Longing for a genuine PC sequel to the cult RPG Shadowrun? Looks like you're not alone. Just two days after launching a Kickstarter campaign for Shadowrun Returns, Shadowrun creator Jordan Weisman with Harebrained Schemes has announced that the studio has hit its $400,000 fundraising goal and is ready to give the cyberpunk series the video game sequel it deserves.
“From the bottom of our hearts, we'd like to say THANK YOU to everyone who has backed us so far,” wrote the studio in an update on its Kickstarter page. “If we weren't working our butts off on our new game, we'd be dancing around the Closet (our tiny office) with tears of joy streaming down our faces. Instead, the team is heads-down at their computers, sniffling loudly and wiping their eyes with their shirt-sleeves.”
Shadowrun Returns was announced earlier this week by Harebrained Schemes. It is being developed by Weisman along with former FASA Corp. veterans, and is described as an “old school” turn-based game inspired by the early 1990s video games and the RPG pen-and-paper campaigns upon which the series is based. Similar to its source material, Shadowrun Returns imagines future comprised of cyberpunks, magic, and fantasy creatures. It will feature a world governed by four different “realities” -- the physical, digital, mystical, and astral – with character classes assigned to each, including the Street Samurai, Hackers/Deckers, Shamans, and Combat Mage, respectively.
At time of print, the Kickstarter campaign is sitting at a smidge over $550,000 in pledges with 22 days to go. Weisman plans to use any extra money to port the game to Mac and include new gameplay features. The studio has also pledged to contribute 5% of its proceeds from the finished product to the development community as part of developer Brian Fargo's “Kick it Forward” program, which he started during his own Kickstarter project for Wasteland 2 (read: Wasteland 2 Kickstarter eclipses $1M in opening days).
Lest we forget, an online-only FPS version of Shadowrun was released by FASA Interactive in 2007, but fell short of expectations. Can Weisman succeed where other have failed? We've got our fingers crossed. Let us know what you want from the cyber-sequel in the comments below.
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