Shadowrun: Dragonfall (Switch)

Starting out as the first major piece of DLC for the original Shadowrun Returns, Dragonfall went on to get a fully functioning solo upgrade of its own soon after.  It changes the setting of our murky world of magic and science to the streets and shadows of Berlin and does things a little differently than before and is all the better for it.

Having fled Berlin after a betrayal, your new character soon finds themselves on a job described as a ‘milk run’ with an old friend. In Shadowrun things are never usually as simple as they seem and predictably things go wrong quickly and keep getting worse. You soon uncover a dangerous secret and by then it’s too late to back out. Just remember – never cut a deal with a dragon.

One of the areas where Dragonfall differs from the original in that you now have a consistent pool of runners to choose before going into each mission. This means that the writers have been given more scope to build up the personalities of your team who occupy the now expanded hub area. More team members can be picked up during missions as well and it means players are rarely faced with situations that they are completely unequipped for. Instead, the missions become more about how you want to go about completing them which removes a lot of the frustration found in Shadowrun Returns where you could find yourself grinding through with a poorly chosen team.

The mechanics themselves are pretty much the same as before. The core rule set of the original game was always decent and here you get to see how flexible it can be as you now have specifically designed characters to use in levels created for their skill set. Level design is also of a higher standard for the most part with more optional objectives and a better way of picking up and identifying side quests that helps to build the illusion of player freedom.

Unfortunately, the matrix sections are still dull and uninspired. These needed a complete overhaul from pretty much the first day of the PC release and have got no better with age. The series really would benefit from taking these sections back to the drawing board though as they seem to drag on endlessly and lack pace and excitement. One other minor criticism is that Berlin looks an awful lot like the Seattle of the first game. It would have been nice to give it more of a visual identity as it’s certainly an iconic city.  People at least talk in a German accent for the most part.

On top of this the Switch version has some quite nasty bugs. From our experience these seem to be mainly restricted to the hub area between missions, but we wouldn’t bet on everyone saying the same. The frame rate skips badly here, and players seem to teleport around. You also lose the lock on information for both objects and people which then involves a little dance as you try and interact with what you want to. The game also locked a couple of times when changing areas and once we completely lost the camera which just refused to follow our movements. We should highlight this was restricted to the hub area, during missions we found this didn’t happen which at least meant we never died because of it but maybe that’s just us. It also suffers a bit from handheld play with some small text and no improvement with regards to colourblind users since the original game, something that was always a bit of an issue.

Dragonfall is basically more of the same but refined and improved in a number of key areas. If you liked Shadowrun Returns then you should love this as just about every aspect from story to mission design is improved. It does need a patch though as the hub area does just about all it can to break the immersion currently. If you can put up with that there’s still a lot to like about Dragonfall, it’s just not the game it was on PC currently.

Overall 7/10

*since this review was written a patch has been issued which does stabilise the frame rate. 

Shadowrun: Hong Kong Review (PC)

Shadowrun Returns was a welcome revival of the magic and technology based series and Dragonfall was a further improvement as the development team focused its level design around a pre conceived group of runners. Shadowrun: Hong Kong has arrived with a little bit less of a fanfare but we still had high hopes that the third outing into the murky world would build on the success of the first two games.

Hong Kong’s story is one of mystery and it builds an excellent tale for players to try and unravel. Out of the three games this is the one that feels most like a Noir thriller and the neon skyline associated with the city certainly gives it a bit of a Blade Runner feel. You start out with a message from your adopted father to meet him in Hong Kong as soon as possible. Upon arrival you meet your brother at the docks and then everything goes wrong very quickly.

If there is one criticism of the plot it’s that it can be a bit wordy at times. Characters will have seemed to have finished what they are talking about only to go onto something else on too many occasions and it stops you getting to the heart of action for a little too long. That said, it certainly helps to build the world and the story is strong overall. However, It would have been better to cut out some of the exposition and show more through characters action as this would give a bit more pace to things.

In terms of the general flow of the game very little has changed for the most part. You still wander around locations looking for clues by clicking the mouse and combat remains turn based. If you sneak up on enemies you can now position yourselves and fire on them first before they see you though. This adds another small layer of strategy to the game but most of the time combat is initiated as a result of conversations anyway so it isn’t used as much as it perhaps could have been.

The biggest area which has changed is when you are inside the matrix. Now instead of everything being turn based you start out by having free movement. The enemy defence programmes cycle around set patterns and if you are skilled enough you can dart around between them without initiating combat. If you do get seen then it changes back to the traditional format found in the previous two games. 

The matrix sections of all the games are the thing that really holds them back and they need a complete overhaul. Replacing combat at street level with boring combat inside computers is not great and for the series to progress something else needs to be done with it. Both the Super Nintendo and Mega Drive games treated the matrix differently from the main game and it’s something that really needs to be done with the new games as well.

Matrix grumbling aside there isn’t really much else to complain about. There’s the odd difficulty spike (mainly matrix related and especially noticeable late on), but on the whole everything is how you would want it to be. There’s a wide variety of shadowrunners to enlist and a sizable amount of side quests to get involved with. The locations fit the Hong Kong setting well and the characters are interesting and diverse. The setting is rich with atmosphere as well with a simply outstanding soundtrack accompanying the neon-lit Cantonese designs of the buildings and street layouts.

Overall, the third game in the Shadowrun series keeps up the overall quality we have now come to expect from Harebrained Schemes. The formula is still working for the most part and though the format is getting a little tired it’s hard not to get lost in such a rich world. This is also undoubtedly the best mystery of the three games and we found it very difficult to put down. Fans of the other games and the franchise as a whole will have little to complain about and for newcomers to the series there’s nothing here that will alienate you. Another job well done but those matrix sections really need to be changed now as they are stopping the series reaching true greatness.

Overall 8/10

Shadowrun: Dragonfall Review (PC)

The first major piece of DLC (you’ll need the original game to play it), for the recent Shadowrun Returns changes the setting of our murky world of magic and science to the streets and shadows of Berlin. A standalone campaign set around the same timeframe as the original game, Dragonfall does things a little differently than before and is all the better for it.

Having fled Berlin after a betrayal, your new character soon finds themselves on a job described as a ‘milk run’ with an old friend. In Shadowrun things are never usually as simple as they seem and predictably things go wrong quickly and keep getting worse. You soon uncover a dangerous secret and by then it’s too late to back out. Just remember – never cut a deal with a dragon.

One of the areas where Dragonfall differs from the original game is that you now have a consistent pool of runners to choose before going into each mission. This means that the writers have been given more scope to build up the personalities of your team who occupy the now expanded hub area. More team members can be picked up during missions as well and it means players are rarely faced with situations that they are completely unequipped for. Instead, the missions become more about how you want to go about completing them which removes a lot of the frustration found in Shadowrun Returns where you could find yourself grinding through with a poorly chosen team.

Another major addition (which has also been added to the base game), is the ability to save anywhere. Having to repeat large sections of dialogue or dying at the end of a mission and having to restart an hour’s worth of play are now long gone. This may remove some of the tension but it helps the flow and pace of the game no end, something that should be celebrated in what is a story heavy affair. 

The mechanics themselves are pretty much the same as before. The core rule set of the original game was always decent and here you get to see how flexible it can be as you now have specifically designed characters to use in levels created for their skill set. Level design is also of a higher standard for the most part with more optional objectives and a better way of picking up and identifying side quests that helps to build the illusion of player freedom.

Unfortunately, the matrix sections are still dull an uninspired. Without a complete overhaul of how these play we can’t see how jacking into computers will become more exciting in the future. The series really would benefit from taking these sections back to the drawing board though as they seem to drag on endlessly and lack pace and excitement. One other minor criticism is that Berlin looks an awful lot like the Seattle of the first game. It would have been nice to give it more of a visual identity as it’s certainly an iconic city.  People at least talk in a German accent for the most part.

Dragon Fall is basically more of the same but refined and improved in a number of key areas. If you liked Shadowrun Returns then you should love this as just about every aspect from story to mission design is improved. It’s a highly promising start for the first piece of DLC and it makes us genuinely excited about the potential for more in the future.

Overall 8/10