Shadowrun Returns

After a very long break I started playing computer games again and I didn't know where to start and what to play. One of the games I was recommended was Shadowrun Returns - Dead Man's Switch. It is an RPG game with turn-based squad tactical combat (see xcom) in a cyberpunk meets fantasy setting.

All I knew was that it is an isometric RPG in the Shadowrun setting which alone was enough for me to want to play the game. I love Shadowrun and I certainly had a lot of fun play the pen and paper RPG. I wondered how good the game would be and reminisced about games like Baldur's Gate and Planescape: Torment. Since I never heard of this game before I wondered how good the game would be.

The game starts with you receiving a message from Sam Watts, your fellow friend. Sam died and before he died he recorded this video so that you could track down his killer and get a reward if you find them and bring them to justice. A detective story unfolds as you are trying to find out who killed him and why. I was bit let down at this point because you don't actually need to solve anything and the game is very linear. You just follow the story. On the other hand the game will just immerse you in the story which is very well written and is also lots of fun (with lot of references to previous games and lore).

After you find the killer and find out why Sam was killed you will also uncover a horrific fact about a cult that wants to bring extraplanar creatures into the realm that would most probably just devastate it. The problem? These creatures are pretty much immortal unless you get your hands on a special prototype weapon that can kill these spirits. The final fight is probably the biggest downside of the game. You need too kill the creature with conventional weapons first (or Magic or spirits). Next round it will turn into a spirit that is immune to all this but the prototype weapon. You've got that one round to hit it 3 times in order to kill it and you've got max. 80% chance of actually hitting if you are standing close enough. You've got two shots before you need to reload and have 2 (max. 3) characters with this weapon. If you don't succeed it will turn into a physical creature again and you gotta try again.

As for the graphics. I like the hand painted graphics but the 3d models felt bit bland. In overall the graphics creates a good and fitting atmosphere for the game.

Music and sound effects is another story. This might be just me but I have to say that both were rather jarring. I wanted to play the game with sound on but I have to say that during the whole game I constantly thought about turning it off. While the sound effects are ok in terms of not sounding totally out of place they still didn't sound quite right for my ears. The music I didn't enjoy at all. There is no voice acting (I'm not sure how common this was around 2013 when the game came out).

There are two parts to gameplay. The game is story driven so mostly you will be reading dialogues and descriptions of scenes or characters. Depending on how your character is build (which skills it has) you might be able to choose different answer or actions. My character turned out to be charismatic Decker specialized in melee combat (totally not me, or my choice of a shadowrunner). The reason was that thanks to high Charisma I got to talk my way through dialogues, being a hacker allowed me to do some necessary running around Matrix safely. Being ok in combat is probably a necessity since you will go on runs that will sooner or later end up being pure tactical turn-based combat. You will have 1-4 characters to your disposal. Each character has action points that you can spend each turn to either move (and attack), move, attack, use magic, summon spirits, use items. You can hide behind object to make it harder for your enemies to shoot you. You also need a good line of sight and distance to actually hit. Flanking is also something to consider. If all your squad will end up in one place you are certainly going to get hit by a grenade.

The game on the default difficulty is very easy so you don't need to worry about spending karma (the points that are spent to level up your skills) in a wrong way. The HUD is very basic but shows well your equipment and skills. You have a limited number of slots for everything, if you have more items they will go to your stash. You can either get items from your stash by physically going there or enter it when buying/selling stuff. At the beginning of each part of the story you will be allowed to change the stuff in your inventory so you don't need to go back in between chapters.

Verdict
Shadowrun Returns is well polished game for a kickstarted funded game and it did the original p&p Shadowrun justice. It has a nice and well written story that has a twist that some may not enjoy that much. It has certain but limited amount of RPG elements, you can choose your class, learn skills and develop them. You can buy equipment, spells etc. The combat is tactical and turn-based, a pretty much a copy of X-com combat system. One of the things I enjoyed is walking in the Matrix - uses the same combat system.

The not so good things about the game is that the story is very linear and the world is not really open. You can walk around a bit but you can't interact much outside of the main story. You also hire runners for each run and you can't change equipment or develop their skills.

In general, this game is a relatively short adventure game that introduces one to the world of Shadowrun, tactical combat and some RPG elements.

I'm not entirely sure to whom I'd recommend the game. I'd say that players like me who spent hours and hours playing Shadowrun in the past will enjoy this game. I'd also probably recommend this game to players that don't have much experience with gaming or are looking for an easy game to play.

S'Tsung (stsungjp @ Twitter)