Shadowrun Returns Review

Now, evidently the boys and girls at Harebrained Schemes weren't taking notes the evening that the checkpoint systems were explained, because Shadowrun Returns hoards its checkpoints like Smaug hoards priceless dwarven artefacts. You only ever get a save when you hit a loading screen and some of these loading screens can be anywhere from five minutes to nearly an hour apart, which is the point where gameplay stops being merely bland and starts being a catalyst in the slow erosion of your sanity. You could argue that it's an effective way to put some weight on the player character's life, but it just feels crude and unnecessary, like smacking us around the head and shoulders with a welding torch every time we take damage. And why, come to think of it, do we only get the game over when our player character is downed? Are all the squadmates too overcome with grief to pull out the revive kit I know they have concealed in their pockets?

And then there’s dialogue like this, which drops all pretence of choice and gives you three ways to say the exact same thing

Sometimes I feel a little bit guilty about pointing out the rough edges on indie games, since it feels like a level of nitpicking that really ought to be reserved for titles that can afford more polish, but then I remember that rough edges tend to rub against you as time goes by, and if you try to ignore them then they'll just keep coming back until it looks like you took a belt sander to the face, so let's get this over and done with. Shadowrun Returns earned a massive gripe right out of the gate for failing to adequately explain the skill tree, leaving me to pour several points into skills I was never likely to use. Such a stumbling block only managed to set me up for further picking of aforementioned nits when I discovered that the animations in Shadowrun Returns were apparently made in Windows 3D Movie Maker. Magical projectiles sail through the air without any kind of weight or substance to them, characters slide awkwardly as they walk and recoil from damage as if brushing away an annoying mosquito. It's the kind of thing that I'd call 'underwhelming' if I was in a genial mood and 'immersion-breakingly weak' if I wasn't. Finally, while I appreciate the work that went into the gorgeous hand-drawn 2D scenery, I don't think I've ever missed the ability to rotate the camera quite so much. Trying to navigate terrain that you can't necessarily see behind is a task that ought to be reserved for the TV repair man, not for the player.

Shadowrun Returns really does shine here and there though. If I had a magical pair of pliers that could extract any aspect of a game and condense it into a suitable form, I'd tear out Shadowrun Returns's writing, because it's honestly quite exquisite and deserves to be patched into a far better game. I ravenously consumed every line of text - item descriptions, loading screens, dialogue options, milk bottle tops, bank statements - because it was just so well-crafted, a throwback to some of the better point-and-click adventure games where rubbing every item on everything else became entertaining simply because of the varied textual responses you would get. Characters were decently well-rounded and fleshed out, even the shopkeepers and random passers-by that existed only to facilitate the transfer of goods. Here and there I was granted glimpses into a world with far more terrifically alluring depth than what Shadowrun Returns granted me, and it actually became quite painful, akin to having your face pressed up against the sweet shop window and trying to get a taste of the Mint Twizzlers by licking the glass.

At the end of the day, Shadowrun Returns is passable. It doesn't excite or surprise, and it has more than its fair share of flaws, but it's not particularly offensive and manages to dish out a fair share of fun once it gets rolling. If you wanted a conclusive reason to buy it - and perhaps you do - then I can only point out that an expansion with a bigger budget would do a world of good to Shadowrun Returns. Not to spend on voice acting or more art assets or anything foolish like that, but to throw at unnecessary features; fleshing out the game world with exquisite detail, right down to the backs of the cereal packets lying in the gutter, or adding a spell that summons a glittering disco ball mid-fight. But right now? Don't expect anything special.