Shadowrun: Hong Kong

 PC
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 259 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 185 out of 259
  2. Mixed: 44 out of 259
  3. Negative: 30 out of 259

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  1. wookie
    Jan 28, 2016
    2
    Ruined game. I bought, played and loves all the SR games. But I hate this latest one. The stealth part of the decker game ruined it completely for me. A bad platform game with terrible controls does not improve the SR experience at all. Absolute disappointment.
  2. onetime80
    Aug 24, 2015
    2
    Do you value the phrase "get to the point"? If so, avoid this game. Every character in the game waffles on. You will be reading about 10-20 paragraphs per character at a time. You will be asking the dumbest things to complete strangers, like "tell me about your childhood in the Philippines". Characters will talk about things which have not been introduced by the game. It seems like youDo you value the phrase "get to the point"? If so, avoid this game. Every character in the game waffles on. You will be reading about 10-20 paragraphs per character at a time. You will be asking the dumbest things to complete strangers, like "tell me about your childhood in the Philippines". Characters will talk about things which have not been introduced by the game. It seems like you need prior-lore knowledge of the "Shadowrun" franchise to understand what they are even talking about.

    You were in prison. You were a street kid. You are now in a dangerous part of the city. Yet you are probing strangers with invasive personal questions all the time And your dialogue options are politically correct, sentimental and empathic. Do a real life test, go into your city's "bad neighborhood" and walk up to a stranger and try starting a conversation with them. Then ask them questions like "what was your childhood like?", then reply with a sentence like "I'm really sorry that happened to you.". It's so unrealistic. This games dialogue is stupid. This is a cyberpunk setting; high-tech low-life. Yet I'm walking around speaking like an overeducated university douche bag with aspergers syndrome.

    Not only that, but you are constantly using the name of the person you are speaking to, in conversation. The person who wrote this games dialogue is clearly patronizing and manipulative in real life, with no clue on "low life" culture.

    It seems like they thought the game had to have lots of dialogue for the sake of having lots of dialogue. I'm literally hitting enter to skip pages of text with every random character. At the start of the game you are talking with a shop owner, who tells you a highly personal story, and then you end the conversation by getting them to do some heavy research into some random matter you just experienced because you feel it's highly important, and "you'll be back to get an update". **** off. What stupid writing.

    The games combat is not good. The AI is terrible and the enemy will constantly run through poison clouds etc you put on the map because it was the quickest route to you.

    Finally the games character creation seems to be decades out of date. It's kinda convoluted; you put points into "quickness" to use guns. It says it increases your chance to hit with guns. But it just seems like a useless point allocation, and is only a prerequisite to be able to put points into "ranged combat" a sub-tier which actually increases your chance to hit with guns. So it's really easy to create a bad character. Not that it really matters, because the game is so easy. It's BORING

    I will say one positive thing. There is a "hacking" mini-game where you jack-into computers to get data etc. It's not very often, but it's quite fun when you do it. Basically you try to navigate around a little maze-like board with guard patrols. Problem is, controls in the game are janky and sometimes unresponsive. pfft    … Expand
  3. hspad
    Aug 24, 2015
    4
    Storyline: bad
    Dialogue: bad
    Gameplay: average Progression: bad NPCs: bad The worst part of this game is the storyline and dialogue. In almost every dialogue box there are "scene details"; like this [the orc is covered head to toe in heavy armor, a red and blue pattern with unreadable words scribbled on it. He turns to you, nodding slightly before tightening his grip on his firearm]    Storyline: bad
    Dialogue: bad
    Gameplay: average
    Progression: bad
    NPCs: bad

    The worst part of this game is the storyline and dialogue. In almost every dialogue box there are "scene details"; like this [the orc is covered head to toe in heavy armor, a red and blue pattern with unreadable words scribbled on it. He turns to you, nodding slightly before tightening his grip on his firearm] then it goes into the dialogue sequence. I am playing a game, not reading a novel. Games have visual representation.

    The dialogue is long-winded and mostly pointless. It is inconsistent in many parts with the overall story. Especially with certain character / race builds.

    The game is full of typing errors, and I don't just mean simple excusable things. I mean typing errors like this [He then asks can you be be able do it?]

    Progression is horrible. You play the missions, and then after each mission you unlock more dialogue with the characters at the "hub area". After every 2 missions, you will unlock more weapons / spells and gear to upgrade. You can't find any good weapons etc and hold onto them. There is nothing special. It's simply "buy" the upgrade for your class every two missions.

    The combat is okay, but hurt by very basic enemy AI. There are many ways to deal damage (via weapons / magic / summons) but they all do the same thing. For example, armor blocks physical damage and magic damage. So there is no strategy, it's just a different graphic to deal damage and they are equally as good.

    Characters that join your group are terrible with bad skills. You have a "computer hacker" who uses a grenade launcher. It's stupid. The skills they learn on level ups are mostly crap.

    Basically it's a crappy game, aimed at a niche group of people (who dont get out much) Don't be fooled into thinking this is like Xcom. This is more like reading a bad novel then tactical gameplay.    … Expand
  4. snowbringer
    Aug 25, 2015
    1
    The new time-based Matrix "minigames" in this iteration of the franchise rendered the game unplayable for me. It is a cruel bait and switch to have a turn-based strategy game suddenly go with a vastly different mechanic for a section of the game - one that does not build on any of the previous gameplay design choices. Up until this point, the game was a pleasant update to the previousThe new time-based Matrix "minigames" in this iteration of the franchise rendered the game unplayable for me. It is a cruel bait and switch to have a turn-based strategy game suddenly go with a vastly different mechanic for a section of the game - one that does not build on any of the previous gameplay design choices. Up until this point, the game was a pleasant update to the previous chapters - but that made the changes to the matrix that much more painful.… Expand
  5. crayno66
    Mar 3, 2017
    0
    I was enjoying this....until I ran into the new matrix, this totally ruined the game for me.
    I'm done with shadowrun unless they fix the fast action/reaction part that screwed this for me
  6. Erikku
    Oct 9, 2015
    1
    What were the developers thinking? I was enjoying the game until the first venture into cyberspace. Then flashback machine to Frogger. Yes, you will be looking for patterns and carefully timing your runs. Then a weird time based memory game. From the review it sounds like some players enjoyed switching genres, but maybe they like Frogger and memory games. I don't and why should I be forcedWhat were the developers thinking? I was enjoying the game until the first venture into cyberspace. Then flashback machine to Frogger. Yes, you will be looking for patterns and carefully timing your runs. Then a weird time based memory game. From the review it sounds like some players enjoyed switching genres, but maybe they like Frogger and memory games. I don't and why should I be forced to play it in order to move along with the story rich RPG that I bought it for in the first place. Uninstalling. A shame, since I wanted to know how the story evolved.… Expand
  7. Axlegear
    Sep 27, 2015
    2
    Interesting and inspired, with a dark colored world you'd expect from Shadowrun. However, it is somewhat buggy, and the game is painfully short and lacking. You can easily complete this fully within two hours. This makes it a very expensive and brief distraction that I simply cannot reccomend. The gameplay is painfully linear as well, and the story extremely straightforward and predictible.
  8. Tomicsavo
    Feb 17, 2020
    2
    Huge disappointment after shadowrun returns and dragonfall. Disgusting mini-bugs, exaggerated dialogues. Every innovation has only made the game worse. Matrix fights are crappier, karma tree crappier ... HongKong itself looks terrible. I can't recommend,it's damn annoying.
  9. Raskolnikoc
    Jan 14, 2023
    0
    So I create a decker that also has drone control. I get to the Lotus Den, and can't open the door because I don't have a deck. This seems like a bug because you can create a decker with guns and get a gun and a deck. Why would you not get a drone and a deck if you put points in those two things? Reminds me so much of Shadowrun Dragonfall where I couldn't play the last mission because of aSo I create a decker that also has drone control. I get to the Lotus Den, and can't open the door because I don't have a deck. This seems like a bug because you can create a decker with guns and get a gun and a deck. Why would you not get a drone and a deck if you put points in those two things? Reminds me so much of Shadowrun Dragonfall where I couldn't play the last mission because of a bug.

    I start over and create a decker with guns instead, and get a deck. I really wanted drones, but I guess I can't have that and a deck to start with for some idiotic reason. Whatever.

    Then I get to the second fight and realize I can only turn drones off with the decking skill. Turning them against the enemies requires drone control.

    FTSIO. Uninstall. 0/10.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

46
#46 Best PC Game of 2015
66
#66 Most Discussed PC Game of 2015
85
#85 Most Shared PC Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 28
  3. Negative: 0 out of 28
  1. PCWorld
    Jan 19, 2016
    80
    Shadowrun: Hong Kong isn't the best RPG Harebrained Schemes has put out, but it's still a great game in its own right.
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  2. RPGamer
    Dec 22, 2015
    90
    Shadowrun: Hong Kong offers a steady evolution of Harebrained Schemes' Shadowrun experience. It's such an enjoyable game that a director's cut wouldn't need to do much to boost it from an excellent, tactically engaging family conspiracy to a must-have.
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  3. CD-Action
    Nov 14, 2015
    80
    The game grew in scale since the previous Shadowrun – locations are a bit larger and story lasts for over 20 hours. The visuals and the interface were improved a bit. The third trip to The Sixth World is worth every penny, but the game mechanics could really use a facelift. [11/2015, p.54]
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