Shadowrun HK - Impressions Thread

Hello and welcome to my review and conclusion to Shadowrun Hong Kong, now the third Shadowrun game of Hairbrained Schemes, also funded by kickstarter.

For those who are not yet familiar with the Shadowrun setting, the scenario is set in the near future of the real world, but in 2011 there was the so-called Awakening, with which magic, elves, dwarves, orcs and other fabulous beings flowed into the world are. A few decades later, we are now in a cyberpunk world where corporations and criminal organizations fight for power.

At the beginning of the game we get news from Raymond, Raymond, that he has to tell us something important and asks us to travel to Hong Kong. But when we arrive and meet our brother, Raymond seems to have disappeared. Instead, we find ourselves in a conspiracy that forces us to seek help from a criminal syndicate, for whom we are also carrying out missions as they try to help us find the right father to help us. And then there are the nightmares through which the inhabitants of the slums of Hong Kong are plagued.

The story is the core of the game and also what eats most of the time. In my opinion so much time that the actual game is too short. There are about 15 separate mission cards, some with a few sub-maps, as well as additional floors, and between the missions, we go back to the Heoi District, where we also have our accommodation, buying weapons, implanting implants and joining our mission computer.
Only it is ultimately that the character system, as well as the fight and hacking system are clearly in the background, since we will simply spend the most time with reading.
Personally, I've always read all the texts in most games. Pillars of Eternity was already in my way to exceed the limit of having too much text compared to game content such as fighting, puzzling or exploring in the game. But while in Pillars of Eternity the reading of texts was perhaps a part of 30-50% of the game, it is well over 80% in Shadowrun Hong Kong. The 15 cards each have a game time of 1-2 hours, but you can find in many only a single fight which then only takes 5-10 minutes. The same is true for hacking. If you are back home after the mission, you can start talking about their lives with the almost 10 NPCs and have long dialogues with all 5 crew members so that one would spend 1-3 hours between the missions only with reading, If you really want to read everything. And it is now not as if some dialogues would be clear as flavor. There are dialogues that lead to additional quests, dialogues that lead to additional skill points, and dialogues where, for example, you are asked to take a certain companion on a mission. So you do not get really drumming around absolutely everything, which I found overall annoying.

Often nothing is said in the dialogues, which would have really interested me as a player now. Making dialogues about the background of the crewmembers is one thing, but in very long dialogues the background of an irrelevant trader to fathom came to me simply as a waste of time before. Basically, the game often had serious problems with the dialogues to come to the point and I thought in one place or another: Ok, now have talked about the topic already 10 pages … how long may it take now until the Bang the bow, and talk about what the next step looks like. Very, very tiring. There are also many decisions you can make in dialogues, certainly more than in many other games. But by the sheer amount of dialogues, there is also much more of the sort, where you can easily choose between four dialog options, which differ only in nuances and have the same influence. By certain abilities you have other ways to solve quests here, but also there is marginal gain. One example would be that one has to pass through a dialogue in one place, has an option through strength, one through a certain etiquette and another through biotech. If you do not have all three, you have to collect an object that is one screen away.
In addition, you also have so many skill points that they are almost completely lost in importance, especially since the battles are not particularly difficult, you can save at any time, and the hacking can always be taken by a group member.

Let's look at the skill system, the fight and the hacking very briefly, even if they are not very relevant and do not give much more time than the loading times:

The character system has received a small interface update since the predecessor, but has otherwise remained the same. There are attributes which then contain abilities, which in turn include abilities. The value of the value can not be exceeded. In order to raise Rifles from 3 to 4, the higher-order value Ranged Combat would first have to be raised to 4, for which a quickness value of 4 is required. And while raising two to three would cost three points, upgrading to 4 would then cost 4 skill points. This ability points are called points in Shadowrun Karma and they are obtained, for example, in dialogues, but mainly through completed missions.
At certain points within the abilities, you also get additional bonuses in addition to the passive bonus, such as special shots in combat.
What is new is that you can now have a little say about how they should develop. While the ability system is not available there, you can select one of two abilities that the character can use from time to time at specific times.

The system is solid and clear, but has little relevance in comparison to systems in other rolling games because there are the skill points in large quantities and you rarely have the impression to make a big difference in the game.
In the fight, there has been little change to the predecessors: on the map, the characters are drawn, which initially have all 2 action points, later automatically 3 action points, which can then be used as desired for movements or actions. So it is possible here for example to shoot for a point first, then to run, and then shoot again. However, some actions, such as firepacks or grenades, require 2 action points and many of the special actions unlocked by skills also have short cooldowns.
Similar to Firaxis Xcom, the flight path of the projectile is not calculated here, but simply looks at how far the target is removed and whether it is directly behind cover or not - however, the angle calculation is much more fluid. So that does not mean the difference of only one degree times the double or triple damage. Basically, a goal can be taken behind coverage, whether high, medium or low also not critical.
Because of the relatively high hitpoints compared to the damage, it is rarely really frustrating, since even with a single attack, little can happen. The most frustrating thing is when the collected team shoots once again. But basically, I would call the fight a fairly solid game element.
And there are also 2-3 battles, which would not be quite trivial on the hardest difficulty, if you could not save at any time anyway.
All in all, these are solid mechanics, which, however, account for perhaps only 10% of the playing time and are not really relevant there because of the challenge.

Let's get to the hacking, which was changed a bit more. If we hack a computer and find ourselves with the avatar in the matrix, we move there in real time and have to scout programs with fixed routes and a viewing radius in real-time evade. Ultimately, this is a skill test, which I personally felt as something wrong at the place. If you are in a fight, for example, if you are seen by the scout programs or battle programs, the game changes into a round mode in which you then as well as in normal combat the opponents by using their own program abilities Must eliminate.
Finally, there are also blockers when chopping, where you have to play another mini-game, if you do not have to take over from the front, the alarm increase. There you have to memorize the numbers and reproduce the numbers, which gives you time. This time can then be used to reconcile a rotating code with suggested codes. If you think you have found the right code, click on it, and if you have chosen correctly, the blocker disappears.
Whenever you fail in hacking a blocker, or if your opponent's programs are not directly extinguished, an alarm will also rise, and if it is full, there will be so many opponents that you have hardly a chance and is wounded from the matrix.
The hacking has in my opinion a skill and thought-play aspect of the just in an otherwise so character-driven game should not have lost much. You have to admit that it actually creates a little hacking atmosphere, but I was not happy with these mechanics. But since the hacking is similar to the game, it is also very interesting for the game, especially since you can do all the hacks with a companion with which everything is quite easy, which is also simplified by the fact that Also here at any time.

In many other roll games, there is still an element of exploring, but the Shadowrun games basically almost completely fails. You will look at the current map once, but it is not now that you could find something in every corner. In addition to NPCs to talk and do, there are usually only a handful of places that the group can look at or interact with. And also Loot of opponents in the game only 2-3 times to a very limited extent. As a rule, you buy the equipment completely from the dealer in the city.

On the technical side, there is not much to mention. The music is quite good, and the graphics look quite nice. But since the cards offer almost no interaction possibilities, it still has a little flatness. The loading times are particularly noticeable. Since it has already taken over 3 minutes to load a score and when I calculate all load times, then the load times have to be almost as a similar game element as the fight and hacking.

Ultimately, the technique is acceptable, there are no bugs, and mechanically the game is on a very good level. The backbone for a good rolling game is therefore quite there. But all this by the sheer volume of the text, as mentioned at the outset, completely falls into the background. There is, however, still a big difference to a game like ICY, which is also strongly text-based, but with which also the mechanisms behind it broken, were not explained and gave little sense. Thus the system gives at least a certain basis, on which one stands and on which one then the dialogues can lead. The text is also well-written and the characters have elaborated profiles, for me personally, which actually already a lot of text coped, was the mass in this game but simply too much. The text is only available in English, since a translation was not profitable. I still appreciate the game with a neutral thumb. Quite clearly, however, is the recommendation: If you have a problem with 30 to 40 hours of playing with 80% of the time texts to read, can calm here. Who long texts but rather averse is, I would advise against the game clearly. And so I say goodbye and hope that the nightmares of Hong Kong will not haul me tonight in the form of bloodthirsty text walls …