Harebrained Schemes' Shadowrun games

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Harebrained Schemes' Shadowrun games




Can't contain your excitement for the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077? Don't worry, Shadowrun: Dragonfall is here to quench your thirst. It's the follow-up campaign to Shadowrun Returns and has been hauled as a massive improvement over the original.

Dragonfall features a completely new campaign set in the German city state of Berlin. The game features an excellent cast of companions all with their own background stories and quests and they will accompany you on your adventures to discover the secret behind a simple break-in gone wrong. You are a shadowrunner, a name used to designate elite criminals hired to solve the dirty work of corporations and influential individuals. The combat is turn-based and there are different classes such as deckers, street samurais and shamans.

Together with Divinity: Original Sin, Shadowrun: Dragonfall was my favourite game of 2014 and I consider it a must-have for anyone who is into cyberpunk.

Screenshots:



 
It's been a while since Dragonfall came out, but yeah it's much better than Dead Man's Switch, the original campaign. Not quite classic cRPG material, but then again what is?

Look around some other threads in this forum. Some of us already commented this game :)
 
Aaand here we go:



The team that brought you the award-winning Shadowrun Returns and Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director’s Cut are back with an all new, full length standalone cyberpunk tactical cRPG set in Shadowrun's magically Awakened Hong Kong of 2056.



HONG KONG. A stable and prosperous port of call in a sea of chaos, warfare, and political turmoil. The Hong Kong Free Enterprise Zone is a land of contradictions - it is one of the most successful centers of business in the Sixth World, and home to one of the world’s most dangerous sprawl sites. A land of bright lights, gleaming towers, and restless spirits where life is cheap and everything is for sale.

The lure of a quick payday draws you from Seattle into the neon glow of Victoria Harbor… and into a corporate conspiracy nearly thirty years in the making. A terrifying threat looms on the horizon - a supernatural force that corrupts and consumes everything it touches. Dragged into the shadows of Kowloon City, you will need to forge new connections and gain "face" to survive.

Hong Kong contains fantastic elements for a new Shadowrun setting: an underworld of triads, tongs, and gangs to navigate, wild magic to harness, and bleeding edge cybertech to equip. Plus, Hong Kong’s culture is steeped in "guanxi" - a network of influence and relationships based upon a combination of social status, and prestige. All of these elements add up to a great new setting for running the shadows.





Shadowrun: Hong Kong has everything you expect from a Harebrained Schemes Shadowrun game: strong storytelling and sharp writing, lots of morally gray choices, a crew of memorable characters with distinct personalities, challenging tactical turn-based combat, a robust character creation system, and a one of a kind cyberpunk-meets-magic game setting that’s endured for over 25 years.

Our Backers voted for Hong Kong as the next city for us to bring to life and we’re excited to be working on it!

Your New Crew

Just as in Dragonfall, our Hong Kong story will feature a crew of flawed, dangerous runners with backstories that can only happen in the tech-meets-magic Shadowrun setting. (Check out the "Co-Funding Goals" Section below for another character we'd love to add!)

And, as introduced in Dragonfall, you'll be able to guide your crew's advancement by choosing special abilities on their Growth Tracks to complement the choices you make for your own character.



Gobbet is an ork street shaman and a follower of Rat. Her devotion to her totem has granted her unique abilities to control the battlefield, trapping her enemies behind barriers of coruscating magic and herding them with clouds of blistering poison.

Territoriality Track: Focuses on battlefield control by buffing Gobbet’s barrier spells (increasing damage, increasing the number of tiles affected) and planting AOE damage spells, such as Toxic Fog. She also gains the ability to destroy or consume summoned spirits, eliminating threats from enemy shamans.

Spiritualist Track: This track focuses on improving Gobbet’s control over summoned spirits. She can reduce the chance that they slip out of her control, and even seize control of hostile spirits summoned by her enemies. Progressing down this track turns Gobbet into a versatile and powerful summoner.



Wu is a veteran security expert with years of sprawl-site combat experience. He has the muscle and the weaponry to either beat his targets into submission or to break them outright, depending on the demands of the situation.

Crowd Control Track: Focuses on a variety of non-lethal attacks that inflict stun (-AP) effects. Progressing down this track unlocks a shock baton, tear gas grenades, and zip ties to subdue stunned enemies.

Lethal Force Track: Focuses on inflicting lethal ranged damage. Progressing down this track gives Wu attack abilities such as Mercy Kill, which does additional damage and has a higher to-hit percentage on targets who are close to death.



Is0bel is a dwarf decker with the tools and the expertise to clear her own way to a target mainframe. Trained for combat by a cabal of hacktivists, she’s as deadly in meat-space as she is in the Matrix.

Espionage Track: Increases Is0bel’s decking skills and her Mark Target ability. Progressing down this tree unlocks new custom programs/abilities for use in the Matrix, as well as custom Expert System Programs (ESPs).

Sabotage Track: Is0bel carries a sniper rifle for meat-space skirmishes. Her arsenal also includes proximity mines that she can use to create traps for her enemies. This track increases and adds to the effects caused by these weapons, unlocking higher-yield explosives and Flechettes that strip armor from enemies.



Who's Racter?

Racter is a human rigger we'd love to add to the game. Check our "Funding Goals" Section to learn more!

Shadowrun: Hong Kong contains all the features of Shadowrun Returns and builds upon the engine and gameplay upgrades we added to Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut (including the ability to save your game anywhere).

PC Only Release

Shadowrun: Hong Kong
is being developed for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems only. We have elected to focus all our efforts on PC in order to deliver the best game we can without the current processing and memory limitations of tablets. This focus allows us to have higher-fidelity visuals, larger map sizes, and more stuff on screen.

Why Kickstarter?

Because we want to do more.

We're totally committed to making Shadowrun: Hong Kong and we're already several months into development. The project is budgeted, fully staffed, and on-schedule for a mid-2015 release. We also have a story we're really excited about. At our current budget, it's going to be 12+ hours long and at the quality level of Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut.

But this is Harebrained Schemes and, as always, we have more ideas than we have budget.

That's where you come in.

By backing the project, you'll increase our production budget and get more features, more improvements, and more game. Take a look at the funding goals below to see all the stuff we want to add.

Now, we could always talk to traditional publishing partners, but we’re pretty independent-minded around here and we only want to serve one master - our audience.

We're gonna ship a great game and it can be even greater with your help. Our last adventure together was a blast and we think the results speak for themselves. So help co-fund our third Shadowrun game, Shadowrun: Hong Kong, and let's make the best Shadowrun game yet!



Here's an initial list of stuff we'd love to add to Shadowrun: Hong Kong. With your generous support, this list will continue to grow!

$100,000 - Enhanced Player Controls! In addition to all the new Tech, Magic, Weapons, Consumables, Creatures, and Enemies we're already planning, if we reach our initial funding goal, we’ll add a bunch of interface upgrades. These include the ability to decide which team member picks up an item in free-move mode, item swapping between party members, a player-initiated turn-mode toggle so you can position your team before you enter combat, and a spread-range indicator for shotguns and sweeping melee attacks.

$150,000 - Animatic Scene Transitions! These are short animated slide shows with voice narration that play at key points in the story - the opening, end of Act 1, end of Act 2, and at the end.

$200,000 - Racter joins your team of runners! Racter is a Russian rigger with a wry smile who relates better to his custom drone than he does to people. We'll tell you about Racter's unique gameplay abilities and player-influenced upgrade paths when we get closer to unlocking him.

$250,000 - More Animatic endings! If we hit this goal, we'll be able to create multiple animatic endings for the story to reflect the choices you make in the game.

$300,000 - Gobbet's personal side mission! Dive deep into the backstory of your team's resident Rat shaman. Gobbet's absurdist philosophy and impulsive nature have led her on a twisting path through life. In her personal mission, you'll get the chance to walk that path with her and see for yourself where Rat takes you.
kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/shadowrun-hong-kong
 
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1. Fund your 1st game through Kickstarter and avoid risking any of your own money.
2. Sell the game funded by others to earn even more.
3. Fund the 2nd game through Kickstarter and avoid risking any of your own money that you earned from the 1st game.
4. Repeat ad nauseam.
5. Profit.
 
1. Fund your 1st game through Kickstarter and avoid risking any of your own money.
2. Sell the game funded by others to earn even more.
3. Fund the 2nd game through Kickstarter and avoid risking any of your own money that you earned from the 1st game.
4. Repeat ad nauseam.
5. Profit.

Normally I'd agree, but keep in mind that people get copies of the game for backing them on KS, often for cheaper than the full price, meaning that they lose on sales by doing KS funding. If they feel like they don't have enough to invest and make the game they want, I would personally prefer they go the KS route than look for a publisher. The question, of course, is: could they have done this without KS.
 
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Normally I'd agree, but keep in mind that people get copies of the game for backing them on KS, often for cheaper than the full price, meaning that they lose on sales by doing KS funding.

Yep, they get DIGITAL copies so it costs them near to nothing to distribute really.

And TBH there's no such thing as "full price", especially with KS backed games. Anything above 0 is "full price" in this case.
 
Yep, they get DIGITAL copies so it costs them near to nothing to distribute really.

And TBH there's no such thing as "full price", especially with KS backed games. Anything above 0 is "full price" in this case.

As far as I know, Shadowrun is only distributed digitally. Anyway, none of this changes the fact that KS is essentially pre-ordering. Except that they actually use that dosh on development.
 
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Considering what they did with Dragonfall, I don't think there can be any doubt that this new expansion will be awesome.

We know Kickstarter is questionable and some people either love it or hate it. I am honestly indifferent in terms of KS as *just* a funding source. What I am strongly in favor is of KS as a source for CROWD FUNDING games that otherwise wouldn't exist.

Sure they might have profited from the first game, but like ReptilePZ said this essentially preordering (only because it is a reputable developer with an excellent recent track record) for cheaper. If we go by the logic of how much we think digital content costs, GOG should give their games for free. What we forget is digital content needs to pay for storage space, bandwidth, salaries of artists and developers, support, etc. You know, a bunch of invisible things.
 
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As far as I know, Shadowrun is only distributed digitally. Anyway, none of this changes the fact that KS is essentially pre-ordering. Except that they actually use that dosh on development.

It's not the same as pre-ordering because the development philosophy is competely different. Kickstarter projects are transparent and devs do open development and actively implement feedback. In a traditional pre-order situation you only but a future game. In a kickstarter situation you also "buy into" the whole integration of the community and the whole development process. To me, that's a big difference.

Anyway, I've already backed the game. There cannot be enough good CRPGs... :)


1. Fund your 1st game through Kickstarter and avoid risking any of your own money.
2. Sell the game funded by others to earn even more.
3. Fund the 2nd game through Kickstarter and avoid risking any of your own money that you earned from the 1st game.
4. Repeat ad nauseam.
5. Profit.
1. Fund you 1st game by a traditional publishing contract and avoid risking any of your own money.
2. Sell the game funded by others without earning anything.
3. Fund the 2nd game by a traditional publishing contract and avoid risking any of your money that you earned from the 1st game.
4. Repeat ad nauseam.

Where's the big difference? The only difference I see is that they actually own their licenses/IPs and get sales from their games which is a good thing. Why giving money to the publisher if you don't need him.

But just for your information: you're wrong here anyway. Harebrained indeed invested their own money into this game. They almost completely self-financed the game to be precise. The kickstarter campaign is just for "updates" and additional features so you can't really accuse them of "avoiding any risk" or not investing their own money. Pretty much the opposite is true. Like for example Divinity Original Sin the devs indeed used the money they've earnt with previous games and contracts to fund the basic development of the game... ;)
 
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It's not the same as pre-ordering because the development philosophy is competely different. Kickstarter projects are transparent and devs do open development and actively implement feedback. In a traditional pre-order situation you only but a future game. In a kickstarter situation you also "buy into" the whole integration of the community and the whole development process. To me, that's a big difference.

Anyway, I've already backed the game. There cannot be enough good CRPGs...

Well, yeah, I never said it is just pre-ordering, but that, in its essence, users pre-order the game, not just fund it. So, the developer is trading sales for budget. The point being that the situation is more complex than the steps gregski described, not that KS is exactly the same as pre-ordering. The bottomline is that there are some benefits to using KS but there are also drawbacks, which, in my mind, balances things out. Both on the consumer's and the developer's end.
 
1. Fund your 1st game through Kickstarter and avoid risking any of your own money.
2. Sell the game funded by others to earn even more.
3. Fund the 2nd game through Kickstarter and avoid risking any of your own money that you earned from the 1st game.
4. Repeat ad nauseam.
5. Profit.
My thoughts exactly. On top of that, in the meantime, other projects that really need funding don't get the spotlight.
 
My thoughts exactly. On top of that, in the meantime, other projects that really need funding don't get the spotlight.

Like what projects?

Are you familiar with Kicking it Forward? Did you know developers like inXile regularly promote other projects in their news emails?

But how dare companies not sell out to publishers, right? How dare they change a system we love, where the middleman makes a huge profit? Change is such a bad idea.
 
Oh, you call it change. Interesting.

I've got nothing against companies using Kickstarter to make their games, if the game wouldn't come to life otherwise.

They're saying they already have all they need to make the game but they need this extra money to "improve" it.
Instead of giving money to make something I care about come true, I would give money for... stretch goals?

"More better sound." "Enhanced player controls." "A personal quest for a character I don't know."

:facepalm:

...Instead of having people doing their jobs and having proper schedule and project management?
They already know when they'll release the game, for Fuck sake.

At this point it reminds me of this movie that needed money, starring Rupert Grint, Charles Dance and Sean Bean (among others).
They chose to cast those actors and yet still needed money? The difference is people didn't go farther than the initial goal, while Shadowrun will get millions thanks to people "generosity".
 
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That's great and all, but what you've explained is why you find it annoying, not why it's objectively bad or how it is not change. In the end, it's a buyer's market. If people believe this KS deserves "millions," while the 20 others do not, more power to them.
 
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Well I've never tried to tell the Truth in a video game forum unfortunately, I'm stuck with giving my opinion since I realised objectivity didn't exist in most matters 20 years ago.

And I wholefully agree; if people believe a KS campaign for stretch goals (for a PC game) deserves millions, more power to them. The same for DLCs and pre-ordering -- that's not my money after all.
 
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Okay.

Anyway, to bring this back to the topic of the actual game, they said that you're basically starting over again, no character imports. I don't know how I feel about that. I mean, I know Dragonfall did the same thing, and it gives them more freedom to explore different settings and characters, but I do also appreciate a longer narrative that spans over several games, I feel like it allows the player to establish a deeper connection with the characters and the story.
 
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On the other hand if they allowed character imports we would start way too overpowered. In both Shadowrun Returns campaigns so far there is quick growth in abilities (not raw attributes) which somewhat makes sense considering what you go through. If you get to keep your character's experience points the game would either be too easy or so high level that it'd be completely ridiculous.

A real life example of an excellent series gone slightly over the top: Throne of Bhaal. While a good, fun game on its own, there is no doubt that you're already playing with demi-gods for D&D standards.

I actually appreciate the low key elements of a cyberpunk setting, with believable struggles despite the (limited) access to technology (and in this case magic). So, if our experience is going to be wiped clean, why not use different characters altogether?

Another argument in favor of no imports: why on Earth would our piss poor team travel all over the world when there are plenty of shadowrunners everywhere?

Now, what they could do is develop and overarching story involving some kind of world scale conflict and with each new city we get to see more of it. Shouldn't be hard considering the power and influence of mega corporations.
 
Ooh is Kickstarter up, grand, think i'll stick down a bit of cash, get a cheap game and support dev directly. Nice bit of give and take.
 
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