Shadowrun Returns

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

Shadowrun Returns is an interesting little PC game. You could get it here:

Unlike most Kickstarter campaigns, it wasn't run with the idea that the people behind it just sort of deserved the money and really, you were paying them for all the hard work they managed in running their campaign. They weren't all that late. (10 months.) They created an expansion called Dragonfall that I haven't played but many people liked.

I played it for a few hours when it was first released, then got onto other things. I came back to it last night. Here are some thoughts about returning to a game after a long layoff:

- I really appreciated having quest guides telling me what I needed to do to get past the level I was on. Those are critical - not really for people playing the thing in one swoop, but to remember where you are.

- Because the thing has been continually patched, I always wonder if weird behavior or behavior I can't explain is because of a patch or because something was clearly explained and I just forgot.

I played a lot of Wasteland before my vacation and the difference between Shadowrun Returns and Wasteland can be summed up with a BANG. In other words, when the guns go bang in Shadowrun you actually freaking hit someone. Don't get me wrong, love Wasteland 2. But wow, was it nice to aim, fire and shoot a guy in the face and kill him in two turns.

I know that games come out at a rate that eclipses any other rate in history. There were more games that came out in 2013/2014 that I want to try than I could realistically get to in 5 years. If I had two solid weeks of no commitments, I might be able to TRY all the games I grabbed in the Steam sale. And I mean the games that look good! I bought games just to have them, and I am not even counting those.

There's a new Kickstarter campaign for another expansion for Shadowrun Returns. I am not going to pledge because I have a few hundred bucks sitting out there on products that haven't been delivered through Kickstarter, and this new campaign (Hong Kong) already made it's goal 3 times over. (They have $300,000 and asked for $100,000.) It's fun to see this franchise pick up and take off. I wish them well.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

One more thing - you can hire NPCs in the game. I like that concept. I can't tell if I found a bug or if I didn't hire any NPCs for the msision I am now on.

I was supposed to open an alley for my other dudes, which I did. But nobody came. And all the game's dialogue indicates that a team has infiltrated this one base. (Use of "we" instead of "I.") I wish I could remember if I had a team or not!