Quick Look: Shadowrun Returns

Quick Lookers assemble!

Hi, been waithing for this game!

A good game, even if it's not a great one.

memories... i hope this turned out well

Maybe...maybe.

Sometimes the QL is all a need from a game, this might be one of those times.

I've been playing this game all day...I can't stop!

Been playin this game for a few hours now. Really like it. Combat reminds me of FO 1 and 2.

finally the game of the week...enjoying the hell outta this throwback game....this is the kind of game that only gets better as time passes..ala neverwinter nights

i love how they just stuck jake armitage in there right off the bat.

Mankrik's wife recently died in the Barrens and Brad is dragging all this shit back up? Too soon is an understatement, Brad. You deserve to be left out to the wandering Kodos.

I like this game, but the save system is duuuuuuuuuuuumb aaaaaaaaaassss fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

I'm really loving this game. Yes, the save system is awful, but hopefully they'll fix it. Also there are already multiple polished user made campaigns, with dozens more in development.

These Brad, Jeff and Vinny Qlooks are growing on me. Slightly filling the void with a team effort ;)

I bought this game and after 2 hours into it I realized I don't have patience for games like this. They got my money, I'm happy to support it, and I've learned a lesson. The monetary loss was worth all of that, at least.

I'm one of those crazy people that liked the multiplayer FPS Shadowrun game on 360. Terribly overpriced and lacked content and support, but the core gameplay mechanics were solid.

For anyone interested they released a new version of the tabletop rules 2 weeks ago, 5th edition (http://www.shadowruntabletop.com/). As someone who's played the game since its 2nd edition, 5th is very well put together and worth checking out.

The tabletop timeline is a bit ahead of the game, game is 2050s tabletop is 2070s

I remember inviting Jeff to play Shadowrun during the Trials TNT.

and I kinda liked that Shadowrun game everyone hated!

Right there with ya, duder! One of the most balanced console FPS out there. It took a lot of skill beyond just aim/twitch.

Only played about 3 hours so far, and I'm loving it.

@ptys: Yes, these three man QL's have been super fun. I haven't been minding the lack of live shows because all of these group efforts have been great.

This looks super cool. Might have to pick this up at some point.

It´s Ok, I'm having fun...

Unfortunate that this one is like the inferior SNES game. The Genesis Shadowrun game is one of my favorite games ever made but this one has been bumming me out. Way too linear. I want to be able to grind karma and money in this kind of game. I need an open ended structure. I like the character creation and the combat is ok for a dumbed down XCOM, but unfortunately I'm going to have to wait and hope for user generated content to make this the game I wanted it to be.

Anyone know what the hell Brad was talking about with that Barrens shit?

Am I the only one disappointed that this isn't a sequel to the X360/PC Cross-Platform Multiplayer shooter Shadowrun?

No, I got really excited cause I thought it was "Shadowrun" as well. My hopes were dashed.

I don't know what I was expecting this game to be, but it wasn't this. More intriguing than I was anticipating.

*edit: just got to them talking about the game's save method. No sale. It's not 1994 anymore.

I also liked the 360 game.

This looks like fun, especially if the user created content is any good. I'll add this to the old Steam wishlist and wait for the winter sale.

This video isn't working for me

Played this game for a few hours yesterday. Story's decent, but it feels very linear. And the combat isn't very dynamic. The animations are slow and very boring. But I'll finish it mostly to see where the story goes. Kind of a bummer though.

@cale said:

Mankrik's wife recently died in the Barrens and Brad is dragging all this shit back up? Too soon is an understatement, Brad. You deserve to be left out to the wandering Kodos.

I still don't know what this means. What was Brad talking about?

@mildmolasses: I'm pretty sure he was referring to an area in World Of Warcraft called "The Barrens".

I wouldn't call the Jake thing a huge spoiler. Harebrained showed Jake off in the first gameplay demo. But maybe I'm biased in my perspective since I've been following this since the Kickstarter. It is really hard to show any of this game without spoiling something though.

Started playing this after work last night. It is simplistic in some ways, but with enough depth to feel like a fun 90s area CRPG. I really hope this sells well. Harebrained also has another Kickstarter coming out next month. It isn't Shadowrun related, but they do still have a team working on more content for Shadowrun as well. The next story DLC from them will be in Berlin.

What people don't know about the Xbox360 shooter Shadowrun (because of a knee-jerk reaction to it using the Shadowrun license), is that it was actually a really good multiplayer shooter. No, it was not a good representation of the license. The graphics were not spectacular. The maps were limited. But the gameplay was great.

The game was based on tactical thinking rather than twitch gunplay. You could even equip auto-aim in your loadout if you wanted. Because the game wasn't about just aiming at enemies (like 99% of other FPS games). Even though headshots were more effectively than auto-aimed body shots, they only did double damage rather than instant kills (instant kill headshots homogenize guns since you'd only need to shoot 1 shot). Tuning damage so that everyone is a bullet sponge meant it took much longer for a player to die from a surprise attack. That extra amount of time unlocked a LOT of tactical gameplay opportunities that you can't get in games where enemies die before getting a chance to respond.

Instead, the Shadowrun game focused on clever use of your special abilities. For instance dropping down and shotgunning an enemy would never kill them in one hit, so I would want to teleport straight up through the ceiling while pumping the shotgun for the next shot, then teleporting back in to shoot them again, effectively protecting myself from counter-attack and creating confusion and broken line-of-sight... that is, unless he drains out my mana to stop my escape with some of his own abilities. Or he could just fly away outside my limited teleport range to escape me. Or blast me away with a gust of wind to create distance.

Tactical choices would win the day, rather than just having better aim. This is why this game was fun for me, it was different. All military shooters play the same when you instantly kill all enemies in a split second with a headshot. That kind of game gets boring after so many years of that kind of thing, especially when you have fantastic aim like mine. Instead of kicking ass through better reflexes, in Shadowrun (Xbox360), I could kick ass because I had better tactics.

@mildmolasses: It's nothing. Brad said 'too soon' for no reason whatsoever, and I just ran with it. I took that bone and I ran with it like a dog on crack.

But if you don't know what he even meant by Barrens, it was a low level zone in WoW where you would find the most reprehensible shit being talked about in the general chat. It got a bad reputation for that. When Brad said 'too soon' I just thought of someone that died in the Barrens to make a fit and Mankrik's wife came to mind. Perfect fit, if you know anything about that quest.

This game appears to be easily moddable so maybe someone will mod in save functionality because once that's fixed I'm SO BUYING THIS GAME. Digging the classic vibe.

Geek the mage first!

Seems to be more like a graphical novel than a game. Too much reading, not enough playing.

It's a good game but not my favorite. It really reminds me of when I used to play pen and paper games though. So I guess mission accomplished?

yeah, I'm convinced I'd be all over this if they patch the save stuff.

Illusions, Brad. A trick is something a whore does for money.

...Or cocaine...

Awesome week of Quick Looks!

A roleplaying game can be more than just about shooting stuff. For example planescape torment had a quite of bit text to read.

What does amaze me a bit is that some people complain about the lack of voice acting. The budget of the game was about 1.5 million dollars. Its better to spend those resources elsewhere.

Besides the older games did just fine withouth voice acting.

Loving the art style.

so much content

'magic came back, but Neuromancer happened first'

never thought of it like that :p

I really like the cyberpunk aesthetic, very cool. Gives me a original deus ex vibe.

@sixpin: I was not aware they had showed him off. I've played some P&P Shadowrun, the SNES game and the Genesis game, so I was super excited when I heard Weisman was doing this. After looking at some very basic stuff to get a feel for the gameplay I decided not to look at anything pertaining to the game so I'd be surprised when it came out. I guess that paid off!

That other KS project looks interesting, I love me my tabletop games.