Shadowrun Hong Kong

art by CeruleanRaven, click photo for their Artstation site


I really enjoy the Shadowrun games by Harebrained Schemes and they get better every time they publish another one. Hong Kong is by far the best and the main reason for this, as far as I am concerned, is the story and the characters. You can talk to so many people in this game and you should. You will get information necessary to playing the game, of course, but you will also get interesting stories and background on all the NPCs, not just your team. Really, do take the time to talk to everyone. They all have led interesting lives and it's fun to explore their stories. Ten-Armed Ambrose in particular has a lot to say, just keep poking at him.

The detailed environments and the excellent music are more reasons to play the game. Steam now has the deluxe upgrade for sale that gets you not only the game but also the soundtrack and a PDF copy of the artbook and I think it's well worth the money.

I'm on my second playthrough because the first time round, I couldn't save Raymond and that bothered me enough that I want to give it another try. The game really makes you care for your team and for Raymond, your foster father.

The bonus mission is worth playing, too, but will ask you to make a decision that I found very hard to make and I was unhappy with both outcomes. Not because they were badly written, quite the opposite. If you tick anything like me, be prepared to swallow a very bitter pill.

The game basically asks you to decide between Duncan (or Duncan and Raymond if you saved him) and your team. You can either go back to Seattle with Duncan and Raymond and never see your team again or you can stay with your team and really fuck up Duncan's life in the process. He will be so angry at you (and with good reason) that he takes off and you never see him again. This was the solution I picked because I did not want to make things a mess for my team just for Duncan and I still feel it's the best choice. But it really, really hurt. When I started this game, I did not expect for it to make me cry, but this is exactly what it did. Well done, Harebrained Schemes, well done.

As a tip: if you happen to have Gaichu on your team and do the run to discredit Neville Ma, by all means do take Gaichu with you because it will be hilarious.