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Review Shadowrun Returns Review at RPG Watch

Crooked Bee

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Tags: Harebrained Schemes; Shadowrun Returns

RPG Watch has published their own comprehensive review of Shadowrun Returns. Is it better or worse than Darth Roxor's? Discuss!

Have a snippet:

Late in the game the story spins into a more fantastic and (to me) slightly cheesy direction, which unfortunately forgoes the more personal and dirty down-to-earth feeling of the earlier parts for high adventure. The game dutifully touches Shadowrun staples such as megacorporate power, down-and-out urban sprawl, gang warfare, etc. Maybe a bit cliché if you already know Shadowrun, but appreciated in a game that seeks to revive the IP and to introduce it also to new players. A little worse is that it positively wallows in the damsel in distress trope, several times over. I wish we could move beyond that.

The ending uses one of the games strengths, dialog and writing to wraps things up by giving you a chance to discuss various things with some of the main characters you have met during your adventure, and some final remarks about future developments (and a tiny bit of foreshadowing for the Berlin campaign). It's nicely done.

Overall it's an entertaining tale, although not a great one. The shortness and linearity makes it easy to follow. But the point remains that the game keeps you on an excessively short leash throughout, and for that reason it often felt more like a point-and-click adventure with RPG elements than an actual RPG. If you don't mind to simply be told a story in the guise of a RPG, you will be fine - if player agency, choice and consequence, and exploration are a prerequisite for enjoyment for you, you will not find nearly enough of it here to make you happy.

[...] My overall impression is that the project was really afraid to take any risks. It shows an almost metahuman level of control, a will to make smart business decisions: starting out small, avoiding feature creep, concentrating on essentials. All good advice to any startup indie game developer, I am sure. But as a result, when I think of words to describe this game, what comes to mind are words like solid, neat, groomed, polished, focused, controlled... ultimately: a little boring. It lacks passion. It's not the wild whacky fun that I remembered.​

The score is 3/5. Read it in full here.
 
Repressed Homosexual
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A little worse is that it positively wallows in the damsel in distress trope, several times over. I wish we could move beyond that.

Not them too with this BS. Especially since the game doesn't have a single weak female character. What more do they want?

I sincerely thought that RPGWatch was above this Kotaku 2-bit blogger "SJW" thing. At this point, these people are not satisfied unless a female character has a completely indistinguishable behavior from that of a man.
 
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Infinitron

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I would argue that the main villain was ultimately a weak and pathetic character, and was being egged on/manipulated by her elven cousin.

The other female characters were all competent, though.
 
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In before someone brings up whether Harebrained Schemes has a single employee who is a woman/POC/LGBT/something-not-hetero-white-(cis)male in relation to the game.

Roguey?
 

himmy

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Gosh, you guys sure get your panties up in a bunch anytime someone mentions women in an article.

What does the Codex dislike more? Women or Elves? Discuss.
 
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Intellectually bankrupt liberals.

And their undiscerning zealous motivation to condemn in denial of critical thinking.
 
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Koschey

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Women or Elves? Where's the difference? :smug:

But yeah, don't really see the damsels myself.
The only women you specifically set out to rescue (and who I can recall off the top of my head) are Coyote and Mary-Louise, and neither of them is completely helpless or passive. If Coyote's cell is opened before the fight is over, she joins in despite her recent loss of one of her arms and half her face. Mary-Louise is essential in getting out alive if you didn't bring a Decker and still helpful if you did because there's a second access point. Not starting a solo suicide run is not the same as being dependent and useless. Contrast with Coyote's brother, who really does passively stand by until you are done rescuing him (granted, he's totally high on BTL-chips).
And Jessica, while a weak person, is just a typical villain corrupted and screwed over by a deal with the devil. Gender doesn't really matter with that type of character, it's done more or less frequently with both.

As for the review: Not too shabby, touches on the most important points, but I feel that with Darth Roxor's review I learned more about the game. Not only because I read DR's review before playing SRR for the first time and GhanBuriGhan's long after finishing the OC, but also because DR didn't confine himself to merely alluding to problems and stating opinions. Why is the Shaman a weak class, why is the Street Sam probably less challenging during the end game (especially seeing that playing a Shaman and hiring a Sam and vice versa are entirely possible)? What is the reason for the imbalance? Without at least hinting at the reasoning, it's hard to gauge wether I would arrive at the same conclusion (speaking from the hypothetical POV of someone who hasn't played the game yet).
 
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I didn't read the "damsel in distress" complaint as having anything to do with sexism. Rather, I read it as more of a "not this boring trope again?" Like complaints about "kill 10 rats" quests in MMOs aren't coming from some animal rights perspective.
 

Gregz

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So is this game good?
I really enjoyed PnP Shadowrun. I also enjoyed the Sega/SNES :deadhorse: Shadowrun games.

Is this one worth playing?
 
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Mantic

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This game is terrible. Still haven't managed to build up the motivation/will to finish it. The apartment/wharf flashback/morgue intro wasn't too bad, some atmospheric dialogues and music. Would of been a great into if after that the player was into a big open Seattle, but instead you are instantly assaulted by these tiny non-interactive maps where the only things you can click are to progress the main plot. Once I realized this truth it all started feeling artificial, the whole game. I don't even mind "linear" if the player is given free reign between story parts, but nothing in this game can be done if it isn't progressing the tightly scripted plot. All the dialogue options seem to be fluff, and all have the same result.

Also the writing is very inconsistent, at times the dialogues are cool and stylish (like in the morgue) but at others (like in that first nightclub/bar and the BTL addicts building) it is painfully amateur. There's that conversation with the Elf barmaid and her religious boyfriend which made me want to claw my eyes out. I think it was written by a woman.
 

Overboard

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I think it was written by a woman.

Jennifer_Hepler.jpg
 

Koschey

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I didn't read the "damsel in distress" complaint as having anything to do with sexism. Rather, I read it as more of a "not this boring trope again?" Like complaints about "kill 10 rats" quests in MMOs aren't coming from some animal rights perspective.

Meh, fair enough, though in that case complaining about it in a Shadowrun game seems somewhat derpy. Extraction runs are pretty much a part of and a given in the setting.
 

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