Shadowrun Revisited

Shadowrun is one of my favorites providing countless hours of straight up online multiplayer action. I started playing the game after renting it around launch and after a single day having to rush out in order to buy it. The game launched at somewhat of a high price upon reflection with features that would have been more appropriate to a modern free to play. It was also one of the first cross-play games where Xbox 360 players could play against Windows Vista users on the Games for Windows Live service. That service didn't last very long and has recently been replaced with Xbox Play Anywhere for which I think this game would have fared better on.

Shadowrun released in 2017 developed by Fasa and published by Microsoft Studios as a Xbox exclusive. It was originally announced at E3 2016 with a single player component that was cut due to budget and apparently quality constraints. The final experience was marvelous with balance and fun gameplay, but in that time this was not something that would entirely sell a game. This was still very much at the start of online multiplayer for consoles so the concept of online only games was new. I would love to see this game revisited by Microsoft as they do own the franchise and the premise of a solid competitive strategy shooter is still waiting.


It was a special time, one of which magic returned to the world and various factions banded together to fight over it. The RNA are the corporation side of things attempting to control the magic awakening whereas the Lineage aim to free it. That's about as far as the story goes and I'm honestly very curious of how the campaign would have been. The key of all multiplayer modes is fighting over the artifact whether that's using it to find the enemy team or to escape with it. It's intense, very strategic and highly competitive with players still active on it in 2017.

There's true value to the title that I think many missed upon its launch as I can go back to play this anytime as long as others are still Shadowrunning. The game features a variety of races that act as classes and each round you earn cash to buy weapons. Aside from guns are magic and tech with both taking certain amounts of your life force essence. It's a strange beautiful balance between how much essence races have based on what tools they can use. The elf characters often have teleport and revive since they have extra essence along with regeneration. This is countered by dwarves that suck essence while having lots of it or trolls with very little that rely on Trees of Life. My favorite mixture is taking an Elf, grabbing a Katana and glide teleporting around. If it's just a whatever night, I'll Ninja Troll it with a Katana and glider mix.

It's hilarious and with all this choice it's a perfect mix for whatever players prefer. This sort of intense customization mixed with balance would be amazing in a free to place atmosphere with decorative customizations. I can play Shadowrun for hours and with it now backwards compatible for Xbox One it will hopefully last a long time. There will probably always be players on this game and it's worth checking out.

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