Admittedly I didn’t know much about Shadowrun whatsoever prior to this review, so I decided to do a little research. Little did I know that the concept blossomed as a fantasy sci-fi table-top role-playing game way back in 1989. Being four years old at the time, I totally skipped and bypassed this as I was probably playing Guess Who and Hungry Hippos at that age. The concept evolved into video game format in 1993 and saw the release of the very first Shadowrun title on SNES, SEGA Genesis and Mega Drive/Mega CD. Fast forward to 2013 and we saw a flurry of titles make a comeback 20 years later with Shadowrun Returns. In subsequent years following this release, Shadowrun Dragonfall, Boston Lockdown and Hong Kong all emerged onto several platforms. After a seven-year absence, we see the combination of these games with Shadowrun Trilogy which is available on the Xbox family of consoles and at the time of writing part of the Xbox Game Pass catalogue.

Introduction & What is Included

Many of you may be thinking, what do you actually get in this trio of games. Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun Dragonfall – Director’s Cut and Shadowrun Hong Kong – Extended Edition make up the trilogy. If you’re planning on purchasing they can all be bought individually as single titles or you can buy the lot in one tidy package. Rather than attempting to explain the story behind each game as I could write pages and pages of text, I will drop the description of each taken from the Xbox store page below.

Shadowrun Returns

The unique cyberpunk-meets-fantasy world of Shadowrun has gained a huge cult following since its creation over 30 years ago. Nearly 10 years ago, creator Jordan Weisman returned to the world of Shadowrun, modernizing this classic game setting as a single-player, turn-based tactical RPG. In the urban sprawl of the Seattle metroplex, the search for a mysterious killer sets you on a trail that leads from the darkest slums to the city’s most powerful megacorps. You will need to tread carefully, enlist the aid of other runners, and master powerful forces of technology and magic in order to emerge from the shadows of Seattle unscathed.

Shadowrun Dragonfall – Director’s Cut

In 2012, magic returned to our world, awakening powerful creatures of myth and legend. Among them was the Great Dragon Feuerschwinge, who emerged without warning from the mountains of Germany, unleashing fire, death, and untold destruction across the countryside. It took German forces nearly four months to finally shoot her down – and when they did, their victory became known as The Dragonfall. It’s 42 years later – 2054 – and the world has changed. Unchecked advances in technology have blurred the line between man and machine. Elves and trolls walk among us, ruthless corporations bleed the world dry, and Feuerschwinge’s reign of terror is just a distant memory. Germany is splintered – a stable anarchy known as the “Flux State” controls the city of Berlin. It’s a place where power is ephemeral, almost anything goes, and the right connections can be the difference between success and starvation.

For you and your team of battle-scarred shadowrunners, there’s no better place to earn a quick payday. Now, a new threat is rising, one that could mean untold chaos and devastation. One that soon has you and your team caught on the wrong side of a deadly conspiracy. The only clue: whispers of the Dragonfall. Rumours that the Great Dragon Feuerschwinge may still be alive, waiting for the right moment to return…

Shadowrun Hong Kong – Extended Edition

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. As an ex-con living in Seattle, you try to make an honest living but when your foster begs you to meet him in China, things turn grim and you find out the police are trying to arrest you. And by arrest, they mean to kill you on sight! Build your team of Shadowrunners, mercenaries with big personalities who can fight using mystical or technical powers, and turn the tables on the elite corporate and the police. Through real-time exploration and turn-based action, you will be met with deadly conspiracy, corporate greed, Triads, social segregation, and gang wars.

Gameplay

Shadowrun Trilogy plays like the majority of turn-based games in the fact that you have limited moves and action points in order to attack and engage the enemy. With this being a collection of games, I won’t delve into the storylines of each since this is covered in the descriptions above and here I’ll focus on how the games play. Each title covers its own storyline with deep narrative delivered as written text. This means there is an awful lot of reading between the action and is displayed mainly to the right side of the screen similar to titles like Disco Elysium. You’ll be having conversations with decisions to make on how you respond, exploring and traversing throughout the landscape as well as digging out secrets and completing side quests.

Will it confuse me?

I am always a bit wary of jumping into games of this nature with questions already in my mind. Are there complex skill trees? Does the game handle well with a controller? To put your mind at ease, I didn’t have any obstruction or difficulty getting to grips with the grid-based move system and UI. The control system is ported across well to the console version and players will pick up the fluid and intuitive movement almost instantly. Often I get bogged down and confused with some turn-based strategy games but Shadowrun was simple to understand and getting to grips with the attack, move and heal elements was a breeze. Character customisation and selection are done at the very beginning along with your class and skillsets. These are dead easy to understand with small written explanations of what you’re pouring skill points into before you commit. I never got a sense as I do with other games of “what does this even mean”.

There were some frustrating areas during play such as missing attacks constantly with a high percentage hit rate only to receive a barrage of damage back. Some areas were slightly clunky to navigate and I sometimes got stuck in claustrophobic or tight corners. The combat did come across as a little repetitive after some time with lacklustre animations. Whilst there were some magical powers and elements to play around with, they weren’t mind-blowing to use. That said, there is a great variety of weaponry and other objects to sift through and use.

How Does it Look?

By far the most impressive is the game’s visual presentation. With the cyberpunk-esque backdrops and environments along with great character design and customisation, it just makes for a great turn-based immersive adventure. The lack of narration and a large amount of reading may turn some people off, but it isn’t a deal breaker in my opinion. Remembering that these games emerged after successful Kickstarter ventures, it’s refreshing to see how these games have evolved. I loved that the atmosphere certainly felt different across the three different titles and whilst the gameplay felt very much the same throughout them all, the aesthetics were a refreshing variance. I especially adored the neon lighting and art style of Hong Kong.

In Conclusion

I always have mixed feelings about turn-based games because if they don’t hit right then they turn me off almost immediately. It’s only natural to compare every game in the genre to the greats such as XCOM and the Shadowrun Trilogy is almost within touching distance. If you’re looking for some turn-based goodness that isn’t overly complicated and complex with simplistic controls in a beautiful Cyberpunk setting, then this will be right up your street. It would be nice now that the solid foundations are set, to see developers Harebrained Schemes and Codeglue work on some fresh titles in the Shadowrun universe with Paradox Interactive. If you’re on Xbox then you can download them individually and give them a try with Xbox Game Pass. I’d recommend starting with Shadowrun Returns and if you enjoy this then you’ll love the others.