With Skyrim owning the RPG genre last year by setting an entirely new benchmark for all immersive worlds to follow, 2013s offerings were always going to have a tough time placing players into fictional yet believable roles. Enter Shadowrun Returns, a kickstarter-funded project from developer Harebrained Schemes, newcomer to a franchise that despite only having one game to its name in 2007s self-titled cross-platform shooter, still has behind it a devout and cult following. You see the world of Shadowrun is that of the most intricate cyberpunk, given a twist through the inclusion of decidedly old school character types such as elves, dwarves and goblins. In a steam-soaked neon-future the likes of which Blade Runner helped create, if you like your science-fiction taken as seriously as something such as Mass Effect, with custom dialect-specific terms, descriptions and inter-species dialogue, youll be in your element. Gameplay-wise Shadowrun plays like a mix between the point n click adventure games of old, and an isometric top-down view something akin to that of XCOM for the battle sequences, but without so much polish. The story, characters, and overall world are the main draws here, but with a robust fighting system that allows you to deck out your custom character in a variety of duds, weapons and spells, Returns is a joy to get immersed in, plus a twenty year-old backdrop of series lore to get stuck into should you see fit.
