Engaging story and writing
Mentioned in ~1 in 3 positive reviews
“Dead Man's Switch is a great story, and the ironic plot twist right before the credits roll made me laugh out loud.”
Steam review · 40.2 h played ↗
Shadowrun Returns
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Very Positive · 88%Very Positive · 88%Harebrained Schemes2013RPG · Strategy · Adventure
The verdict
A short, linear cyberpunk-fantasy tactical RPG with a strong setting, writing and atmosphere but simple XCOM-lite combat. Skip it if you want freedom, depth or length.
Great for
Shadowrun and cyberpunk fans wanting a short story-driven tactical RPG and an easy entry to the trilogy
Main risk
Very linear, short and shallow, so choices and RPG depth feel missing
What changed in the last 30 days
75 recent reviews
Most recent negative reviews protest Paradox's Discord moderation over an Atatürk controversy, not the game itself. A few recent ones also cite linearity and shallow combat. Fairly confident it's review bombing.
75 recent reviews
What players love
Great cyberpunk-fantasy setting and atmosphere
Mentioned in ~1 in 3 positive reviews
“Loved the cyberpunk/fantasy mix, great atmosphere, good characters, and it has an awesome soundtrack.”
Steam review · 9.9 h played ↗
Fun accessible XCOM-style combat
Mentioned in ~1 in 13 positive reviews
“The combat is like Xcom, but with less "You miss on a 99% chance to hit" bs.”
Steam review · 112.1 h played ↗
Short length that doesn't overstay
Mentioned in ~1 in 14 positive reviews
“It's short, which I love, because there's far too much great media out there to spend 100 hours on 1 game.”
Steam review · 18.1 h played ↗
Good entry point to Shadowrun and CRPGs
Mentioned in ~1 in 15 positive reviews
“As someone new to CRPGs its a really good place to start.”
Steam review · 23.6 h played ↗
Workshop and community campaigns
Mentioned in ~1 in 21 positive reviews
“you get access to a workshop and user-made campaigns, many of which are excellent!”
Steam review · 132 h played ↗
What players complain about
Extremely linear, choices don't matter
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“you're entirely on the rails, your decisions don't matter.”
Steam review · 6.2 h played ↗
Basic, repetitive combat
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews
“the combat is just utter dogsh*t. It's boring even by 90s SNES turn based strategy standards.”
Steam review · 25.4 h played ↗
Game-breaking bugs and crashes
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews
“it crashes after about 20 minutes”
Steam review · 11.8 h played ↗
Clunky UI, checkpoint saves and tedious hacking
Mentioned in ~1 in 10 negative reviews
“the checkpoint save system is an absolute joke. You cannot save when you want.”
Steam review · 1.6 h played ↗
Hit chances feel rigged
Mentioned in ~1 in 13 negative reviews
“It's incredibly common to miss with a 99% change to hit. One battle I missed 3x in a row.”
Steam review · 41.5 h played ↗
Too short and thin for the price
Mentioned in ~1 in 14 negative reviews
“Extremely short for this type of game. I thought i was done with chapter one, and then the credits rolled.”
Steam review · 12.3 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: Playable2 GB
Minimum
OSWindows XP SP3/Vista/Windows 7
Processorx86-compatible 1.4GHz or faster processor
Memory2 GB RAM
GraphicsDirectX compatible 3D graphics card with at least 256MB of addressable memory
Storage2 GB HD space
OSWindows XP SP3/Vista/Windows 7
Processorx86-compatible 1.4GHz or faster processor
Memory2 GB RAM
GraphicsDirectX compatible 3D graphics card with at least 256MB of addressable memory
Storage2 GB HD space
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analyzed 1 d ago
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analyzed 1 d ago
ELDEN RING
Very Positive · 93%+ Vast, rewarding open world to explore
− Paid Tarnished Edition DLC backlash
analyzed 1 d ago
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