First all, let me tell you about my background - 39, working professional, married with kids. Was looking for an RPG game that I can really sink my teeth into without getting bored, and coming from a gamer background myself, not many games can catch my attention.

Then saw a recommended game review somewhere about this Shadowrun, so being the typical gamer that I am since I dont like to pay for something I haven't tried yet....so I *cough*cough* got a copy of the game to try.....

...and then I closed the game, went to the Steam website, and purchased a legitimate copy. Let me tell you why :-

a) this is an RPG - story, story, story - this is what's it all about
b) the interface and game - slick, modern XCOM style combat, with that turn based system thats good for my pace and strategy.
c) the real world/cyber world - the transitions are nice, a good break from the routine.
d) Story - did I mention story? I like how I have to slow down to read, even the freaking Splash screens got something to really read

So I parted with my cash to show support to this developer. Keep up the good work and I look forward to purchase Dragonfall and any more of DLC of this kind :)

Hype and expectation are funny things. They can invite even the most rational and level-headed into wish fulfulment FAR beyond the truth, and we all know how prevalent that is in video gaming. I honestly believe that this game's reputation absolutely suffers from precisely this, especially from the view of some players.

So, Shadowrun Returns - the question is "does it", or rather "does it REALLY warrant the return?"

Let's start with the expectation part I mentioned. When this game was proposed, those that were fans of the old tabletop RPG and the old SNES classic sat up and took notice, and for good reason. Nostalgia aside, both are truly excellent games in their own rights. The downside to this is that it tends to set the bar VERY high, expectation-wise.

Fast forward to the game's release, and there were certainly mixed views; much of the criticism dealt with there being less on the action and more on the text and story. Also, length was cited too, or rather, lack of it. On the face of it, very valid criticisms, except that many of these either forgot or didn't understand WHAT the game was achieving - a new version of the classic games, adhering closely to the rules - in short, Shadowrun RETURNS. The clue's in the name. It does what it says on the tin.

So, there's an abundance of text and story, and less of the action itself, and yes, it is a bit short. While they are valid concerns EVERY game buyer should consider before dropping their cash, context is also equally important. Apologies for this slightly overblown introduction, but I felt it valid to lay this down at the outset. Let's get on with the review.

If you know what Shadowrun is (or was), then there's little point in going over this and you can skim to the last paragraph. If you don't, then as I've already said, there's the classic tabletop "D&D style" game - a pure, unadulterated old-school pencil and paper RPG. The hook here is that elves, orcs, goblins and all the staples of fantasy exist, but the one major difference is everything is a futuristic sci-fi bent. It probably sounds completely at odds with one another, but it works so very, very well, both in lore and in combat ... ESPECIALLY in combat. You can still hack 'n' slash if you want to, you can still use magic if you want to, but add to the mix firearms and a complete veneer of futuristic and modern tech, and you have Shadowrun.

It rather goes without saying that anyone who has spent any time playing old-school tabletop RPG knows that story and text are perhaps the premier parts, and that is the case here, naturally. But the question to the critics remains "ah, but it is any good?" Thankfully, the answer is "yes, it is".

I confess I'm a little jaded. I've been around gaming since the very start, and have never had a period when I've not been involved. I've seen a lot, played a lot, own a lot, and have even worked in the industry (albeit relatively briefly). For the most part, I care little for story in games - most times I'm merely concerned with the mechanics over everything else. I couldn't tell you the story of Halo, for example, as it never gripped me in any way. So, why on earth am I saying this game's story is good? Because it DID grip me right from the off. It works. You know the story's working on you when you can start to identify and remember the characters. So, being heavy on the story is an ASSET to this game, and in no way a hindrance. I shan't spoil it in any way, but it's a fairly standard story, but it does it pretty well, so in summary I don't see the critique of "too much story, too little action" in any way a bad thing unless it's REALLY not your thing.

Now, onto length. Yes, it IS relatively short. However, you should at least consider the reasoning behind the game's existence - it would never have seen the light of day AT ALL were it not for crowd-funding. Sure, you can claim they made big promises and ran out of resources and/or time, but the conclusion here is that putting all those aside the end product is pretty damned good. As stated before, it very much does what it says on the tin. So, if you don't mind quantity being less if the quality's good or reasonable, then there is no issue here. What does render the length argument completely invalid is one thing - WORKSHOP support. There's TONS of user-generated content out there which not only mimics what tabletop RPGs are all about, but the inclusion of mod tools (which I haven't tried) ensure that it's pretty easy to dole out a good scenario, and it certainly shows. So, if you finish the game and want more, you won't be disappointed at all.

The combat is best described as being very similar to XCOM. It's turn-based with the dual-turn set of movement/action phases per character, or a mixture of those: you move, you shoot/swing/etc, and your turn's over. Your playfield is peppered with objects that you can utilize as cover, with the shield icon offering how good that cover is. This all offers a lovely tactical play where you don't just consider dumping your character up against the enemy and swing away at them, but you have to consider balancing cover with line of sight, flanking, and a number of other little tricks to make the best use of the battle.

Character skills are great. As you'd rightly expect from a combination fantasy/sci-fi, it lends you a VERY wide palette of things to mess around with. Fire-based magic attacks? Sure. Rifles, pistols, or SMGs? Yup, have at them. Fire-based attacks WITH your pistol? Yup, that too. It does the Shadowrun rules well, and the interface is clear and intuitive and you'll have no issues picking it up quickly.

Visually, the game offers a very nice art-style that does the medium justice. Backgrounds are all pre-rendered and hand-drawn (or at least they LOOK hand-drawn) in a graphic novel style which suits perfectly. Nothing I can fault here at all. Musically, the soundstrack is really good. I'm not a big fan of music soundtracks - I'm not one who will listen to them outside of the game. To me, they're a background that serves to provide ingredient to the recipe. They should illustrate without hindering the game in any way. Not only does the style and mood of the music suit perfectly, but it's not repetitive, and remains interesting without hindering in ANY way. If you're someone who does listen to game music absent of the game, you might well find this one very appealing.

So, final summary time. Is it worth purchasing? Yes. If you are expecting a good turn-based old-shool RPG, it's worth it. Steam Workshop really underlines this, value-wise. The only caveat I would make is that if you're either not sure whether this sort of game's for you, or the length of the official game really is an issue for you, I'd thoroughly recommend waiting for a sale - it's still worth picking up.

Final note I'm doing with all my reviews now: I'm giving a "what do I think the game's worth?" instead of any score or other metric, as I think that's the most valuable metric anyone could have. I'd say this deserves a £9 (or your regional equivalent).

I think I had never heard of Shadowrun before a friend of mine gifted this game to me. When I started playing it, I discovered a great world, filled with an unique style and characters.

The setting is fantastic. A futuristic world where people can replace their limbs with mechanical implants a la Deus Ex, mixed with magic and fantastic creatures. The gameplay is quite fun, it reminds me of the turn based RPGs I used to play when I was younger, although in this game the combat is more tactical, with things like cover and area effects.

The character customization is great; you can select your character's gender, its race (Human, Elf, Orc, Troll and Dwarf), and its abilities, some of them being street samurai, shaman, and decker. Even then, you can further customize your character by spending "Karma points" to unlock new abilities.

The story is quite good, and there's plenty of dialogue options during the conversations, even more if you have the proper abilities. Another great point is the soundtrack, which really set the mood.

So, to conclude, I highly recommend this game.

Affter playing through the included campain, I can say that this was a good game. BUT, you will need to get more campains to make it woth the money. Buying this game is like buying the books fro a Table-Top-RPG, youinvest upfront so that you can play mulple home-brew stories later. By the end of it, you will want to tryto build a character that can't be completed in just one run of the game, and since you can't replay the base campain with the same character... you do the math.
I give it an 8/10, worth your time, chummer.

If you're expecting an RPG with open world and long hours of playing, this is not for you.

This is a short (I finished it in about 12 hours of gameplay, not rushing or anything) and linear (at no point there is even an option of doing something different, picking different ways, or other stuff you would expect from an RPG) game.

That being said, during those 12 hours I had a nice time. The story is interesting, the gameplay & interface is enjoyable, and for a simple game with no voice acting, the atmosphere is amazing.

I would definitely recommend if you find this at a discount. Well worth if a few bucks for the 12 hour fun - just don't expect it to be a super production.

I played the classic on the SNES back in the day and only lasted 10 minutes before dying. No matter what I did, I died. I thought Shadowrun Returns might be as deadly as the original, but (thankfully) it wasn't.

Shadowrun Returns looks amazing, and from the first moment it makes you wonder just what lies ahead in this strange cyberpunk world. The inviting world teasing you to explore and uncover the truths behind the deadman who wants you to find his killer, however... it never really got there.
Don't get me wrong - the various maps look amazing, but there's little to them other than being a very impressive backdrop. There's no real reward for exploring, and the various NPCs that litter the sidewalks aren't much more than fancy decoration on an already good looking cake. Perhaps I was asking too much for this to be a deeply engrossing world, yet in a way it is an engrossing world thanks to the storytelling.

What you are going to get in Shadowrun Returns is a great story, and for some it might even be too text heavy (especially if English isn't your native language). However, I enjoyed it, the story is basically a detective novel as you try to uncover the mystery of who killed your friend. The catch being the client is the deadman himself, which is great and is a nice nod to the old film noir movies of old.
It's due to how well the story is written I can forgive it for being very linear with almost no plot trees or divergence due to your actions or selections that I noticed.

In fact, that seems to be the theme of the game. It's a very well presented world, with a very well written story, but just seems to lack a little spice. There's very little loot, there's very little to explore, the skill tree looks rather impressive, but doesn't seem grab you at all. The same with character creation.
I don't want to come across as overly negative with the game, as I really did enjoy what was offered, yet I feel like it could have offered so much more. Again, perhaps I'm demanding too much from what is already a very well presented game.
On the plus side it has Steam Workshop intergration and there seems to be a host of community mods and projects underway, so a host of new content should just be around the corner. Likewise the developers have released DLC, which seemingly adds another layer to the game (perhaps that's what I'm looking for?).

In short, a very solid game and a welcome return for Shadowrun, but it's not as brutal as the original and perhaps lacks that little something extra to make it a true great. Enjoy the detective story.

This is a rpg game in a world where fantasy and technology mix perfectly. If you enjoy androids, giant insects, cyberpunk, guns, and are a fan of "Blade Runner", you will enjoy the odd characters and turn based combat. If you enjoy reading narrative instead of hearing it, this is for you.

Note: this is for the base game without DLC/Dragonfall.

I've never played a turn-based strategy combat RPG or whatever kind of game this is, before, so I didn't know what to expect. The gameplay mechanics felt so-so when I started. I played for like 30 minutes , gave up, then picked it up again a month or two later. Strategy isn't my forte so I was hesitant to crank the difficulty up for a challenge, it already felt frustrating to miss shots and then have to wait for things to happen during enemy turns. I got used to it after a couple hours, as I learned the game more and generally got smarter about what to do. I upgraded my opinion of the game play to "yeah that seems alright then."

The class/karma point system is pretty interesting and I had fun toying with that. The decking/hacking bits were cool and I wish there were a lot more of those scenes/levels. Be wary if you go for a rigger build, there are a couple points in the game where glitches are possible to encounter, you'll have to unequip your drones to progress and it felt kinda sad considering that's the whole point of the build I wanted. The story is also very linear, I think there's only one optional mission you can do that diverges from the main plot.

It's a 2d isometric game, so if you're not into that sort of retro style you may not like it. I thought it was gorgeous, and along with story-telling and the slang it was really easy to feel immersed and taken away by the plot. There's no voice acting, only text with pre-written options (of varying personalities) of your character's reply. After a couple hours of playing I didn't want to stop because I wanted to see what would happen next. The story and atmosphere are A+ for me and I plan on buying the new game solely based on that.

There's a decently sized mod community as well. I haven't played any yet but I have a few user made campaigns to try out soon that seem worthwhile.

If you were to cross Bladerunner with The Dresden Files into a quality tactical strategy RPG hybrid, the result would no doubt be something very akin to Shadowrun Returns. Shadowrun Returns excels at story telling, the game is rich with lore, well written dialogues that feel more conversational than what most games accomplish, and a structured story full of plot twists and interesting characters. Perhaps my favorite point about the story is that it starts out small-scale, you are on a simple mission to look into the death of a friend, but it slowly ramps up into something larger as the story progresses. To top it off the game is set in a beautiful futuristic game world and has solid tactical gameplay to boot.

More than anything this game to me was about an awesome sci-fi detective story. The mystery and intrigue suck you in, the stellar writing especially in regards to dialogue keeps you hooked. I'm not saying the game mimics what street talk may actually be like in the future, but it was great enough to get me immersed in the street life of futuristic Seattle. The characters within the game range from annoying (intentionally so), charming, grumpy, and likeable; chatting with the regulars throughout the story and going through the different chat options was something I enjoyed doing (shout out to Mr. Kluwe, you're the man, man!). The game's audio and visuals do justice to this story, bringing it to life with stunning hand drawn environments and appropriately mood setting music.

The game's combat also leaves little to be desired. Although I felt the large scale management of the game to be a little inconsistent...for example the money you earn throughout the story can go into temporary lulls, and if you need to do a mission when you aren't expecting it you may find you don't have enough money to buy a full team of mercs. The game runs similar to most other tactical RPG games, especially similar to the XCOM series. You use the terrain to your advantage and in a turn based fashion you move your team about and order them to attack or use utility items/spells. On hard the game isn't terribly difficult and you shouldn't have to think deeply each turn on how to best arrange your team and how to best utilize there action points (how many actions they can take per turn). The combat is a bit sparse at the beginning of the game but as you progress further you start to battle the baddies more often and that's when the fun starts.

Shadowrun Returns is a solid tactical RPG game, and with the addition of the Steam workshop can keep you playing well beyond the twelve hour campaign. The game's story is strong and the characters within are fun ones. It's nice to play a detective style game that isn't a point and click for a change. The game is quite gripping and just like any good detective novel it kept me at the edge of my seat until I got through to the end.

This game really is a good adaptation of Shadowrun's combat system and feels similar to the classic Fallout games. The only downside is that they forgot to implement the RPG skills. The game feels combat-oriented and the social or skill-dependent choices are very limited. The atmosphere and the plot give a good impression of the Shadowrun world, but somehow it feels like the spirit of the P&P RPG is missing.

Shadowrun Returns is a throwback to the days of old, which feels absolutely fresh in this modern era. This takes me back to the golden era of RPG's in the mid-to-late 1990's - which was back when RPG's were often isometric; turn-based; party-based; and used a mixture of both 2D + 3D environments + character models. If this sounds like something that would be up your alley - you likely have already have purchased SrR (Shadowrun Returns) or should buy this game ASAP. Shadowrun Returns is simply nothing short of fantastic.

Shadowrun Returns (base-game) comes equipped with "Dead Man's Switch" for its base-game's single-player campaign. You play a runner (whose class, if you want to pick one; race, class, skills, etc can be determined by you) whose friend recently died. Actually, he was murdered. Your job is to find who is responsible, why, and decide what to do about the matter. It seems that our friend is linked to a bunch of strange murders that have being happening in this futuristic mix of both a cyberpunk setting (futuristic world where corporations, computers, hacking + whatnot are all par for the course) + fantasy elements (elves + dwarves are here; and magic can all take place in this game-world here). And that's just the start of things - so, that I don't spoil everything.

One thing that absolutely sets SrR apart from many other modern-day games - there is just no voice-acting. It's not that this game needs voice-acting, either. This is one of the best written games I've seen in years, feeling like a throwback to the days of Planescape: Torment (late 90's). This game is not just a great game, but it also so happens to be a great book to read. You'll be doing plenty of reading here. The prose, dialogue & characters are absolutely excellent - littered with tons of description + is extremely verbose. If you've been missing games to be littered w/ tons of descriptive when characters actually do things, since graphics do plenty of the talking these days - you're in for a treat here with SrR, since the writing here is excellent.

While the graphical quality will certainly not top the technical aspect of the most recent hardware-pushing graphical show - the direction of the graphics are excellent. The artistic direction game is loaded with tons of style + substance - with its excellent 2D + 3D mixture of graphics. This feels like a modern-day revival of games from the Infinity Engine.

Combat feels very similar to the classic Fallout 1 + 2. You have a limited number Action Points that you can use spend to do attacks or moves. The combat of this game is quite tactical + turn-based. It always feels great, sounds great, and is a lot of fun to take on. Some of the most interesting + fun battles take place when some of your party members are in the literal game-world, while other party members might be in the computer-world matrix - where you'll be balancing doing combat on two different fronts. Nothing short of awesome.

Most of this game's campaign is a linear affair, where you also might have a few side-quests here and there on your way. This is not an open-world game, by any means. Not that it needs to be, either - as the game often stays very focused on its excellent story, game-world, settings, and characters. Here and there, you'll be given a few different ways to solve quests - which can be be done or result differently, all based on your stats, skills & whatnot.

Shadowrun Returns is a fantastic throwback to the 1990's era of RPG's, if it was just made with modern graphics + high-resolution support. Gamers that have been wanting a high-quality turn-based RPG where you control an entire party entirely - look no further. If you've wanted superb prose, dialogue, and writing - look no further than SrR. If having this great "Dead Man's Switch" campaign (which took me around 16 hours or so to finish) wasn't enough - this game has the Editor come with it. SrR is on the Steam WorkShop and there are a good deal of mods + campaigns made by gamers out there. Being given such a great campaign + an editor here - is there more that old-school RPG gamers can really ask for here?

Grade = A.

Nice RPG in cyberpunk setting!

+Beautiful levels design
+Atmospheric dialogues
+Friendly interface
+CYBERPUNK!

-Short main story


9,5/10

So, really XCom is the leader in this sort of game, but Shadowrun compensates by adding some decent story and RPG elements. I had a good time with it, and apparently the sequel buffs out some of the quirks. There's a few oddities. The inventory management and party system is non-standard, but you're a grown person - you'll figure it out. The art is great, and you want a closer look at it. I only wish the game didn't keep trying to force you to zoom out. A few other weird issues manifest, especially in the early game when you and the game are still getting to know each other. I get the impression of a solid foundation having been laid but then parts of the structure being abruptly canceled and quickly made to achieve a base level of functionality. You can specialize in a weapon but then there's only 3 weapons of that class you can ever buy sort of stuff. Probably a result of the tabletop system being implemented literally without followthrough in the game proper

A few other areas assume a familiarity with the tabletop system and aren't explained especially well in the game, but they weren't gamebreakers for a 13-hour long RPG. You might make a bad decision and sort of de-optimize your build, but it's not a huge hassle. The game isn't very unforgiving. I played through on hard mode and only failed once in an early mission. For example, cybernetic upgrades aren't really explained very well in the game, and I purchased some cool robo-legs, and then later discovered that I was kind of stuck with them and there would never be any significant upgrades. I get the impression that the tabletop actually has lots more depth that they just sort of ran out of time to implement, and that these shortcomings (Just add more items to the shopping cart) could be easily addressed in fan made levels or whatnot.

Rating: 8.5/10

What is it?
Turn based RPG set in a cyberpunk setting.

The Good
+ Great story and dialogue options
+ Great character development, you can choose between a variety of different types to fit any playstyle. Brawler, weapon specialist, hacker, drone control, mage, shaman etc... Different stats determine how good you are in each ability.
+ Fun combat. Its turn based so strategy is involved in how you develop your character but also your party members. Combat is also fast paced.
+ Lots of spells, weapons and armor to further customize your characters
+ Easy to learn game mechanics. At first I thought the game would be intimidating however a few minutes into the combat and I realized how simple it was
+ Great graphics and art style. I really enjoy the cyberpunk setting mixed with all the crazy characters.
+ Character portraits look really nice
+ Very slick UI and HUD


The Bad
- Can be frustrating when you character misses on enemies even with a high hit percentage.
- Even after you kill all enemies, rather than the game exiting battle mode you have to control each party member to the exit to progress
- minor bugs.

Conclusion
If you loved the original Fallout games or even Baldurs Gate, you need to play this game. I was surprised how good it was.

I enjoyed this and its sequal dragon fall for several reasons.

1. portrays shadowruns setting fairly well a dispotic apocalyptic wasteland with trolls and mugic and stuff.

2. feels very close in character creation and growth like you are playing tabletop shadowrun !

3. memorable characters and a cameo from the old nintendo shadowrun game ! nice.

4. a pretty decent amount of options for strategies and you hire your own supporting runners.

------------the few cons i found are as follows -------
1. first one has kinda poor cyber parts until very late in game.

2. healing from mage or shaman is kinda clunky and seriously gibbed by a lot of late game debuffs that give you damage at the start of your turn as healing only heals "the last wound" which is also kinda wierd in the players favor if you have 1 point in healing you can heal say a 24 damage crit in one shot if it doesnt have any lingering damage or anything.

3. Riggers seem OP once you get some money under your belt riggers can be up to 3 individual characters (combat) and circumvent things with drones (vents).

4. Adept felt on the whole kinda meh. i beat the game and the sequal as an adept first and the second one helps but you still have to activate your abilities wasting 1/3 or 1/2 of your turn just to do the same damage as other people when in the scource game (tabletop) adepts can be passive wrecking machines just as dangerous as any cybersam.

5. a few targeting glitches very rare but not being able to shoot at certain enemies at certain times "just cause" is a little annoying.

6. i would have liked to see more control over your crews loadout and even maybe talent growth especially in the second one as the characters are more integrated into the story as opposed to just coyote in the first one.

----------------------------
in closing all in all the stories are good for both this and its sequal, the gameplay is solid enough especially for a small dev. They both allow a lot of character options, and advancement strategies. It feels kinda like shadowrun tabletop (a good thing)

good classical budget style with a textbased story and some good turn base action in a cyberpunk world

I really enjoyed the elements brought into the game from the RPG books. They have done a great job merging the different types of combat, and interaction with the world even though the game sets you to run a specific story I found myself not minding the limited scope. Normally I go for action-rpg combat, but this game manages to still have good flow with the turn based combat. Overall I'd say it's a very well put together game especially for the price.

Ah Shadowrun.
Being developed by some of the leading heads of the franchise you sure get that feeling when playing the game.
Sure some things could have been better - the combat system/abilities/weapons could have been a bit more complex and imo far more of the stuff should have been taken over from the pen&paper system but graphics, sounds, dialogues and story all make up for that and just feel right when the playing the game - plus they provided a nice modding platform to statisfy different needs. :]

The Dragonfall expansion is even better.

(still yearning for a multiplayer mode here :p )

This game is good stuff. Why? Well, it isn't for everyone obviously, but the game is filled with enough variety and content (as well as has great people always making more stuff for it.) that it feels very very good.

Also, depending on your class also means you get to choose how you want to approach things. Are you there to just kick down doors and give everyone a healthy bullet diet? You can! Want to have a lot of bots, enemy turrets, and other such things do that for you? You can!

Also, delving deeper into things can lead you to decisions that you might have initially considered. Devil is in the details and all that. Overall, I would recommend this game, and its extra DLC stuff, cause it is done that well.

Have fun, and happy running.

"Shadowrun Returns" does for the rich Shadowrun universe what "Baldur's Gate" did for the Forgotten Realms. Playing through this game was like playing through some of the classic SR adventures, with mysteries to solve, clues to follow, and all manner of unusual individuals to interact with. And firefights, of course. The noir atmosphere is great, and it's quite obvious from gameplay that the creators of the game were fans of the tabletop RPG: there are numerous references to characters and organizations from the gamebooks, some more relevant to the story than others. The music is great, the character creation was satisfyingly customizable: I was able to make a reasonable facsimile of my female Dwarf Decker from the tabletop game with the options present. And the fact that I've been able to play as a Decker and get through the first adventure on Normal difficulty is a testament to the fact that you can play any character type you like and do well. If you're a fan of the original tabletop RPG, I highly recommend "Shadowrun Returns."