Shadowrun: Hong Kong

I've spent 209 hours playing this game over the course of 10-ish years. About 3/4 of that time was active gaming (as opposed to ~1/4 idle - the result of life intruding on my gaming time... ah, we get older and it just happens...). This is how long it took to examine all of the options and (finally!) pop every achievement.

Dragonfall (the prior offering in the Shadowrun genre from HBS) was similarly excellent, but I didn't complete the achievements there... maybe I'll have to go back and look at that, since it was this game that interrupted that quest.

On the tech side, the game tends to be very stable and the only few technical issues I had were generally solved by restarting either/both the game, or Steam client. I think I also uninstalled and reinstalled once, and verified files a couple of times, usually right after Windows updates (Thanks, Bill and Gaben...)

There's a lot of character development here with PC races of human, elf, dwarf, troll, orc, in addition to encounters with other types, including a vampire queen!.

As to classes, shaman, decker, rigger, mage, physical adept, samurai are all general archetypes, but you have access to the whole skill tree based on attributes. So yes, you can be a buff mage, or a rigger-shaman, or tons of other hybrid builds.

Equipment progression tends to be somewhat linear because the gear database is static; you can see all of the gear that a vendor has from the start of access to that vendor, but as the game progresses you earn enough money to buy. There is no such thing as customization of gear; you equip and re-equip as you buy better gear. There is upgrading your body with cyberware, and those options are pretty static as well.

Additionally, if you're inclined toward metagaming and wish access to helps or walk-throughs, skill check guides, character building, and other useful stuff, there are tons of excellent guides available and the forum is a historical treasure trove of help for hung missions.

On that note, don't go for the cheats right away - it's a very good story and worth at least a play through just to experience the plot. Since different characters will have different stats and skillsets, I have found this game to have excellent replay value - and in fact, there is more than one ending... and if you're seeking achievements it makes sense to save scum, since choices matter. (And this is where the guides come in very handy.)

I hope this franchise continues to produce new products, given the quality of this storyline and production value; as a TBS combined with a linear storytelling RPG, Shadowrun: Hong Kong - Extended Edition is a star in the genre and has provided more value than I could have hoped for in an era of games without plots.

Well done, HBS!

A fun CRPG, if rough around the edges.

(+) _Gritty_ cyberpunk setting, strong Deus Ex vibes. A definite plus in a sea of "overdone" and neon-saturated cyberpunk games.
(+) Decent story and writing.
(+) Combat is fun. I played as a bog standard street samurai with a rifle. A few times I had flashbacks of X-COM after missing shots right in front of enemies even with a neural-implant aiming system lol

(-) The hacking/decker stuff is atrocious. The matrix world you enter for hacking missions is tedious, and I hated every second of it.
(-) Controls are janky at times. Like not being able to interact with doors and other objects despite clicking on them multiple times.
(-) Companions in RPG games are usually hit or miss, The crew I have in my current run is definitely the latter. Whenever a companion levels up, you select from 1 of 2 upgrades, otherwise the game manages and upgrades their gear automatically. I prefer this system as it cuts down on gear and stat management -- some players might hate it for those same reasons -- but I nevertheless found my team's abilities boring and underwhelming.

I've played better and I've played worse CRPGs. But if you like cyberpunk settings and get this on sale, it's probably worth a playthrough if you like the genre.

Not as long (or maybe even as fun/engaging) as Dragonfall, but still very worth playing. The characters especially REALLY hold the game up high, all the party members were really good fun and had interesting little stories. Decking was fucking trash, but whatever. The bonus campaign was pretty cool too.
Overall, yeah, if you like the other ones, def give this a shot too. I really enjoyed my time.

A great addition to the Shadowrun series. It improves on the existing systems, adds new weapons and cyberware and has an interresting story.
The story is more personal this time around. You have a semi-set backstory and relationship to some of the characters. The added bonus campaign continues after the main story and wraps up a few loose ends.
The matrix system has been changed. You are no longer in combat the moment enemy IC shows up. Instead it works as a real time stealth game until you get spotted and have to kill all IC in the area. Getting spotted enough will raise the alarm, which happens a lot faster and is a lot harsher than in the previous system. It can feel kind of wonky since the isometric view and movement was not originally meant for this kind of gameplay.
If you are unfamilliar with the series
Be warned that it involves a lot of reading. The story is mainly told through conversations and descriptive text. Rather than an animated cutscene, you will often read stuff like "he looks at you menacingly and steps closer". There is no voice acting.
The upside to this is it allows for a lot more "fluff" answers, where you decide how your character responds to stuff and sometimes what happened in the past. There are also a lot of conversation skill checks, meaning a straight up combat character build is not necessarily the best option. You level by completing objectives rather than killing enemies, so there really is no downside to avoiding a fight by passing these skill checks.
Combat is turn based and works well. You need to manage your cover, buffs, healing and so on. If you bring a diverse team it's not too difficult.

Best gameplay in the Shadowrun series reboot (especially playing as a Decker). Dragonfall has the better story but SR:Hong Kong's story is still good overall. The music is great too.

this is a really fantastic CRPG, it's not quite as deep or complex as some of the bigger budget CRPGs out there but it is SO well written, well presented, moody, atmospheric, and nails being both somber and lighthearted. theres some really great characters, incredible visuals, and moments you straight up cant get outside of shadowrun such as being hired by a rival company to sneak in and push things around in an office.
no seriously, your job is to move a floor panel, push a lamp over, rearrange a potted plant, just to mess up the feng shui and drive down profits from the workers being miserable
it's awesome 10/10

Refines the game play of the previous games. Urban fantasy is not well represented and Shadowrun is one of the best settings for it.