Their dialogue is fluid, unfolding in a way that feels uncannily natural, but it’s not just the cadence of the writing that manages to reel players in, it’s how those characters are forged.
Despite this being such a futuristic world, these characters feel as alive as any seen in video games in quite some time. The writing doesn’t just serve to hammer out plot twists and grand unveilings - no, it manages to build a Rolodex of characters that are every bit as likable as they are relatable. Fortunately, Hong Kong not only succeeds at meeting these lofty standards, but surpasses them, ultimately resulting in one of the most sharply written roleplaying experiences in recent memory. As a cRPG, narrative fidelity is just expected, especially given Dragonfall‘s success in this domain, but then also the benchmark set by wordsmith masterpieces like Pillars of Eternity. This gritty world is brought to life by the continued excellent writing that has been one of the many superb aspects of Harebrained’s take on the Shadowrun universe. Suffice to say, Shadowrun’s setting is a seedy one crime, murder, betrayal, greed… they’re all ripe for the picking here in Hong Kong, as they have been in all past installments of the series, except they are delivered upon with even more precision in this latest standalone endeavor. Hong Kong is set in a sort of Bladerunner, tech-meets-magic dystopian future where morality is never black and white, and one can get practically anything for a price or through means of violence. That’s a lot of Shadowrun, right? Seeing as annual franchises often go to the well once too often, Hong Kong - despite Harebrained’s now impressive resume - comes with trepidation of its own: do we really need another Shadowrun game already?
Here we are now in 2015 with Hong Kong, the third Shadowrun in three years. Of course, that anxiety disappeared the moment the game released and then became but a fleeting memory when the even more wonderful Dragonfallexpansion launched last year. Needless to say, audiences were worried about Shadowrun Returns.
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After all, the series has had a spotty past in the world of gaming, spawning both great games (like the SNES/Genesis entry) and just mediocre ones (like the multiplayer-centric Shadowrun for Xbox 360 and Windows). When Harebrained Schemes first came onto the scene back in 2013, fans weren’t sure what the brand new studio (comprised of industry veterans, mind you) were going to do with the beloved tabletop roleplaying game Shadowrun.
In this day and age of gaming, it’s rare to find a developer that consistently releases not just good titles, but fantastic ones.
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