Shadowrun dragon fall Directors cut is a standalone version of the original Shadowrun returns DLC developed by Harebrained Schemes on Kickstarter. Shadowrun a turn based RPG set in a fantasy sci-fi cyber punk world with elves, dwarves, trolls, humans and orks is not a series I have ever really played mainly because of being a console based gamer but Jesus Christ do I feel left out after playing this. There arenβt a lot cyber-punky games out there. I guess I would be hard pressed to think of a really good one I have played that I can really remember, however I donβt think Iβll have that gap in my game genera knowledge any more.
The game starts off by putting you in the shoes of a shadow runner who has just joined a shadow runner group in an anarchic state in this worldβs version of Berlin. Straight off of the bat you are engaged in raiding some kind of data vault inside the Hartfeld mansion and briefly introduced to your companions; an old punk rocker shaman called Dietrich who probably has as many vandalism charges as he does tattoos, a women that is more machine then human which is also reflected in her cold distant personality, an ex-military troll who in the first half hour I wanted to punch so badly that I may have done some damage to my actual teeth and there leader a punky decker called Monika. As the story progresses, it turns out that this mansion is no ordinary mansion and after seeing your leader Monika being brutally fried after unsuccessfully accessing a security door and the whole team being almost killed you are thrown into events far beyond your understanding involving a terrible dragon assumed to be dead until now.
Needless to say really, the story is pretty great β the lore of the world and general atmosphere created with all the minor characters really gives depth to the story and itβs pretty easy to get lost in the very well written dialogue. Not to say that itβs a boring slog of words however. Due to the way the combat works a battle can easily erupt which surprised me. Early on in the game you have to visit a cyberpunky club/hotel to find a certain someone to gain information on just what the hell is going on, being a street samurai I couldnβt hack anything or make fancy dialogue choices (which is pretty great that thereβs a choice) so I had to pick the attack option and with one foul strike a butchered the floor manager with a machete. Really surprised that I had actually hit him with the attack animation I was stunned slightly until I realised I now had engaged in a fight and panicked a little while I tried to look for the best places to rush my guys too and get a general bearing on the situation. This was awesome, maybe thereβs no flashy sudden change in the background or great announcement youβre in a fight, but thatβs great and allows a real flow to the engagements and allows the story to progress in a real natural pace.
Mechanically the game was odd too, again not really knowing much about the series I found the levelling system to be really cool as you donβt seem to get levels for yourself, but karma points which allow you to level up certain aspects like main characteristics like strength and willpower and sub characteristics like close combat and different proficiencies with different guns which allows you to use cool new abilities. Also, depending on your race depends on how far you can come with certain qualities like trolls could obtain a lot more strength than pretty much anything- humans, elves etc. which makes sense. The class system was awesome too; itβs been a while since I had to really look into classes to decide, but when you have classes with names like βDeckerβ or βstreet samuraiβ- it canβt help but inspire interest and makes a great change to mage, warrior or healer that you get with most tactical RPG or any RPG games.
The sound was the kind of sound you expected, by this I donβt mean it was bad as it fitted with the cyberpunky grittiness of most of sci-fi Berlin, and added to the atmosphere well without being distracting and the graphics and animations were pretty sweet too and fit in with the whole general game.
Overall all I can really say is itβs a really cool, well done game, in a way it kind of feels like a really well done book with everything seeming to play into a really great cyberpunk sci-fi fantasy universe, I mean it has dragons and allows me to choose a class called street samurai. If you love a game with great depth and set in a genre that often really isnβt out there and really enjoy tactical RPGS then this a great game for you and although it may have been an attached as a DLC and now being a standalone I still didnβt feel very lost without playing Shadowrun returns. Canβt really think of a better name for a class, super cybernetic β no… Ah! Biotech Ninja.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artistβs personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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