Shadowrun: Dragonfall

First a DLC to Shadowrun Returns and later a standalone Director's Cut, Shadowrun: Dragonfall is a second Shadowrun game from Harebrained Schemes. It is not a sequel to the first game, which is maybe a bit shame. Instead you make a new character for this adventure that takes place in Berlin, Germany.

Slightly improved playability

The developer having learned at least something becomes apparent the first time you enter combat. The interface is slightly more suited for mouse and keyboard, allowing an easier access to actions. However, you still do not have control over the game as much as I would have liked.

The game prompts you to choose a decker from your party when a situation so requires this time but, in my opinion, it would have been easier to have access to the GUI and to be able to choose the character you are controlling all the time. Maybe even to be able to move your party members separately. That would have helped with having to start every fight half-surprised. The tablet-oriented design shows still heavily in Dragonfall.

More customization

While there are hirable shadowrunners available for missions, you also have a permanent party now, which is a great improvement from the previous title. The party members have their own stories and side quests, though there is no voice-acting this time either. At certain points you get to choose from two upgrades for each of the characters – the more customization, the better.

There are a total of four party members, which is somewhat problematic because you can only take three of them with you. Maybe the party cap should have been one person higher. I usually left the decker home as I liked his personality the least. Most missions had something to hack, though. Performance-wise the she-troll was maybe the least effective. For ex-military she was not very good at killing people. She missed way too many shots with her sniper rifle.

Glory was probably my favorite. Her claws turned out to be surprisingly effective. Especially when buffed with haste in addition to her own skill, she became a literal killing machine. The party's shaman is cool too as his totem gives him the ability to create a leyline anywhere. Usually those found on the maps are in the open or otherwise awkward spots. It also increased my own character's – a mage this time – effectiveness quite a bit.

I spent my karma points bit more evenly than on my shaman, making sure to get overwatch. However, it was not as useful as it was in Shadowrun Returns. I do not think my main even used it once. Mastering mage spellcasting also takes quite a bit less effort than the shaman skills.

Nothing exceptional

A few hours into the game I started wondering if I would actually get to fight a dragon in this game. I recall eyeing up some dragon's stats in one of the Shadowrun rulebooks and pondering how would anyone be able to kill one. The statline seemed to imply them being invincible. At least to mundane means. You will eventually get to meet a dragon in Dragonfall but not truly fight her.

Shadowrun: Dragonfall has few improvements over the previous game but mostly it is the same thing. It was quite enjoyable but nothing memorable. I will not be playing again. And I think I might skip Shadowrun: Hong Kong that is coming out soon. It is probably just more of the same.

Also, for a Director's Cut, the game seemed slightly too buggy. In two completely different parts of the game, it stopped accepting most input and I was unable to continue. Luckily I had a save nearby both times and the bug did not reappear. At least not immediately.