Walkthrough

We wrote this walkthrough using the version of the game dated 04/22/2014. We also used the "normal" difficulty.

The Extended Edition comes with two campaigns: the main campaign plus the bonus "Shadows of Hong Kong" campaign. The bonus campaign takes place after the main campaign. You'll need to import a save from the main campaign to play it.

When you're playing a mission, many of the skill and stat checks will depend on where you are in the campaign. The earlier you are, the easier the checks will be, and the later, the more difficult (so the checks will remain challenging regardless of where you are). Instead of trying to come up with a formula for this, or showing a range of possible values, we just used the check values we saw when we wrote the walkthrough. So if you play the missions in the same order that we did (which is the order listed in the right navbar), then you'll see the same values. Otherwise, the values may differ by a little or a lot, depending on the order you use.


Character Creation

You can complete the game playing any sort of character. Your companions will give you coverage over whatever things you can't do.

Every two points of Charisma will give you an etiquette. The two most useful etiquettes are Gang (for +1 karma in City of Darkness) and Security (for +2 karma in Bad Qi). For the most part, etiquettes will just give you extra ways of doing things, or provide you with extra information on a topic.

Still, the Charisma attribute is pretty useful, and it'll come up frequently when you talk to people in the campaign, so investing in it is a good idea. Plus, with enough Charisma, you can put 6 karma points into Spirit Summoning, which will advance you to rank 3 and give you a totem. Some totems, like Cobra (+1 damage, +5% to hit) are well worth the price. With Spirit Summoning 3, you can also buy a Spirit Fetish, which will give you +1 Charisma.


Gameplay

Smartlinked weapons have fewer range penalties than regular weapons, but the difference isn't enough to warrant their much higher price, or the need to be wearing a datajack.

The equipment of you companions will improve over the course of the campaign, so you shouldn't need to buy them much of anything. One exception is Gobbet. You might want to buy her Heal Wound II when she reaches Spellcasting 5.

Shopkeepers in Heoi will improve their stock at the same time that your companions advance to levels 3 and 5.

You won't find many healing supplies early in the game, so make sure your companions always have at least a trauma kit in their inventory.

There aren't any time limits in the game. Any mission you're given will wait patiently for you to complete it.


Matrix

In the Matrix, your "persona" will move around in real time while you're trying to dodge Watcher IC (Intrusion Countermeasures), but you'll switch to turn-based combat if you're detected, and you'll stay that way until you've defeated all of the IC who saw you. You'll gain System Trace during each round of combat, depending on what you're fighting. If you accumulate too much System Trace, then all of the Watcher IC will disappear, all Blocker IC will turn hostile, and White (and sometimes Black) IC will start hunting you.

Meanwhile, you'll only be allowed to use programs while in combat. That'll make it difficult to use Suppression, which has a cooldown of 6. Luckily, there's a trick. If you exit and re-enter the Matrix, then all of your cooldowns will reset. So you can fight Watcher IC and cast Suppression, then exit and re-enter the Matrix, and then repeat as necessary to keep your System Trace relatively low.