around 15 hours), good writing, solid RPG and combat mechanics. It is a short, limited, but polished game - on tablets it should even be a stand-out title in the RPG genre. It is not, however, a game that will really satisfy most hardcore CRPG fans. While the original campaign was certainly somewhat underwhelming to me in its excessive linearity, I on the other hand really appreciate that Harebrained made good on their Kickstarter promise of releasing a solid game editor. That is no small task, and not just a trivial little addition. That's a major project in itself. And the signs are good that we will get some fun content because of it.
I am still glad that Shadowrun has returned, and that finally there is a PC RPG based on the IP. Importantly, it comes with a tool for Gamemasters with hopefully more passion than Harebrained could muster for the initial release. I am optimistic we'll see fun stuff come out of the modding scene, or from future modules by harebrained. The recent delay of Harebrained Scheme's own Berlin DLC to allow for a more complex campaign is a good sign in that respect (although them planning an even shorter campaign initially isn't).
At the time of writing, a month after release, the game still holds a spot in the top 50 of the steam sales charts. So who knows, maybe it was wise for Harebrained Schemes to have played it safe and lived instead of crashing and burning in attempted glory like so many other RPG developers (R.I.P). But man, I still wish Shadowrun Returns would truly awaken: it needs to grow some tusks, horns, and hair on its chest, swell to twice the size and become a little meaner, if you know what I mean. Let the drek hit the fan, Harebrained! See you in Berlin, chummers.
