Shadowrun
1993
- role-playing (rpg)
- hack and slash/beat 'em up
- adventure
- action
- fantasy
- science fiction
- sandbox
- open world
- single player
The story
Shadowrun is an action role-playing game.It was adapted from the cyberpunk role-playing game Shadowrun.The game is the second video game adapted from Shadowrun, and has a more open ended style of gameplay than its 1993 Super NES counterpart, Shadowrun by Beam Software. The game is set in the Shadowrun universe, in the 2050s. A time where the blending of technology and human flesh is common; it is around the time the Matrix, a huge computer network, came online, with the ability to jack into its cyberspace directly. It was also a time of magic renewal: a phenomenon known as The Awakening occurred, where magic returned into the world. Sorcery was once again possible, and slowly and seemingly at random humans began to mutate into orcs, dwarves, elves or trolls. This time of upheaval was not without political conflicts: mega-corporations began to control the world. But with their magic, native shamans threatened them and the world geography came to a complete change. The Amerindians and Elves reclaimed an area called Salish-Shidhe, close to the free city of Seattle, a major city in the newly formed United Canadian and American States.
What it’s like
Isometric pixel-art streets in a slightly angled 2.5D view, with murky greens, rain-slicked greys and sodium-orange glow giving the sprawl a grimy, lived-in look. Night scenes sit in heavy shadow, broken up by flickering signs and the cold light of terminals, while the skyline feels smoggy and distant. The soundtrack is a loop of synth pads and driving percussion that tightens into urgency during fights and thins to lonely ambience when you wander alone. The vibe is gritty, melancholic cyberpunk with a stubborn thread of hope, suited to a long evening with headphones or an unhurried session of exploring a city you can't fully trust. Pacing alternates between slow wandering, hunting down contacts and leads, and sudden bursts of combat with gunfire, melee and spells. Violence is frequent and cartoonish rather than graphic, with characters falling and blood spatter in fights, and it never lingers on cruelty. Its outsiders and crews are shaped by a gradual climb from strangers to hard-won members of the shadowrunner underworld. It suits players who want an open-ended city crawl with dark fantasy and cybernetic flavour, and who don't mind dated pixel art.
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