Shadowrun Returns

Lore & Background

The game ships with a campaign called "Dead Man's Switch." Set in the year 2054 after magic has reentered the world, the player assumes the role of a shadowrunner who receives a pre-recorded message from an old accomplice, Sam Watts, triggered by a dead man's switch embedded within his body. Sam's message states he has 100,000 nuyen held in escrow as a reward should the player bring whoever was responsible for his death to justice. In Seattle, the runner discovers Sam is the latest victim of the Emerald City Ripper, a serial killer surgically removing organs from victims. The runner meets Jake Armitage, protagonist of the SNES Shadowrun game, who provides leads. After help from Coyote, a female human bartender and shadowrunner, the runner discovers the Ripper is a male elf named Silas Forsberg, whose victims had transplanted organs from Sam's mother. After killing Silas, the player learns he was directed by Jessica Watts, Sam's twin sister. The runner confronts Jessica, but she escapes. The runner finds Jessica is a high-ranking member of the Universal Brotherhood, an international New Age organization that is a front for a cult trying to create an insect spirit hive. Jessica is a shaman who unleashes extra-dimensional insect spirits. The team rescues Mary-Louise, designated to become "the queen." Mary-Louise connects the team with a decker, Baron Samedi, who organizes a run on Telestrian Industries to steal a sample of Project Aegis, a chemical weapon capable of killing the insect spirits. The runner acquires the sample but is captured and brought before James Telestrian III. Because the runner rescued Mary-Louise, Telestrian's daughter, he hires the runner to lead a team to deploy Project Aegis with the immortal elf Harlequin. Telestrian explains Jessica's ritual to bring an insect spirit queen requires a blood relative; his father had an affair with Melinda Watts, Sam and Jessica's mother, making Mary-Louise a viable candidate. Telestrian gives the runner and Harlequin shotguns firing capsules of Aegis compound. The team infiltrates the hive, where Telestrian's sister Lynne has volunteered to let the queen take over her body. The team disrupts the summoning by wounding Jessica and killing most insect spirits. The queen spirit abandons Jessica, and the player can kill or arrest her. Lynne survives but is sent to a mental hospital. The game concludes with Armitage, Coyote, Harlequin, and Telestrian discussing fallout; Harlequin muses other Brotherhood chapters hold hives. When the runner tries to collect the money, Sam's message asks the runner to apologize to Jessica and reveals he never had any money in escrow. An epilogue describes immediate events: media coverage left out details of shadowrunners and insect spirits; Aegis was developed into "Fluorescing Astral Bacteria-3" (FAB-3); the Chicago Universal Brotherhood hive is botched and the city sealed behind a wall; FAB-3 is used later to cleanse Chicago.

In Their Own Story

The rain hammered the neon-drenched streets of the Redmond Barrens as the message came through: 'Sam's dead. They want you to find out why.' The old contacts were wary, the new ones dangerous. Each lead pulled deeper into a web of corporate secrets and digital ghosts. In a world where a bullet and a spell cost the same, the truth was the most expensive commodity of all—and it was about to cost you everything.

Reader's Guide

The player can customize their character's gender and appearance. There are five races: humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, and trolls. The game lacks traditional character classes, but players may play as one of six pregenerated archetypes: street samurai (cybernetically-enhanced warriors focused on weapon mastery), mages (spell-casting), deckers (computer hacking), shamans (summon spirits), riggers (control mechanical drones), and physical adepts (magically-enhanced monks). As the story progresses, the player is given character points called "karma" to spend on improving their character. If the player chose an archetype, it controls starting skills and equipment, but any character can gain any skill. Up to three other characters can be hired during missions; some non-player-characters are required during certain missions. Gameplay is mostly linear, but some exploration is possible. The player can converse with various characters; different statistics and skills give new dialogue options, affect quest progression, or give different rewards. The player can interact with the environment—pushing objects or hacking terminals to find hidden rooms, new routes, or items. Mages can see magical ley lines enhancing abilities; shamans summon spirits in designated places. Deckers can enter the Matrix at specific points, engaging in a minigame fighting ICs and enemy deckers while gathering data and hacking devices. Combat is turn-based with tactical elements like cover. Players control their team's actions, then enemies take theirs. Each action costs action points; characters start with two per turn and later gain a third. Action points are used for moving, firing, reloading, or using spells/items. Each character carries up to three weapons and can switch at no cost. Ammunition is unlimited but ranged weapons need reloading. Riggers can equip drones like weapons and use action points to manually control them. A character with shaman abilities can summon one additional allied spirit, either through consumable items or special points. Managing a spirit lowers the shaman's action points like a drone does for a rigger. Depending on power imparted and summoning duration, spirits may break free and become hostile or flee. The player character may focus in one archetype or balance advancement. Even with required skills, equipment, and action points, one character may not simultaneously field both a drone and a spirit.

Did You Know?

• Shadowrun Returns was crowd funded through Kickstarter and released in 2013.
• The game ships with a campaign called 'Dead Man's Switch'.
• The player character can choose from five races: humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, and trolls.
• The game lacks traditional character classes but offers six pregenerated archetypes.
• An expansion pack titled Shadowrun: Dragonfall was released in 2014, later converted to a standalone Director's Cut.