Shadowrun Returns

July 27, 2013

I was working on a side project over the weekend, and by “working on a side project” I really mean I was procrastinating by browsing through Steam’s online game store. I happened to see that Monaco is now available (and a girlish squeal may have emanated from my lips). But I also noticed that a Kickstater-funded version of Shadowrun also just arrived on the scene.

I never got much into the tabletop version of Shadowrun, but I have a distinct memory of seeing the SNES version when I was in high school. I recall being pretty mesmerized by the world (think Dungeons and Dragons, but with a healthy mix of sci-fi thrown into the mix).

The look and feel of the game is very spot-on. At least, insofar as it reminds me of what drew me to the game that I played, ages ago. There’s a good deal of dialog and backstory, and the writing is pretty decent. Fighting is all turn-based, but so far it’s been pretty enjoyable exploring the world.

One thing you’ll see in most reviews is the way saves work – it’s checkpoint based. What this means is that you could be playing through a scenario, die after 20+ minutes… and you pretty much have to start all over, from the beginning of the scenario. It’s not a huge pain, but got me discouraged enough a few times to just quit the game for a while.

That said, the game is really beautiful and fits very much the dystopian, gritty, cyperpunk world that I remember. I’m a sucker for RPG’s, and this game is no exception. Spent a good part of my weekend here, clicking away.

One funny thing I noticed – walking around, I spotted a couch with the words Bad Wolf. Figures that the game creators would be Dr. Who fans.