So I'm a big tabletop player and I love Neuromancer too, but I've only ever been able to play one Shadowrun game with maybe five sessions total. Naturally I backed Shadowrun Returns, at a level where I got three t-shirts. Unfortunately, when it came out I can report having slightly more fun with the t-shirts. The Steam sale made me realize that my backer level included the Dragonfall expansion, and having finished Dragon Age a few weeks back I need a non-short-time game to dig into.

Having played three hours and change, it seems much better than the vanilla Shadowrun Returns campaign. While you can see the initial surprise coming from the word go, the campaign moves with much more inertia than the previous. This might reveal that I grew up playing console RPGs instead of PC RPGs, but I always prefer a game where your party is made of established characters rather than games where you make your party. I like this initial crew. A big factor in my preference for Dragonfall may be that I made a capable street samurai this time rather than a decker; playing a fragile character can sometimes make a game hard to like. I am worried I'm going to hit a tutorial Matrix sequence and this is all going to get ugly again.

Speaking of which, the additional portraits and touch-ups they've been able to throw in have done a great deal to make the game more attractive. I feel like they've avoided plain white lighting and go for neon magenta or green whenever, which keeps everything colorful rather than faded or plain looking. All I can think of the vanilla campaign aesthetically is white light on harbor teal. Dragonfall pops off the screen to a far greater degree.

I feel for you regarding your character choice. Deckers were borderline-useless in Shadowrun Returns while assault rifles were flat-out overpowered.

Dragonfall has been sitting in my library for a while and I've heard good things. The problem is that Shadowrun Returns left such a bad taste in my mouth that I haven't found the motivation to start up the sequel.

Dragonfall is what Shadowrun Returns wanted to be on day one. It is a great game that improves on basically everything from the initial release. The story is also much longer and more open ended in many ways.

@crysack Do yourself a favor, if you have Dragonfall start playing it. You will dig it, trust me.

Shadowrun Returns suffers from broken/badly utilised combat mechanics and very bad balance between classes and whatnot. Its also very basic dialogue trees and mission designs with few options and never used etiquettes for anything meaningfull. Dragonfall improves alot on all those points, i liked the story of Shadowrun Returns more but gameplaywise Dragonfall is a much better game.

Just finished it today, enjoyed it a lot more than the original, the world felt a lot more immersive. A bit sad that it seems to have slipped under the radar for the most part, perhaps due to it being technically an expansion / dlc. Still, I hope they make more.

Totally agree. There was nothing wrong with the first one, but it did leave me lacking. However, the Mass Effect 2-esque premise of Dragonfall makes the world seem more alive, and allowed me to connect with the characters more. The director's cut made it even better by allowing you to customize your party members somewhat. Also, the fact that they gave the directors cut for free for anybody who had previously bought the DLC is pretty cool, too.

There was an article a few months back for a lead programmer to make another expansion for Shadowrun Returns. It mentioned about a 6 month dev time. Here's hoping it'll turn out as great as Dragonfall.

@shorap: Yep, they're currently working on a campaign set in Hong Kong.

Shadowrun Dragonfall is a great game. Expansion or not, it was my GOTY for 2014. Great story, great intrigue, great roleplaying opportunities, great party members, great gameplay, and great character building. My only gripe with the game is that I wish it was longer (it's about 20 hours if you do everything).

Dragonfall is fantastic. I liked Shadowrun Returns, but this one is a million times better. Great plot, fun characters, some good branching choices, the writing is pretty good and the gameplay scenarios are more varied and fun. Very good way to spend 20 hours.

I also liked Shadowrun Returns but agree that Dragonfall is way better.

I just picked this up on sale from the Humble Store. I played a bit of Returns, and thought it was interesting but didn't stick with it long enough to form a real opinion about it. Just played the opening mission tonight, and I'm really liking what I'm seeing.

I am realizing that I need to use my brain a little bit. I died like 3 times. Haven't played very many games like this so it's new to me, but I had a lot of fun and the story set up is pretty good and very well written. Looking forward to seeing more.

As someone who really liked Shadowrun Returns, the positivity around Dragonfall is exciting. I just wanna finish Divinity Original Sin before diving in. I got to the third main area and just stopped playing for some reason.

Still on sale for 9 hours: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/p/shadowrun_dragonfall_dc_storefront