Shadowrun Hong Kong is the third of the flawed but enjoyable trilogy of Shadowrun games by Haredbrained Schemes. Hong Kong is not very different from its predecessors, Dead Man’s Switch and Dragonfall. If you liked the previous entries on the series, then you will like Shadowrun Hong Kong. If you disliked the old entries, then this isn’t the game that is going to change your mind.
While it might feel lazy to put it in those terms, perhaps an anecdote will help illustrate this. At one point in the middle of the game I came across an intelligence check. Confident that my character could pass it, I went ahead with that route, only to find that the intelligence option is not available. I remembered getting an Encephalon NEXT cyberware implant that improves intelligence a few hours ago. Confused, I checked my character sheet to realize this was not the character that had gotten the implants, it was the one from Dragonfall. The games just start to blend together after a while.
I wish we had more of the new cut scenes.
Make no mistake, there are still changes in Shadowrun Hong Kong. The most evident of these is the revamped Matrix, which now works as a sneaking section of sorts. As you run into tracking IC, or fight defender IC, they will increase your track level. After a certain threshold, an alarm will sound and more heavy duty IC will come to try and stop your decker. While it is a valid tactic to just get the alarm going to just eliminate all the IC and move freely over the Matrix, setting off alarms in the matrix can set off alarms in the real world too. This can make your life very difficult. Later in the game the system response also becomes lethal, bringing in scores of Black IC. There is also a new hacking mini game to get data and access nodes in the Matrix. Failing the minigame will also raise your tracking level. This makes the Matrix in general feel different from the main game, and it makes it more challenging than it was in past entries.
There are occasional cutscenes in the game, which are also voice acted, hand drawn, and animated. They are very well done, and add a touch of flair to the story telling for Shadowrun Hong Kong with the unfortunate side effect of being rather sparse. The game could have greatly benefited from more of them. A lot of the story action still happens through flavor text, which is fine, but a little jarring after seeing their brand new cut scenes.
The New Matrix
Some of the other changes are more subtle, but at the same time have also have a bigger effect. Both Karma and money are tighter, which means that you will need to plan your build in advanced not only in terms of your Karma allocation, but you will also need to consider equipment. Nuyen will be so tight, that I can imagine that some combinations might be impossible to afford. For example a rigger/decker combination will be tricky if you are trying to get the best deck, best drones, and decent weapons and armors. Not to mention any healing items, or enhancements that you may need to make the character viable.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It makes the game more challenging. It forces focus, and it makes the player think about their desired role on the team, and by extension think about their entire team’s role more. The main character is no longer a god that can hack, summon spirits, fight, rig, and talk their way out of everything. No longer a being for whom teammates are naught but sentient bullet sponges. But if you come from playing Dragonfall and Returns, you may realize this too late and might make some bad choices for your character.
Cyberware has also been improved
This became a problem during the final mission of the game, where the decker the story provides was just not good enough to do what the story required. And you HAVE to have a decker for this mission. There is no other way to do what the game requires from you. And so, and the end of the game I was left with a feeling that I was being punished for daring to choose to play a street samurai with social skills rather than a decker. Hong Kong has by far the most options for character building out of all of the games, especially for the magical classes, so the lack of any forethought put on a mission that is so far in the game, and that is necessary to finish it felt particularly glaring to me.
I think its more than fair to say that Harebrained Schemes has nailed the feel and lore of the setting, as well as the plot. The system that debuted in Dragonfall where you got to craft your character’s background from the replies you give to questions is back and it works very well. This time the story feels more personal than in the previous games, and it engaged me enough to make me want to see the game through. The pacing also feels improved, where the story missions and your money making missions are intertwined with the game. Additional plot building happens between missions regardless of what kind of mission you choose to do, and this goes a long way to making the plot feel organic rather than just having the world waiting for you to act in order to move on.
You can still fight hot trolls in lingerie.
Of course, the shared engine that was used in the last two games is being used for Shadowrun Hong Kong, and so this means the long standing issues I have with the series are still there. There are occasional bugs with quests flags, for example grabbing quest items in the wrong arbitrary sequence might cause the game to think you don’t have them. The game still feels too restrictive and compartmentalized. It never feels like you have a city to run in, but rather that you are lead through areas at the convenience of the plot. In a world where games like Divinity, Pillars of Eternity, and Wasteland 2 are being released it feels this limiting engine is preventing Shadowrun from reaching the immense potential the franchise has.
Despite my complaints, I did enjoy the game. The story is great and while I don’t like the supporting cast as much as I liked the group from Dragonfall, they are still great, solid characters. In general the changes that were made have improved the game, but things haven’t been revamped enough. Some of the design choices of the game, and I think that rests entirely on the engine. The original purpose of this engine was that players would be able to make their own adventures. However, looking at the paltry 14 pieces of content in the workshop (only three of them adventures) it is evident that this is not what users want from the games. It is still a blast to play, and I would recommend it for any cyberpunk or Shadowrun fan, and if you enjoyed Returns and Dragonfall, you won’t be disappointed by Shadowrun Hong Kong.
This review was done on code provided by the publisher.
