Forum Overview :: Shadowrun :: I have thought long and hard about Shadowrun Returns

[quote name="Ice Cream Jonsey"]I think I should note that it is good, in my opinion. A solid B. So many Kickstarter games go nowhere. These guys worked hard and made a game. I am grading it on that curve a little. It looks beautiful, I love the music, I like hiring dudes and it's great to see your avatar running around the screen. The writing is good for a computer game. I have since decided that it is not great in general, but this is honestly a compliment as well. They could have gone in so many bad directions. It's better than serviceable. I like reading it. It does get a little lawnmowery, but that's the nature of the conversation system they picked. There is one problem with Shadowrun Returns, in my opinion, and it's just a general lack of things to "do." Where I am right now, I am entering some cultist building. I find people to talk to who I can click on. It's obvious who the talky NPCs are. I can't explore wherever I want. They are using the talking of NPCs as Doom's red keys. This is fine -- linear, but fine -- but there's just not any other option. I didn't have money to hire a companion, so it really is just my character. And the "grammar" of what I can do in this scene (and many others) is limited. Contrast this to a game like Blade Runner. Adventure games have the illusion of accepting more input when there are hot spots (which sucks, and I am glad SR doesn't have them) and by the use button. "Use snack on McCoy's dog." I don't know, but I think there's no way to approximate a gameplay element like that in SR. At one point I had to drug somebody, and I did it through talking. I wasn't able to "use chloroform on guy" -- whether that's from typing text or clicking through a menu or what, it was done by me clicking on dialogue choices. So in that respect the game seems limited. There's a ton of magic spells, it seems. But when there's just me wandering around I don't have access to all that stuff. How many verbs does the PC really have at his/her disposal? Very quickly, it seems limited for SR. Again, I am enjoying the game a lot. I wish there were better tactical options for combat as well, but I can't describe what is missing. That should be a different post. As has been stated everywhere, SR has a lot of potential. ICJ[/quote]