Shadowrun: Dragonfall

 PC
User Score
8.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 268 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 214 out of 268
  2. Mixed: 34 out of 268
  3. Negative: 20 out of 268

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  1. iseeall
    Dec 17, 2015
    5
    XCom Enemy Unknown's combat system, with lots of additional abilities, some of them magic and shamanic ones. A strange world with a mix of fantasy races (elves, dwarves etc) and computer hacking, evil mega-corporations and drones. RPG-style stats and character progression. If you can tolerate absence of a tutorial, amateurish 2D graphics and trashy cyberpunk story, you will like it. But ifXCom Enemy Unknown's combat system, with lots of additional abilities, some of them magic and shamanic ones. A strange world with a mix of fantasy races (elves, dwarves etc) and computer hacking, evil mega-corporations and drones. RPG-style stats and character progression. If you can tolerate absence of a tutorial, amateurish 2D graphics and trashy cyberpunk story, you will like it. But if you just want a decent RPG or TBS game and aren't specifically a fan of Gibson's "Neuromancer" book, I'd instead recommend XCom Enemy Within, Xenonauts, Wasteland 2 - of the recent offerings, or even XCom Ufo Defense or Jagged Alliance 2 classics.… Expand
  2. loci
    Mar 4, 2014
    5
    There is a good game in here somewhere, unfortunately it is one of the most buggy games I've played for a long long time. Of these bugs, many are game breaking. So frustrating reloading old saves to try and get past the bugs, I uninstalled and will not be buying anymore games from them. Shame.
  3. wilbhaas
    Apr 5, 2014
    6
    Feels much better then the maingame, but I really don't know if they tested their own game. I had some bugs so far like
    1: humanis polisclub -> Volker Stahl flees still the game denounces him dead
    2:rabengeisterhideout -> first fight: gangleader and gangmember flee to a wall and then they wait to get shot. I loaded the autosave which has been set in this hideout before dialog between me    Feels much better then the maingame, but I really don't know if they tested their own game. I had some bugs so far like
    1: humanis polisclub -> Volker Stahl flees still the game denounces him dead
    2:rabengeisterhideout -> first fight: gangleader and gangmember flee to a wall and then they wait to get shot. I loaded the autosave which has been set in this hideout before dialog between me and the gangleader should accure, now no dialog, nothing happens and therefore I lost 1 hour of gameplay. -3 points because of those and some other obvious bugs, like a bug with Knight Errant, they arrive even though they shouldn't.

    good story, nice characters, new beautiful profilepictures, some annoying bugs. for a detailed review read rock paper shotgun    … Expand
  4. Nataraja
    Jun 27, 2014
    7
    General Overview: This DLC is the campaign that the original game should have release with. Great writing with plenty of character development to drive the text forward. Combat is much more varied with a decent level of challenge. Choice does matter, especially if you want to delve deeper into the stories of your companions who actually matter in this installment. This DLC reallyGeneral Overview: This DLC is the campaign that the original game should have release with. Great writing with plenty of character development to drive the text forward. Combat is much more varied with a decent level of challenge. Choice does matter, especially if you want to delve deeper into the stories of your companions who actually matter in this installment. This DLC really allows the systems to shine and the story is really well done. Atmosphere is great and the art style is even more appealing than Dead Man's Switch. If you are wondering if you should buy this DLC I will say DEFINITELY DO - its the only way to make the base game purchase worthwhile unless you are into generating custom content or trying the community creations.

    TL;DNR: Dragon Fall DLC makes it worthwhile to own the base game and is a vast improvement over Dead Man's Switch, the base campaign.

    Technology/engine: 5: Nothing to get excited over.

    AI: 7: Serviceable and improved over the initial campaign.

    Graphics: 9: The art style continues to be very appropriate and engaging and Berlin as a setting is great.

    Sound: 6: The ambient sounds are serviceable as are the effects for combat.

    Soundtrack: 6:Serviceable but repetitive. Nothing to get too excited over.

    Voice acting: N/A

    Crafting: N/A

    Customization: 4: Not much there - is really a minor thing and seems to be an obligatory inclusion as an afterthought.

    Gameplay systems: 9: This campaign makes the systems shine and delivers what should have been in the initial installment.

    Controls: 5: Very, very simple point and click.

    Story: 10: Well written and great character development that drives the text forward and makes it appealing to find out more and see what happens next. A vast improvement over Dead Man's Switch and a real campaign. Choices seem meaningful and have impact. As this game relies HEAVILY on the story to drive it forward, this is the most critical aspect.

    Multiplayer: N/A    … Expand
  5. MustisTheCat
    Sep 10, 2014
    7
    I enjoyed playing Shadowrun : Dragonfall much more than Shadowrun Returns. Probably because of the better narration while I still felt it should have been a much better game overall. The game is an upgrade of the older title probably in every way, though still very limited. It has good pace all around, some more stuff in it, few more skills. That said, most of its predecessor flaws stayI enjoyed playing Shadowrun : Dragonfall much more than Shadowrun Returns. Probably because of the better narration while I still felt it should have been a much better game overall. The game is an upgrade of the older title probably in every way, though still very limited. It has good pace all around, some more stuff in it, few more skills. That said, most of its predecessor flaws stay the same. So it is a better version at best, not a different game. If you hated SR, you will hate Dragonfall. At 80% of the game`s story I felt exhausted and bored. For me to buy another Shadowrun Title from Harebrainded Schemes they would have to introduce something revolutionary. Because frankly most of the times I played this one, it got me thinking time and time again how the genre has fallen back in development.

    If IMO Shadowrun Returns was a 7, Dragonfall is a 7,5.

    STORY
    The story is based on a run that went bad. You`re one of the team that performs a basic operation at first glance, then sh_t hits the fan and everything goes wrong. One of your teammates dies, you`re caught in an ambush and you have to run. After you save your skin, you decide to get to the bottom of what happened back there and why. Telling the rest would be a spoiler. All I can say that it is well written, there`s a nice twist. The difference from the older title is that it is a bit less linear. You get to discard some of the side missions if you want. Still pretty sensless because ofcourse you will do those missions. Two of them are completely sensless and silly and add nothing to the game. The rest is ok in a way they give you more money to buy stuff. The ending to the story is pretty weak and as in the other title your choices dont`t matter that much.

    MUSIC
    Same music that is in Shadowrun Returns, with few variations. Goes well with the mood of the game, changes depending on the situation.

    GAMEPLAY
    This is where I have a problem with Dragonfall. At first you notice that now you have one main map where you can see different vendors and buy different stuff, talk about side missions. But that is about it. What you do and where you go besides that is a strict one door linear path to the story. I mean few times you can talk yourself out of trouble, although still you are going to end up in a fight.
    However the game is still very limited. If you ever played Fallout you will painfully experience this. The enemies do not drop any loot besides security cards. The player has a very limited inventory and cannot rearm his teammates upon mission start. You cannot prone or crouch. You cannot exchange items with your teammates. The game is missing some classes like infiltrator. The biggest problem I have with it is that when you select your class, you`re pretty much required to go its path all the way. If you pick a mage but want to carry firearms, you`re not going to be great at either magic or shooting. There are no traits or perks that would influence the gameplay. Some classes are clear favorites, so you`ll be much better off creating a street warrior and take one decker into the team than having a shaman/mage. The spells system is very scarce and when you do get to cast your strongest spell, your action points leave you open for bullying. A mage cannot even carry cyberware because it makes him lose his abilities. Why?

    You do not get to customise your looks, you do not get to customise your teammates at all.

    Maps are ok. Much more varied than in Shadowrun Returns. Still there is not much choice how you go about your task. Just go here, go there, shoot this group, proceed forward.

    GRAPHICS
    Standard Shadowrun graphics with some UI upgrades. The actor models still look silly on zooming in, weapon models are divided into four groups. Few more grenade types. Not much else to say.    … Expand
  6. Mathalor
    Apr 28, 2014
    7
    Dragonfall was a lot of fun. Pretty buggy, though.

    In the Dragonfall campaign you quickly become the leader of a group of mercenaries that attack and kill corporate security and occasionally gang members in an attempt to seize momentary plot devices. In the better missions, you can choose to talk or puzzle your way past potentially hostile targets. The setting is a future Berlin    Dragonfall was a lot of fun. Pretty buggy, though.

    In the Dragonfall campaign you quickly become the leader of a group of mercenaries that attack and kill corporate security and occasionally gang members in an attempt to seize momentary plot devices. In the better missions, you can choose to talk or puzzle your way past potentially hostile targets. The setting is a future Berlin after magic and magical creatures have appeared alongside current and sometimes futuristic technology. Most people either live in poverty or labor as slaves to large corporations with more money and power than morality or sense.

    The game also comes with an editor, and consumers are encouraged to make their own campaigns. I've never gotten into that, due to a lack of information on how to do so and a large amount of bugs in the released campaign.

    Your main character in the campaign has little to no back story. Your regular mercenaries have back stories which you can explore between missions if you wish. All the dialogue in this game is text that appears on the right hand space on your screen. I enjoyed reading what the other mercenaries and characters had to say.

    The combat gameplay involves turn-based top down squad combat where the chance to hit or to be hit was often the deciding factor in my choice of action. Bunching up invited grenades. Spreading out made good cover harder to obtain. It's a good system, marred by the amount of surfaces that look like they should give cover, but were never programmed to do so, and a formula to determine chance to hit that seemed to fluctuate when it shouldn't have. I usually played on the hardest difficulty setting, but occasionally my chance to hit would climb 10 to 20% higher than it should have been. Loading a save fixed it for a while.

    The 'RPG element' involves earning karma points and money, usually from quest objectives but sometimes from other things, and spending them to improve your main character's skills and equipment. You have very little control over your mercenaries' skills and equipment, they will be at one of three or four points depending on your main character's progression through the game, and can pick up an item during a mission and use it for the rest of that mission if you so choose.

    I liked the music, but there are others who hate it, so your mileage may vary. There is a soundtrack available for paying a bit more.

    This game has been out for a while and still has a large amount of bugs. Their first released campaign is rather old now, not as good, and still has bugs. I remember on one mission (in Dragonfall, not the older one) activating a pet robot from one of my mercenaries and watching as the usually controllable robot automatically used all it's movement to make a dash for the level exit instead of letting me use it to fight. I ran into two to five bugs per mission I ran. They usually weren't game breaking, but they were annoying. I tried to fill out as many bug reports on their bug report google doc as I could while playing. I hope they fix them.

    I never finished the game, but I got to what I think was the last mission.    … Expand
  7. DinoBeam
    Nov 1, 2021
    7
    I loved Returns and the one starts off with a bang, and has one of my favorite video game characters [Eiger]. Eventually you set into a rhythm of taking quests, going around to everyone in town to check if anyone has something more to say, and remembering the different shops to look for upgrades at. The quests start to loose focus and feel forgettable, even when the writing of them isI loved Returns and the one starts off with a bang, and has one of my favorite video game characters [Eiger]. Eventually you set into a rhythm of taking quests, going around to everyone in town to check if anyone has something more to say, and remembering the different shops to look for upgrades at. The quests start to loose focus and feel forgettable, even when the writing of them is good, because it just won't have a strong enough connection to the story. Then I hit a brick wall of a difficulty spike mission.

    The first one felt more real, and had a better flow overall. I warn against the people who tell you to skip Shadowrun Returns, I think it is a good deal better than this one.    … Expand
  8. RinShibuya
    Dec 23, 2015
    6
    Quick review for Shadowrun Dragonfall:

    The Good: -Addictive avatar development (leveling up, gaining karma, etc.) -Enjoyable, bloody combat -Brings back nostalgia for Fallout or Silent Storm fans -Intriguing storyline and sidequests offered -Deep characters (Glory especially, interesting backstory) The Bad: -Lacking a tutorial for new players -Uninformative UI -Game World    Quick review for Shadowrun Dragonfall:

    The Good:

    -Addictive avatar development (leveling up, gaining karma, etc.)
    -Enjoyable, bloody combat
    -Brings back nostalgia for Fallout or Silent Storm fans
    -Intriguing storyline and sidequests offered
    -Deep characters (Glory especially, interesting backstory)

    The Bad:

    -Lacking a tutorial for new players
    -Uninformative UI
    -Game World is pretty small
    -Battles are "tacked on" or set in preset locations, cannot start combat whenever we want to
    -Little items to pick up; can't loot bodies, can't open boxes, crates; only a handful can be opened
    -Enemies are VERY accurate; can hit you even when you're behind "heavy" cover or if you're very far away from them
    -Hit chance is a bit screwed up(even when you have a 70-75% chance to hit an enemy, you STILL can miss, most of the time)
    -Not for the players who LACK patience (trust me, you'll reload very often)

    All in all, Shadowrun Dragonfall feels like a much more weaker version of Fallout and Silent Storm. Shadowrun Dragonfall has flaws, but its still a SOLID game, and fans of the genre should consider picking it up, ESPECIALLY when its about $3 on Steam.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

59
#59 Best PC Game of 2014
96
#96 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 24 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 24
  3. Negative: 0 out of 24
  1. Thunderbolt
    Sep 25, 2014
    80
    Although it’s DLC, Dragonfall is an improvement on the base game, Shadowrun Returns, in every aspect. The campaign is superior, the narrative more engaging, the characters well fleshed out and the quests more compelling.
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  2. CD-Action
    Jul 23, 2014
    85
    Guys from Harebrained Schemes simply outdid themselves with Dragonfall. It’s one of those games that make loving Kickstarter easy. [06/2014, p.60]
  3. DarkStation
    Jul 17, 2014
    80
    For the most part, the Shadowrun reboot has been a success, but not a resounding one. If you played the old SNES or Genesis game and wanting that same experience, you will be pleased by what Shadowrun: Dragonfall has to offer.
    Read full review
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