Shadowrun - Returns, Dragonfall and Hong Kong

I’ve gotten into Shadowrun lately and besides the buggy shit it can sometimes be it’s actually a good game.
The bugs seem pretty random to me, most of the time I don’t encounter them but when I do they stick around like that creepy guy on your porch who spends his time staring at the security camera making you wonder who’s watching who. And then it’s all back to normal


Shadowrun is a turn-based RPG which is set in setting where Magical beings such as Elves, Orks, Trolls etc. live in “harmony” on earth in a technologically advanced future, it also incorporates some neo-noir elements


The games don’t seem to have any particular order in which you’re expected to play them. Although if you explore enough you can see references to events from other games but nothing major and certainly no spoilers
[b]

1. Shadowrun Returns -

Steam - http://store.steampowered.com/app/234650/Shadowrun_Returns/
GOG - https://www.gog.com/game/shadowrun_returns

-[/b] Storyline is linear and gameplay is simplistic and occasionally frustrating
The story itself is cliched but not bad by any account, it’s linear in that you seldom make any actual choices. But it’s very much enjoyable and hence i’d recommend it. The world is decently detailed and the characters are interesting.

2. Shadowrun Dragonfall (DC) -

Steam - http://store.steampowered.com/app/300550/Shadowrun_Dragonfall__Directors_Cut/
GOG - https://www.gog.com/game/shadowrun_dragonfall_directors_cut

Now this is complete overhaul of the original game. They improved the save system, improved the gameplay and most importantly added actual depth to the storyline.

-The plot is well thought out and it has many interesting characters and your choices do matter the storyline and the way your team’s skills progress. Aside from your team-mates who are all awesome the game has many NPCs. Not every NPC you come across is central to the plot but they usually have a tale to tell which you can piece together through your conversations thereby adding detail to the world. You can almost enjoy every conversation in the game.

-Gameplay-wise this is the most superior amongst the three since you can play as mage/conjurer, rigger/decker etc. There’s a lot more build diversity here

-The detailing is extremely well done to the point that an in-game version of the forums called Shadowlands BBS gets new threads after almost every mission, these threads usually have strangers commenting on things. For example there’s a mission where you have to level a building (no spoilers) and when you succeed, a thread pops up with people speculating regarding what might have caused it. It’s not very major but it’s really good, showing the developer’s attention to detail
Aside from speculation threads, some threads also serve to deliver the consequence of the choices you made on certain
missions, reading them is fun and is also recommended in the event one wants to avoid mistakes on subsequent playthroughs
Lastly, there exist threads that don’t add to anything and simply exist to add detail to the world. And even these are awesome
Shadowland BBS threads are seldom long and are very fun to read

3. Shadowrun Hong Kong -

Steam - http://store.steampowered.com/app/346940/Shadowrun_Hong_Kong__Extended_Edition/
GOG - https://www.gog.com/game/shadowrun_hong_kong_extended_edition

-The gameplay is slightly different. Unlike the previous two games you can avoid combat all-together by talking your out of situations. Matrix segments have changed significantly. It is also weaker than Dragonfall as your teammates can make do with pure mage, pure adepts, pure deckers or pure riggers
Each NPC (including merchants) have backgrounds. It’s pretty detailed, to the point it can be annoying at times to read through the wall of text. This really affects the overall pacing of the game.
It also has a Shadowland BBS but some threads were too long so I simply skipped those. A few threads were well done despite being long as fuck, in that these threads had one of the town’s NPCs in it. And later on you can confront him regarding whatever stuff he posted on Shadowland BBS. It was good
Your Team-mates are awesome, other story characters are somewhat interesting as well. Some NPCs are interesting while others have really long dialogues so odds are you might not give two shits about them.
Plot as a whole is good and well executed but it is imo inferior to Dragonfall by a long shot.

The biggest plus point is that the games aren’t too big which is good if you’re looking for a good game but don’t want to spend too much time on it. And if you want to buy only one then i’d recommend Dragonfall since it has the best pacing, well balanced gameplay and the best plot

I bought Dragonfall during a Steam sale a couple of winters back, and still haven’t even loaded it up. Between my work and training schedule, what little time that I have for gaming tends to get consumed by GD, especially once I started dealing in mods. Maybe one day I’ll get around to SR, because I’ve always heard nothing but good things about it.

I’d play Dragonfall, after finishing HK I can say for certain Dragonfall is the best installment in the franchise

Dragonfall and Hong Kong are some of the best RPGs the PC has seen in the last 10 years. Last I heard the developers aren’t planning any more Shadowrun games, though. :frowning:

Reading into the universe, it’s really fucking vast. Like really fucking vast. These three games barely scratch the surface. They can easily make new games by introducing Sasquatch, Merrows, Obsidiman (who have yet to make a Sixth World appearance from what I’ve read)

Oh yeah, Shadowrun is a pretty big setting. I’ve never played it pen-and-paper, but I have the most recent rulebook and there’s a LOT going on globally. We’ve only seen Kowloon and Berlin so far, but Seattle is like the shadowrunner capital of the world, Denver is ruled by a dragon, and apparently Ireland is run by elves? There’s a lot to dig into.

I am not really into Pen and Paper games, never tried them as a kid so probably why I never really took interest in them
If Seattle is the capital then they should’ve shown us more of it in SR:Returns (although I do understand budget is a bitch for indie devs)
I am personally interested in Denver setting since from what I gather Ghostwalker appears to be one of the few Drakes who openly opposes Lofwyr himself

If there’s anything I learnt from these games it’s that they’re all ruled by Dragons, they just don’t know it yet :wink:

Btw, Jab. If you’ve played Hong Kong then can you clarify something for me?

Haha, good point.

I can try, what’s up?

Nothing too complex, just need to clarify if the final boss of HK (Queen of Thousand Teeth - Qian Ya) was a horror or not?
To be honest I skipped a little bit of the text (more than a little to be honest, i read literally every line in Dragonfall but HK had too much stuff). So have my doubts, I ask cause those insect from SR:Returns weren’t Horrors at all so wondered if the Yama Kings (Qian Ya and her mates) were Horrors or something different
Naturally I did a google search and nothing (specific) turned up

Oh, right, horrors. I don’t know much at all about those but I have no recollection of Qian Ya being referred to as such.

Hmm, well I don’t mind speculating till eternity’s end :D. In your opinion which of the games did you enjoy the most? And who happens to be your favorite character?

I liked Hong Kong the best, mostly for the improved cyberware options. That’s one of the defining features of cyberpunk and we didn’t see a lot of it in Dragonfall.

I also think Hong Kong had a much better cast all around, and while it’s a tough call I think Racter is probably my favorite character in the series. You can tell right off the bat that he’s not like the usual shadowrunner by how articulate, well mannered, and cultured he is. Then you dig a little deeper and the mad scientist vibes start to come out as he talks about transhumanism, culminating in his idea that sociopathy is the future of mankind.

And the best part is that for all his intellect and scientific knowledge, he’s wrong. He’s extrapolating his own experience on to humanity, and you can even call him out on it, but he brushes it off. He managed to be interesting, profoundly creepy, and flawed in his reasoning all at once. I love it. :slight_smile:

The only Shadowrun game I enjoyed was the one for SNES

I can understand SR:HK being a favorite for many, the game is more polished than previous ones in some aspects, and happens to be the bravest game for not having a single Dragon in it
I loved Racter, and yeah calling him out on his BS is funny. But i did enjoy listening to his perspective
He loses to Lofwyr for me, but Racter is a close second. Bringing him on missions can be very funny, almost as funny as bringing Gaichu. And watching NPCs react to a Ghoul and a Murder-Bot

I think HK is the first one where I never got a datajack and went pure mage since Isobel was very good at decking. And you always had the option to user your team decker in certain puzzles unlike the previous games where in some important places your team-decker couldn’t be used so you had to have decent enough decking. I mean for fuck’s sake my Dragonfall mage was a better decker than Blitz :D:D:D

Did you try the new ones?

Finished the game (Dragonfall) for a second time with 100% exploration with different choices

Final update on the thread to give a clear idea of what each game offers. It’s the final time i’d update this thread, since I probably won’t play Returns or Hong Kong anytime soon. Might do Dragonfall a third time though :wink:

I have beaten Dragonfall. It’s an okay game, but it’s way too short, it desperately needs voice-acting (it has none), and a lot of the writing is just atrocious, i.e. a typical line is something like, “Can we skip the part where you are about to do something horrendous, and I have to stop you?”

I’m not sure why many people call this a great RPG. It’s not bad, but it’s not great either.

So I am guessing you were expecting more action in it?

Still need to play Hong Kong.

The others finished them 3-4 times each. They’re short enough to actually retry different options and check out different outcomes. Combat is quite challenging on harder difficulties as well. Great games all around.

Opinions of Dragonfall. I read some long reviews by you here. Would be interested in your opinions

And yeah, I tried these during a period when gaming time was minimal so they fit perfectly

I should really replay Berlin. I do remember fragments like the city hub. You got missions from there. Some parts left a strong imprint like the part with cult and then entering some demonic realm. Going through the facility to fight the dragon after she got seperated into a body and a spirit in another body.

Can’t really give a full overview other then those fragments hehe.