janky interfaces and impersonal presentation (this has to be the most flat art direction there is out there for a cyberpunk themed work, accompagnied by some pretty uninspired music loops), this game is somehow made likeable by okay-ish turn based combat gameplay and, above all, very fine writing.
You get to live in anarchist berlin and literally punch nazis in the face.

On a side note, normal difficulty feels a bit weird at times. I started with a Decker build but kinda messed up by putting karma points in other places, and my character felt very underpowered for a while when compared to both enemies and allies; yet I got game over'd only 2 times. I feel like this could have been a bit more interesting by punishing mistakes more (e.g. enemies tend to throw grenades at you when you group your units too much, but these grenades don't do too much damage) and adding a respec mechanism to counter-balance that.

Pretty much exactly what I wanted from this sequel. The previous game of the series was fine, but it felt very small, limiting in exploration and choice and not having a party felt like a wasted opportunity.

Dragonfall fixes these things for the most part. It still doesn't really have real "exploration" in the sense of exploring a big city or worldmap and doesn't actively make you look for optional areas and "dungeons", but the hub area provides a nice homely feel and there are at least some hidden optional quests you only get by talking to the NPCs.

The party of this game is a big reason why I enjoyed Dragonfall a lot. Every member has an interesting backstory to tell and turns out to be very likable. Of course it once again falls into the trope of slowly opening up to you over the course of the game and everyone has a dark past that you slowly uncover that results in a character quest, but I'd say this formula has some merits, because you always have something to look forward to between missions and it definitely makes sense to have characters opening up to you gradually, even though it feels a little formulaic at times.

The storyline was pretty good, as well. Once again you're starting off on a quest for revenge, but you can instantly tell the story is going in a very different direction, which it does. You could probably criticize the game for it's lengthy middle section, which consists of collecting money and doing missions that are unrelated to the main story to gather it, but each of those missions was really well written and I went out of my way to do them all. Their lack of connection to the story didn't really bother me as a result.

Combat got some improvements thanks to a better UI and the new armor system adds a nice layer of depth to encounters. Overall it's pretty much the same, though. Having a set party that gradually unlocks new moves is a nice touch and I could really notice how my strategy got better and better over the course of the game. Familiarizing yourself with the moveset of each character and coming up with synergies of certain skills was pretty nice. Even if it ended up in an almost disappointingly easy final act, even on hard.

This time I went for an elf decker instead of going full combat focus and the beginning in particular was pretty rough for him. My character was barely hitting a thing and pretty frail. But it was a nice challenge and it made sense for the hacker guy to not be the toughest fighter.

What brings the game down a little is probably the amount of fights and how lengthy they can be. I enjoyed combat most of the time, but some missions definitely could trim some of the fat. The animations of enemies could also need a speed-up option, because seeing 8 seperate enemies walk towards cover isn't that exciting.

I think it would've also been a nice bonus if you could actually equip and skill your party members. I get that they should feel like their own entities, but since you're controlling them in battle I feel like that's a moot point. In a way it was nice to have them refill their items and not having to worry about it, though, so maybe it was actually for the better. Not sure.

So yeah, a great step-up from the first game. A way longer (25h), bigger game with a great cast of characters that really grew on me. You might want to start here if you want to give the series a shot.

Will definitely play Hong Kong at some point, but I don't want to burn myself out, so probably not for a while.

A better cyberpunk game than that other one?

As prescient as the best of its genre, Shadowrun: Dragonfall is a truly dense game. Dense with strong writing, memorable characters (Dietrich and Glory are my favorites!), authentic themes, and interesting content. Rather than wringing a giant, sprawling world dry and padding it with repetitive junk encounters, Dragonfall offers streamlined paths with just enough meaningful branches to respect your choices, and just few enough to make most of those choices meaningful.

Punctuating Shadowrun's dialogue, story, and decision making is a tactical if slightly uninspiring combat system borrowing heavily from XCOM, minus the permadeath or extensive depth that defines that franchise. I wish a bit more work had gone into this, as it's enjoyable when it goes smoothly, but tends to drag on a bit too long. Playing on higher difficulties can make it more challenging and rewarding, but long animations, a similar first few turns each time, and a generally unimpactful game feel make the threat of replaying a combat from the start unenticing.

The combat is thankfully incredibly well-integrated into the narrative. There are ways to avoid it when appropriate, but not all the time (just like in real life). In general, the game could use some more varied solutions to quests--there are often two or more ways to proceed, but it still occasionally funnels you into the same combat setpiece. Outside of those moments, the paths it offers are usually interesting, but in putting so much emphasis on streamlining, some more emergent, mechanically-driven options are almost completely absent. It ends up feeling more scripted than your Fallouts or your Original Sin 2s, but thankfully, Dragonfall brings an unusually great script, even for a genre known for strong narratives.

In clearing away the bloat that is common to too many RPGs, Dragonfall leaves you with an experience that is dripping with substance, though it leaves some style on the cutting room floor in the process.

A standalone of the Shadowrun Returns expansion, Dragonfall appears to be a far cry from its predecessor: mechanically, it's nice to finally find some interest in social skills, while the Matrix and stealth approaches are more emphasized. Writing-wise, the pace is more enjoyable and the characters are deeper; it's nice to converse with companions who do justice to the CRPG's heyday. As Dietrich points out, you don't last long being a saint among shadowrunners, but the moral compass is what makes this title good. While it is regrettable that the final choices are not discussed at length, this is in keeping with the style of Shadowrun: the draconic ways are impenetrable. In any case, apart from a few ergonomic inconveniences (selection of boxes and some bugs in the Matrix), the title is a success and shows the way for cyberpunk writing.

Zatímco minule šlo především o editor pro „pány jeskyně“, ke kterému byla jen tak mimochodem přiložena i přímočará (a zábavná!) krátká neonoir-akčně detektivní kampaň, která sloužila spíše jako ukázka možností onoho editoru více než co jiného (stejně jako v příručkách k papírovým hrám na hrdiny máte jedno ukázkové dobrodružství, které není moc propracované ani dlouhé a slouží především pro seznámení se s mechanikami, světem apod.). To se „dvojkou“ (resp. datadiskem k „jedničce“, který vzbudil takový ohlas, že byl následně vydán i jako samostatný titul s přidaným obsahem) se to má v přesně opačném gardu. Tedy vynikající a ze svých minulých chyb poučené plnohodnotné RPGčko, které staví na všem dobrém a zapracovalo na většině „ale“, co jich jen minule bylo a ke kterému je jen tak mimochodem přibalen i ten vynikající a možnostmi takřka neomezený (a notně vylepšený) editor pro „pány jeskyně“.

I nadále platí, že Shadowrun má vlastní ksicht; stylizací i mechanikami čili se mezi všemi těmi vysokorozpočtovými monstrprojekty s otevřenými světy a na nostalgickou vlnu staré školy brnkajícími indie projekty neztratí. Zůstal zachován i hlavní klad; lépe napsanou RPG hru, aby pohledal. Vše od atmosféru uvozujících textů (ty jdou ruku v ruce s "nedoslovnou" grafikou, která je účelná, přehledná, krásná a navíc nechává prostor i pro vlastní fantazii), přes postavy (jeden příklad za všechny; vysloužilý anarchistický punk rockový šaman, co vypadá jako Willem Dafoe) a dialogy až po děj (ano, "rozehrávka" je téměř až banální, ale její provedení a podání nikoli) tu je skvostně napsáno, kdy se autoři nezaleknou ani vyspělých nečernobílých témat bez správných/špatných/jednoznačných řešení, že je prostě radost se těmi „stěnami textu“ skrze všechny ty intriky, politikaření a náznaky pročítat. Celková atmosféra a propracovanost světa s až neuvěřitelným i všudypřítomným smyslem pro detaily dokreslující svět nezaslouží nic menšího než slova obdivu. Jenže to platilo i o „jedničce“. Tentokrát to má tu výhodu, že je to mnohem delší (cca 25 hodin při plnění všeho), podstatně méně přímočaré, se sofiinými volbami a nepovinným obsahem i misemi apod. Stále to není rozsahem ani zdaleka tak olbřímí jako jiní zástupci žánru, ale paradoxně je to spíše výhoda, jelikož díky tomu je Dragonfall nebývale sevřený a nikdy ničím nevytrhne z perfektní atmosféry, tak jak to mívají ve (zlo)zvyku RPGčka s otevřeným světem či přemírou generických questů.

Taktické možnosti v soubojové fázi se prohloubily (největší změnou jsou pak body brnění) a mnohdy se vyplatí zkusit jiný než akční přístup. Ovšem s akční stránkou jsou přeci jen spojeny určité vady na kráse. Stále není možné rozmístit své postavy před započetím konfliktu, inventář a práce s ním je pořád „na přes držku“, nedlouhé pasáže v matrixu jsou fádní i rutinní a až příliš misí jede dle schématu „první polovina průzkum a ticho před bouří cestou dovnitř a druhá hromy a blesky skrze nepřetržitou akci cestou ven“. Na druhou stranu jak průzkumná tak i akční složka jsou natolik zábavné a do hry rovnocenně integrované, že se ani jedna neomrzí na úkor té druhé.

Dragonfall tedy více než pouze obstojí jak ve své kampani, tak i bohatou a rozmanitou nabídkou komunitního obsahu. Je tak jedním z nejlepších titulů v rámci svého žánru posledních let. A to se bavíme o žánru, který si na nedostatek kvalitních titulů nemůže nikterak stěžovat.

Shadowrun Returns was a very competent taste of the very potent Shadowrun universe, but Dragonfall is something else, at least when it comes to story. It's on the shorter side (even if it's considerably longer than the original), but considering the focuse on a single team of shadowrunners, it makes sense.

It's the narrative that really shines here--the main story has gripping pace especially towards the latter half, constantly throwing scenarios that are inspired by existing cyberpunk tropes, but with unique twists that only Shadowrun can offer. There is nothing like this, and the writing is absolutely top-tier to make the best of it. There are no voice work in this game, sadly, but the dialogues are written so vividly that it's not hard to imagine the voices. Each team member is given a great care in building their personality through their dialogues, and dialogue options to talk out of sticky situations never feel tacked on and provide organic narrative flow.

I just don't like the combat though, which was the same case with the predecessor. It's X-COM, but with a lot of moving parts with RPG mechanics, magic, hacking, summons, etc. and they are tutorialized very, very poorly. There is that inherent divisive mechanic of "you will miss A LOT" but the way to compensate that disadvantage is buried deep in the pile of smaller mechanics that the game does not do a good job (or any job, for that matter) introducing to the players. The hacking portion being a blend copy and paste of the main combat system, just in a different environment, also doesn't help.

If you really want to just engage with the story, which I highly recommend, the debug menu is easy to access.

"I was the front man for a punk band, boss. Fuck no, I can't sing."

I have never cared for a party in a video game anywhere near as much as I did for the cast of Shadowrun: Dragonfall.

I've seen complaints about these characters that far too many of them are too nice to realistically be shadowrunners. Your fixer is just a kindly, unassuming guy with the Ryan Gosling jacket from Blade Runner 2049. Most of your crew can be stony and serious, but they're very rarely hostile to anyone who hasn't provoked them first. People hanging around the commune may be drug addicts, or broke, or both, but they usually seem happy to see you. There is a dark world outside of the Kreuzbasar, constantly bleeding into the city from its edges, and a decent chunk of players think that the lighter, less gritty characterization here is at odds with the setting.

These people are wrong.


Dragonfall's characters embody spitting in the face of inevitability, be it wrought through the tendrils of capital or magical instability. Anyone with so much as a passing knowledge of Shadowrun lore knows that Berlin's anarchist east is a carcass circled by corporate vultures, and the game makes no effort to hide this. Every gig you run comes with its own mini-conclusion, but there's no way to reconcile this with the fact that everything you do will inevitably be for nought. Why keep fighting and struggling in the face of a future so far beyond your collective control?

Because fuck them, that's why.

A lot of the more mainstream cyberpunk stories that get talked about these days usually get trotted around for the tragedies awaiting the characters at the end, but I feel like this is missing out on nuance for the spectacle. Going down in a blaze of glory is memorable, but death is death, no matter how it comes. If we're remembered only by how we died, then we've lived awfully boring lives. Whether it's with you or the generations that come after you're gone, Dragonfall is genre-aware enough to know how this ends. It trusts that you are, too. And in spite of this, never once does it give up hope. No matter how infinitesimally small of a chance, it insists over and over that you can make things better. You can help. You can matter.

Your moment-to-moment missions are all little microcosms of the greater whole of Berlin. Some people are scared, and down on their luck, and desperate. You can reason with them. Others aren't as willing to talk, and you're forced to gun them down. Sometimes you'll be killing some bastards who really, really deserve it, and other times you'll be shooting at victims of circumstance. There is the potential for you to fuck up severely, on purpose or otherwise. Just because the game wants you to make things better doesn't mean you have to abide.

The game is willing to trust you with a lot of freedom, all the way from how you build your character to the many, many different paths you can take to achieve your objectives. You can absolutely ruin your PC by making a completely garbage build with your limited karma, but the fact that you can do that at all is significantly more than some self-professed RPGs allow. There are many ways to avoid direct combat, meddle with a battlefield before you even enter it, or storm in guns blazing faster than anything in the room can react. Nothing short of a nuclear blast can chip through a troll street samurai's health pool. That's unrelated, but I like bringing it up.

All of this is punctuated with a wonderful score, punching through combat scenes with harsh synths, or swelling under quiet moments with strings. Glory's theme remains one of the stronger pieces of music I've heard composed for a game, especially in the context in which it plays. Everything in this game comes together flawlessly. There's not a single element here that feels out of place or tacked on. It's such an impossibly cohesive whole.

Every tabletop adaptation wishes it had what this does.

I didn’t know much about the Shadowrun IP before this, the most I remember about it was playing that multiplayer shooter in 2007 which seemed to be quickly forgotten. But now the franchise was revived as a series of CRPGs that focus more heavily on the narrative potential of its world and characters. And after playing it’s clear that was the right direction since Shadowrun’s universe does really stand out with its interesting mix of cyberpunk and fantasy elements

Dragonfall is the second entry set in Berlin, though it’s standalone and from what I’ve seen was the recommended starting point. The main story itself was solid, but it was the character interactions that make up the best part about the game

While there’s no voice acting, dialogue is well written and your companions are all interesting to talk to and learn more about after each run. The quality of the quests is pretty strong too, and it’s fairly concise for an RPG like this at about 20 hours or so. There’s a limited amount to do, but it’s all worthwhile and some of the quests tie into your companions and their backstory

The turn based combat is basically the same as XCOM, especially having your characters often miss their high hit chances as that’s known for… Mechanically it’s solid, though my issue with this type of combat system is when you’re fighting a bunch of enemies at once and have to slowly watch everyone make their turn animations over and over, which always gets tiring. A way to speed this up would’ve been appreciated, but otherwise combat was fine

And aside for some clunky inventory management and minor bugs, the console port was polished and translated pretty well to a controller

Shadowrun Dragonfall is a truly great CRPG that I really enjoyed. It's been a joy to fall in love with each and every member of the team and delve into their past and backstories over time.

I also think the game handles it's themes really well, especially for a game. Where most games tend to beat you over the head with their ideas, Dragonfall presents a variety of conflicting ideas and leaves you to decide what you agree with.

The combat is well balanced while being challenging all throughout and I was able to get through the game without too much frustration even while playing as a decker (hacker in shadowrun).

I was also pleasantly surprised that all of the choices I made during character creation kept being relevant throughout. There was a really fun moment where an elf was going on about how elves have magical blood and my character (also an elf) was able to just say "no we don't you fucking dork".

Great game, heavily recommend it.

Puuuh. Nachdem ich den Vorgänger doch recht solide fand, hab ich mich direkt an diesen Teil rangewagt und fand von Anfang an alles zumindest ein Stück besser.

Das Gameplay wurde nur minimal aufgebessert mit einem besseren UI und paar mehr Optionen, allerdings noch viele der kleinen Problemchen und Bugs des Originals. Es ist 1:1 die selbe Engine weshalb hier wohl nicht viel zu erwarten war.

Der Rest aber funktioniert besser. Man hat einen interessanteren Hub, interessantere Charaktere mit eigenen kleinen Sidestories, das Crew-Feature ist somit viel belohnender und nicht nur eine Random-Liste an Portraits.
Außerdem wurden die eigentlichen Missionen viel interessanter mit abwechslungsreicheren Orten die mehr Persönlichkeit und Geschichte haben, tatsächlich minimale Adventure-Elemente, das Setting ist interessanter etc.

Alles supi. Bis dann schon sehr früh im Spiel eine "Wir müssen X Geld sammeln bevor die Story weitergeht" kommt und du für 20 Stunden oder länger plötzlich nur noch an Sidequests und Sidequests und Sidequests gebunden sind von denen nur die wenigsten wirklich Spannend waren.
Die eigentliche Handlung? Stoppt beinahe komplett. Ich war nach einiger Zeit so genervt und ermüdet davon und hoffte endlich mein Geld zu sammeln um EEEENDLICH weiterzumachen. Aber guess what: Sobald ich Ewigkeiten unwichtigen Kram gemacht hab und ich längst vergessen habe um was es eigentlich genau ging, gehts nicht weiter: Es geht direkt aufs Ende zu. Das wars.

Alles was jetzt passiert wirkt an den Haaren herbeigezogen und man konfrontiert den Spieler mit drei, vier, fünf Moralentscheidungen auf die nichts im Spiel bisher hingearbeitet hatte und ich hatte Probleme noch für irgendwas Interesse aufzubringen. Denn wenn ich eine Meinung zur Moral in Situationen haben soll die nicht aufs echte Leben anwendbar sind, dann konfrontiert mich mit möglichen Gedanken und Philosophien doch bitte in den 20 Stunden ohne Handlung! Stattdessen haben wir jetzt einen guten Anfang, ein überladenes Ende und keinen Mittelteil.


Unterm Strich ist Dragonfall nur in der Theorie ein besseres Spiel als sein Vorgänger. Es hat von allem deutlich mehr. Aber das Gameplay das beim letzten mal schon gegen Ende öde wurde, muss nun über die doppelte Spielzeit begeistern.

Sidestories wurden, zumindest bei mir, nicht zuende erzählt obwohl ich das Achievement dafür erhalten habe.
Wer kam auf die Idee für die letzte Mission noch gleich zwei weitere Spielbare Charaktere in deine Party zu werfen die du aber gar nicht mitnehmen kannst weil du nur vier Slots hast?
Und den Endscreen hab ich jetzt echt nur geskimmt weil ich in den letzten 10 Minuten echt den Bezug zu allem verloren hab. Die Trolldame ist cute.