Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut

Game seems fun, but here is the thing, devs decided for whatever reason to limit saving. That means you can only save each X time.
Then doesnt matter if I wanted to save, I couldnt save and..... then my game crashed which led me to losing my time.
I dont like losing my time do terrible design by the devs.
Unstalled and not recommended.

Damn good turn-based game. Just wish Hong Kong wasn't the end of it.

An isometric RPG that follows a team of shadow-runners as they take on a series of missions. This game is kind of frustrating because it definitely has some good parts of it, but they get overshadowed by the issues.

Combat -

The combat in this game is mostly fun. It uses a turn based system where you pick what movement and action each person on your team will do, pretty similar to other RPGs in the genre. There is a problem here though where even after you kill everyone on screen combat won't end, requiring you to navigate the environment using the clumsy turn based movement instead of just reverting to normal movement and having everyone follow you in real time. Also ran into a few bugs where an enemy would be on a square that was beneath an interactable icon, making them untargetable until they moved, which was annoying.

Progression -

Advancing and building your character is always one of the most fun parts of this kind of RPG, but this game only succeeds at that about halfway. It does an excellent job making use of the shadowrun character spec system, and you have a lot of options for diverse character development using the different skill trees. It was definitely satisfying levelling up the trees and getting stronger in that respect. Where it falls down, however, is in gear progression. There is a very limited selection of gear in this game, only two or three real vendors available, and I often found myself after a mission with money to spend and nothing to spend it on.

Story -

The story is well written, it has good stakes and the characters all feel unique and have their own voices. A lot of the side stories and individual missions were also exciting and fun to go through, and there are a number of memorable places and events as you make progress through the narrative.

Choice -

While there are certainly many choices in the game that do affect the outcomes of individual stories, it still has the common problem of offering a lot of choices that don't actually change anything. Additionally, there are some points in the story where, while there are other significant choices available, they're gated behind required stats or abilities. This wouldn't be such a problem in itself if, if you didn't have those abilities, there were still avenues you could pursue to resolve things differently. But, you can't. Playstyle is similarly limited where a lot of the time you are forced into combat or taking a decker along for something specific. Would have like to see some more variety in the way that problems could be approached.

Overall -

A pretty fun game that definitely has somethings to recommend it. I had a lot of fun playing this for a while, but eventually the constant combat, lack of choices, and forced ways of proceeding through certain scenarios were too much. This came to a head with a particular mission where *SPOILERS* you are at a computer terminal and have the option to shut down a computer program or let it run loose. I didn't bring a decker for the mission (in fairness, the game did tell me to, I just forgot), and so when I chose the option to set the program free it required a decker. When I didn't have one, instead of telling me to leave and go get one, the program turned on me and tried to kill me. Why? That doesn't make any sense, it even mentioned earlier that it wasn't rushed for time or anything. There's a couple other examples like this where the resolution for something just isn't logical, and it bugged me enough that the game stopped being fun because of it.

If you like games like this, and aren't too hung up on choices and coherent narrative, this one is definitely worth a play. Especially for the smooth turn based combat. Otherwise, i would give this one a pass.

I love Shadowrun. I wish they made more of these. The only negative i can say is it is too short.

Guaranteed Shadowrun RPG quality.

It slaps.

Short review :

Shadowrun Dragonfall adapts the tabletop RPG mixing futuristic aspects with fantasy elements like magic. The game displaying gorgeous backdrops and amazing music mixes text-based sections with tactical turn-based combat where each of the different classes fulfill a distinct role. If the gameplay can sometimes be repetitive, Dragonfall’s writing is above the rest and offers a memorable experience, albeit a bit on the short side. Overall Shadowrun Dragonfall is a memorable experience that offers an emotional and compelling narrative that many could enjoy.

Complete review:

I.Form

a.Graphics
Shadowrun Dragonfall has a very strong aesthetic identity. The game takes place in a futuristic cyberpunk version of our world and the very detailed backdrops, sometimes colourful, sometimes very dark perfectly convey the atmosphere of 2050’s Berlin. The game is a top-down RPG, and you thus see the world from above and the level of detail is frankly more than enough for how close you get to see it.
Just like a lot of CRPGs, most of the characters you encounter have a stylized portrait that usually go well with their in-game model. Those portraits perfectly fit the cyberpunk aesthetic, and the style gives a strange mix of classic RPG with comics art.

b.Music
The music is incredibly good (if you like electronic music that is). A lot of the themes from the game really render the sombre vibe of the future world. Sometimes I would just stop and listen to the music. I will say however that sometimes you feel like the game could be a bit more music variation especially when you change screen in the hub and the two same music tracks are playing all over again. If you want a taste of the music those tracks are quite good:

• No overkill
• Dragonfall
• Alpha Mike Foxtrot

c.User Interface
Comparatively to a lot of CRPGs out there, I found Shadowrun DF to have a very nice UI. First, everything is easily accessible, every skill is clearly displayed and all the numbers presented are clear and you do not need to search for hours to understand what is in front of you.
However, I thought that for such a nice UI they completely missed the opportunity to add a proper journal to the menu. The quests are always displayed as a list even if they are unrelated objectives. With that many information and details, it would have been nice to have proper pages for each quest and all the quest details provided by your team leader.

II.Content

a. Character creation and classes
Just like Baldur’s gate is the adaptation of the tabletop RPG DnD, Shadowrun is the adaptation of the science fiction RPG tabletop Shadowrun. This universe is an alternate future of our world where technology, guns and cybernetics co-exist with magic and fantasy creatures, and this allows the series to offer a good variation of classes to play (named archetypes here). You can play close combat characters, soldiers who rely on their firearm, mages with very powerful magic, support characters such as Shamans or the popular “decker” which is this world version of a hacker that can either fight by himself or use drones.
Even if those archetypes are presented to you, you have a certain freedom in how you build your character and place your karma (skill points). Everything is clearly explained to you during the skill selections process. And best part is that you don’t earn karma by fighting enemies but completing tasks. This means you don’t need to make a combat oriented character if you don’t want to.

b. Gameplay
There are two main parts to gameplay (like most CRPGs) the first and main part is a text-based dialogue system to progress the story. Expect a lot of reading because there’s no voice acting in the game. I personally don’t mind it, but I thought that it was a bit annoying that they wouldn’t display the whole conversation on the screen, they would display a paragraph that would simply disappear when the next paragraph starts. But it’s not just passive reading, you must select the answers you give in dialogues and those answer vary in term of nice or bad but also depend on the skill levels of your character. This means sometimes your skills allow you to find solutions that you wouldn’t have otherwise.
The second part of the gameplay is combat which you have to do quite a lot through the game. Dragonfall has a tactical turn-based combat system where each character has a certain number of actions per turn (2 to start). Depending on their class and equipment your character has a different set of skills. At any time, you can see the percentage of chance you have to hit your enemies above their head, and you aim to place your character in a way that optimize your chances to hit your target. You also have to pay attention to the cover to protect your character and not leave it in the open. The different classes really have a nice dynamic during those fights, and you quickly develop habits at the beginning of each fight.
Since we are in the future, there’s also something called the Matrix which is a virtual world that a decker (one of the game classes) can access to hack particular things. The whole matrix acts exactly like the combat system but has a different set of skills that work only for it.

c. Story
Probably the strongest part of Dragonfall is its story. It takes place in 2050s Berlin, and you are part of a team of Shadowrunners, criminals tasked with certain types of shady jobs. During your first mission, you’ll uncover a mystery so grand that it will change the course of the game.
In order to solve that mystery, not only will you have to directly collect information about it during main missions, but you’ll also have to complete secondary jobs to collect money to buy the key info to finally understand what is going on. This is an interesting premise although the fact that you can do other jobs than the main mission kind of kill any sense of emergency that the main story would create.
To this add the ability to build relationships with the members of your team until you consolidate it through a personal mission (ala Bioware style). The personal missions of the team members were for me so well written that sometimes they would overshadow the main quest.

III.Others

a.Replay Value
For a CRPG, Dragonfall is quite short. Of course, you could replay it from a different angle, but I do not see it having that many variations that you would replay it again and again. I would say if they had added a system of secondary quests only based on combat that would just allow you to farm money it would probably have made it more relatable. Since the sense of urgency doesn’t exist anyway why not go deeper into it.

b.Achievements
The game has 39 achievements, most of them story based and depending on your choices and actions. They are not hard to get if you know what you’re doing.

IV.Pros and Cons

[Table]
[tr][th]Pros[/th][th]Cons[/th][/tr]
[tr][td]

• Well balanced classes
  
• Excellent writing
  
• Amazing music
  

[/td]
[td]

• A bit short
  
[*] No proper quest diary

[/td][/tr]
[tr][th]Conclusion[/th][td]★★★★★ [/td][/tr]
[/table]

works great on steamdeck despite showing up as unsupported

Great game, it is well thought out and fun to play and explore.

Buy Dragonfall Director's Cut

So you wanna be a shadowrunner, but nobody to play with?

Purchase Dragonfall Director's Cut! Director's Cut includes Dead Man's Switch, the mission for Shadowrun Returns. DF is more stable than either Shadowrun Returns or Shadowrun Hong Kong, and fans re-made the 1996 SNES Shadowrun game as a workshop mod.

Dragonfall is game crack for laptop users because it is a turn-based game which can be played offline with minimal resource usage.

Dragonfall is game crack for tabletop RPG players because they don't have to roll dice or spend hours doing the math; the game does it for you.

Dragonfall is game crack for anyone who loves dystopian futures or urban fantasy, giving the chance to explore either Seattle or Berlin in a magical but dystopian future.

Dragonfall is game crack for modders, as it includes ShadowrunEditor.exe in the folder \Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\Common Files\Dragonfall Director's Cut\ and more advanced changes can be made with Unity development tools.

The personnel involved in Dragonfall and Dragonfall Director's Cut include...

- Creative Director Jordan "Zapper" Wiseman, who created the Shadowrun, BattleTech, Renegade Legion, and Earthdawn tabletop RPG universes.
- Former Shadowrun Line Manager Mike Mulvihill is one of the designers credited for the Dead Man's Switch (Shadowrun Returns) campaign.
- Many DF developer staff went on to work on the Lamplighters League (2023)
- Dragonfall and the other two Shadowrun games in the trilogy were all Kickstarter projects.
- Dragonfall has 58 Workshop mods to apply and a level editor provided by devs.

Fan Missions extend the replayability of Dragonfall Director's Cut...

Top Notch Fan Missions include:
- SNES Reboot - a three fan team re-make the SNES 1996 game with the Dragonfall editor.

- cirion's "Antumbra Saga" - rise from a lowly shadowrunner to a pivotal player in the struggle between CalFree and Tir Tairngire.

- Mercurial - A 7 fan team re-made the Shadowrun tabletop RPG module Mercurial playable in DF DC.
- SekhmetCLS's "Codename Cherise - The Galaxy Case" - This is how to code a Fan Mission for a sniper. Must play.
- dante_ph's "Be Careful What You Wish For - Act I" - subsequent acts never appeared, but this is a great story about a runner's terrible first run.
- icemann's "Old Habits Die Hard - Episodes 1 & 2" - Decker focused missions. Bridges SR and System Shock universes.
- molefixer's "Desert Wars" - What to do when you finish Dragonfall and have a 150 Karma character but want to keep playing.
- molefixer's "Darkness Falls, part 1" - What to do when you finish Dragonfall and have a 200 Karma character but want to keep playing. Also, look for part 2 and part 3.

This game is an awesome Shadowrun Rpg.
Great Characters, great story, great writing overall. I am still salty, that HB Schemes decided to follow another IP after Hong Kong.

I don't think I've played a single game where I cared about the characters more than Dragonfall. The little kiez in Berlin and the team sticks in my mind as one of those things that games can do perfectly, where you can have a beautiful little bit of stability in an uncertain and dangerous world.

Decent game but nothing to write home about. Bought it on the premise that it bears resemblance to Planescape: Torment (according to reddit) but sadly it's nothing like it. There just isn't anything memorable about Dragonfall, with the exception of a bug that renders the game unplayable after nearly 40 hours in. The bug occurs in the Apex mission (late game) so Steam won't refund the game and the developers have given up on fixes (why fix it? you can't refund the game so no pressure on the devs). Shame on Steam and shame on the devs for selling a broken product.

Shadowrun

This game I both love & hate...it is so good but so hard it makes me want to hit my head against a wall...love this.

Nice game.

Pretty fun, I enjoyed the setting quite a bit.
I'd love to see more games in it.

Very boring.

Use magic, become cyborg and do crimes 10/10

there are a few weird new reviews complaining about things that really aren't like the way it's stated, so I want to correct the record:

the fights are not a slog. they are difficult. this is one of the very few games of this kind where I always felt challenged. I wouldn't want to re-play it, because it has little such value, but it is an amazing game for the first time.

people act like this is a brand new game, when it was one of the first of its kind and originally released in February 2014! 11 years ago.

the first shadowrun (returns) was ok, the second one, this one here, Dragonfall is fantastic. the third is not good -- way too much text... it's kinda like the Mass Effect situation.... 1st made people hope for an improved version, second was masterclass (for the time!!) third killed the franchise.

I never bothered writing a review because I got really upset about how they handled the franchise: they could have all gotten rich if they had just listened to the criticism, but they didn't. instead they doubled down on the worst parts of 1 & 2 when they made 3.

but this game is good. I have never had such good and tactical fights in any other game. usually it's way too easy for me. the GAME part of the game is great.

the biggest issues the game has is the stong wahmen syndrome, but you could argue, that's just the dystopia of the original pen and paper game.
...and the hot chick dies in the beginning (if I do not mix this up with another game)

Long story short: this game is the last one on my backlog, so I am rushing through it to be done with the whole shebang after 2 and a half years of working on it. But the character specific missions have extended my playthrough.

DON'T DO WHAT I DID. Take your time with this. Learn your squad's stories, abilities and preferred type of combat. I am seriously doing the game a disservice by being hasty so don't do it ! It's a very very good game !

solid

Played two times, first time as a elven mage second as dwarf adept

gotta say compared to hong kong,dragonfall does indeed have a better story, but hong kong have better mechanic

the decking cyberspace is definitely an improvement from shadowrun return. generally all the mechanic is positive improvement from return, and having an actual squad and free teammate is just a huge improvement, i havent seen anyone actually rented non squad shadowrunner

Shadowrun: Returns was a fun but flawed CRPG that was only around 11 hours. It was straightforward, but kept you guessing with constant set dressing changes and a very fast-paced plot. This standalone expansion is 30 hours with none of those strengths, resulting in an experience which feels padded.

While the writing is generally improved, the setting is used less effectively in the shift to anarchist Berlin and the focus on the core "team" of characters was unwelcome. You are especially punished if not playing a Decker by having to put up with Blitz, an inferior Decker who also happens to be insufferable. The long duration with relatively few plot developments also serves to make this title feel more like a marathon. The final "mission" is 5 levels long (3+ hours) without a resupply. Ultimately, despite many improvements in the encounter design and writing branch density I found myself enjoying this a lot less than the original game.

There's also a game-breaking bug that can occur in a specific mission; good luck with that.

I've tried starting this game multiple times but every time is has managed to lose my interest.
There's really nothing special about the two main parts of the game being combat and the story.

Only time where I really enjoyed playing is one section with multiple extended combat encounters where I had to plan out a strategy and ration my consumable items. Not sure if it was scripted or a random chance on doing a mission but I ended up getting a surprise combat after I believed everything was finished.

The hacking "decking" mechanic is a complete waste of time and consists of even worse combat just to use cameras for vision where it doesn't matter or turrets in areas where no enemies go. It also uses turns in combat so you're missing a fourth party member just to do it.
The Shaman class is one that I want to like but can't because of your summons have a chance to escape and turn on you every turn with increasing chances. I love the idea of support classes in general, but even its haste buff feels underwhelming. The range on the starting Shaman NPC's damage reduction aoe is also so short that there's no point in using it.

The story isn't great either. A good majority of your supporting characters either do not like you or do not trust you which leads you to pry scraps and pieces of information from them over time. You're also mostly doing a bunch of disjointed side missions ranging from mildly interesting to a waste of time that makes you dislike your party members even more because they disapproved of you doing the morally right thing or doing anything risky. All of this is sometimes broken up by story exposition that goes on for too long and does not result in anything except your team's information broker saying that he'll look into it.

Loved this. I slept on the SR series for years, picked this up mostly for research, and found a lot of unexpectedly interesting design and narrative decisions. It's hard to pick one thing that SR:DF does unusually well, but the ambience, systems, narrative, writing, art never fall below 'very good' and they work together harmoniously. And of course it's really faithful to the original IP if you were there for that in the early TRPG days, so if you're here for nostalgia, fill yer boots.

Really sad when it finished - glad I have SRHK to go on to.

DragonFall Nails it.

From the tone of the world, to the depth and nuance of the characters you encounter the writing in this game walks the line of "in world" conversations while not verging into the valley of cringe that is easy to slip into.

This entry has just enough beats to satisfy, challenging fun combat and options to make it your own.

this is an instant key entry to the genre. I will be stealing characters and setting elements for my live game

Every combat is an absolute slog. Not worth the time.

Good story and game play. I wish there was more combat and opportunities for conflicts.

peak fiction

Back to basics, straightforward contained crpg. In a world of AAA titles with seasons, in game purchases, and outrageous system requirements, Shadowrun Dragonfall is a breath of fresh air. Excellent writing, easy to learn point system, and a universe full of lore. Really enjoying this simple ride. Would reccomened to anybody who is a fan of turn based rpgs / cyberpunk genre.

Exactly the same shitty UI as in Returns.
Still no proper tutorial.
Game froze during the 1st mission.
Bye

Dragonfall is the worst of all Shadowrun series. Way too many game breaking bugs that you would have to revert to previous saves wasting many hours. There's also a noticeable issue with percentages not being accurate at all. I really wanted to enjoy this one since I liked Hong Kong and Returns, but the bugs are too much for me and kills the whole mood.

I wish pen and paper Shadowrun was this fun.

It is ok only.

Dungeon crawler in a future setting. I've enjoyed playing so much that as soon as it ended i am ready to start again on hard because i am confident with a different character i will get a much different game

.

Recommended

A great followup to the first game, better in everyway though the mission with the matrix close to the end can drag a bit.

best of the shadowrun games, fantastic story with satisfying choices, combat is good, though the 'hacking' combat got a bit weary

for the price its a steal

In my opinion, this is the best entry to the entire series.

Pros:
1. Companions are all very interesting & distinct. Special mention to Glory, whose background literally gives me chills.
2. Combat is overall fun! The karma & money is about enough to specialise.
3. The plot. Oh gosh the plot. It is right up my alley. The game begins with a compelling suspense that leads to an interesting twist, without boring fillers. It reminds me of the Neuromancer book (my favourite!) and I can't get enough of it.
4. There are lots of potential replay value. I won't spoil, but at the end when the first twist occurs, you can even work with a certain NPC first and the betray them later. And if you don't, someone will get really pissy xD
Cons:
1.Some companions' story ends a bit abrupt. Although I said I love Glory's tale, I cannot help but feel there should be some more to it. Same for Blitz's.

Overall, 9/10 from me, and I really hope they can expand upon this story- like adding more companion content. Then this will be THE cyberpunk game of the decade xD

The truth is out there.

the subtle power spike/gradient is addicting. your crew bonds as they acquire a broader sweep of skills and masteries. it is wonderfully narrated, if a little old school. pixel art for the win, buoys!
!

thumbs up

The best story in the Shadowrun Trilogy of HBS games

good game

Holds true to the lore. Worth the $$.

Simply frustrating that a game doesn't support multiple monitors. You can either run it fullscreen and risk the game not responding if you do anything else on your PC, or run it in a window and not see half the UI under your taskbar.

This game is way better than its price asking for
The game is a bit buggy and the UI is kinda crude but the gameplay , story and setting are really cool
If you like CRPG and Xcom style combat and wanna read something real good. This is for you

If cyberpunk was isometric, it would need better world building and story to be comparable.