Shadowrun Returns - Anniversary Update

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The next update for Shadowrun Returns has a video from Harebrained Schemes about the games One-Year Anniversary. They also announce a new Director's Cut version.



A Special One-Year Anniversary Update For Our Backers

As Jordan discusses in the video above, exactly one year ago today we released Shadowrun Returns on Steam. It was a pivotal moment for our little studio here. In 14 months, we’d gone from a dozen developers working out of a storage closet to being a full-fledged indie RPG developer. And the last year has been just as important for Harebrained Schemes - in the weeks and months following launch, Shadowrun Returns received a bunch of great reviews and kind words, from old and new fans alike. We even made several Game of the Year lists for 2013.

But most importantly, we got YOUR feedback. We learned what was working and what wasn’t about the game we’d worked so hard to create. Even better, we were able to take a lot of this feedback and channel it directly into Shadowrun: Dragonfall. Save-anywhere. A more open story with more compelling choices and locations to explore. A fully-realized team of runners to command and grow with over the course of the campaign.

And when Dragonfall launched, we were incredibly happy with the response it received. Reviewers praised the story, characters, and writing as some of the best in the business. For an indie studio like ours, that’s a huge deal! Still, as with Shadowrun Returns, we heard feedback about some things that folks wanted to see improved or simply wanted more of. We also heard many requests for a standalone version of the game - since it’s narratively independent of the Shadowrun Returns campaign, players wanted to be able to dive directly into Dragonfall.

So we thought: Why not just… make Dragonfall better?

We’re excited to announce Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director’s Cut. Inspired by other passionate, community-focused developers like CD Projekt RED (who continued to improve and add to their Witcher titles post-launch), we decided to make an even bigger & better Dragonfall for you guys. The Shadowrun team has been hard at work taking the existing Dragonfall campaign and making it even better - adding new features, missions, art, and more.

And we’ll be releasing it as a standalone title on Steam, GOG and the Humble Store.

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What’s more, as a continued “thank you” for your support, the Director’s Cut will be FREE to all Backers and to all owners of the expansion version of Dragonfall. If you’ve played Dragonfall already, this should be a great opportunity to return to the streets of Berlin and enjoy the improved campaign all over again - to try a new archetype and make different decisions. And if you haven’t played Dragonfall yet, this will be the definitive version of the game to dive into.

We’ll be talking more about the specifics later next month - but we wanted you, our Backers, to be the first to know what we’re working on. The Director’s Cut will be released sometime in September.

Stay tuned for a full announcement in August. Until then - from the entire Shadowrun team - thank you again for your continued support, and for your help making Shadowrun Returns and Dragonfall a reality.
More information.
 
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Good news, really looking forward to directors cut version. I bought Shadowrun+DLC on steam sale and have yet to play it so and this will come in really nicely between Wasteland 2 and PoE.
 
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I must find Dragonfall cheap somewhere... Dead Man's Trigger was above average with great writing, I guess I'll like DF too.
 
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Sounds good. Makes my happy I haven't got around to giving it a try yet, now I will wait a bit more.
 
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Does "Director's Cut" mean they are going to be adding in the content that was cut from the first release? Otherwise, the phrase seems out of context.
 
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They call the expanded versions of "The Witcher" games "Directors Cut" but there is no cut content there.
 
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While Dead Man's Trigger was ok, Dragonfall was a lot better. Do yourself a favor and pick it up. I really enjoyed it to be honest. I backed the kickstarter but only got around to playing both games about a month ago, I was waiting for the save anywhere feature.
 
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They call the expanded versions of "The Witcher" games "Directors Cut" but there is no cut content there.

There's also Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut.

It doesnt really mean the same in games as with movies.
 
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But there were some changes/fixes in Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut. Especially with boss fights.
 
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Usually, Director's Cut is just a way to maximise profit and minimise effort. It doesn't mean it can't be a great thing for the consumer, though.

That said, this is different - as people don't have to buy it twice, it seems.

I'm getting this, as I haven't gotten into Dragonfall yet - and I was looking forward to it. This just means it's better - and I guess it's free since I already bought the expansion.

That's nice ;)
 
Given that Dragonfall got pretty stellar reviews, whilst the original campaign was generally considered inferior and, well, a bit sub-par, you'd think it'd be the original to get the Director's Cut treatment using the things learned, and features added.
 
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Awesome news. I purchased both awhile back but haven't got round to them yet.

It might have been too much work to go back and improve the original even though it certainly makes sense from a customer perspective. Making dragonfall effectively standalone increases the potential sales significantly as some people might have been turned off by the average reviews of the main campaign. I'm guessing the improvements will be quite limited but I guess we will find out soon.
 
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Nice, I haven't played Dragonfall yet, despite having a copy. (I backed it) I may as well wait now for the improved version. :)

Daniel.
 
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I wonder what the status of the Android version of Dragonfall is. I believe the iOS version has been out for a long while now, and it seems like they have been working on this instead. Hope they haven't dropped it. Shadowrun Returns is nice on Android.
 
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While Dead Man's Trigger was ok, Dragonfall was a lot better. Do yourself a favor and pick it up. I really enjoyed it to be honest. I backed the kickstarter but only got around to playing both games about a month ago, I was waiting for the save anywhere feature.

I'm playing Dragonfall now, and I'm not overly impressed. While it's a little better than Dead Man's Switch, it's still somewhat shallow for a crpg imo.

I was looking forward to having real NPCs in my party as opposed to the hirelings in the first game. However, the only difference in Dragonfall is that they have some dialogue. You still can't control anything about them outside of combat. i.e. leveling up, etc.
 
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I tend to look at Shadowrun as an adventure game with RPG elements. From that point of view, it works ok.

But it's very far from what I would consider a proper RPG with meaty content.

It's a nice little snack, nothing more.

I've only played a few hours of Dragonfall - and I'd agree with JDR, it's not that much better. Maybe that changes later on - and I'm sure it'll be better still with this DC edition.

But it'll never be anything like my idea of a Shadowrun RPG. I'm hoping Cyberpunk 2077 will take care of that, though.
 
I agree the Shadow run games are more RPG light, but i really enjoyed the stories, especially in Dragonfall.
Also IMO it really captures the Shadowrun feeling well, at least what i remember of it, I haven't played Shadowrun PnP in years though.
 
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I agree it's a shallow RPG by PC standards, which makes it kick ass on a tablet. :p
 
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