Walk, Don't Run: Shadowrun's Berlin Campaign Delayed
Shadowrun returned! Some doubted. Some declared it too good to be true. Some believed The Prophecy was only a nice story parents told their children to get them from posting 10,000-word rant novels on Reddit. But hark, Harebrained Schemes breathed new life into the series' patented blend of fairy dust and cyber sparks, and Shadowrun Returns was born. And lo didest Jim end up liking it pretty well. It's not the '90s anymore, though. You can't legally call something a videogame unless you can promise at least 157 pieces of DLC to accompany it. Shadowrun, the retro rebel maverick that it is, is opting for a mere one at this point, but it's apparently going to be much, much bigger than initially planned. As in, expansion-sized. The only problem? It won't emerge from Harebrained's time machine laboratory until 2014.
The developer explained the sudden slippage in an update on Shadowrun's website:
"Our original plan called for a modest-sized campaign that we could ship by the end of October. However, after listening to your forum discussions and feedback, it became clear that you would like to see something bigger (and so would we). So, we’ve decided to spend more time on Berlin to create an experience closer to the size of Dead Man’s Switch. A story of that scope will take longer, so we’re targeting January for its release."
It's sounding like good news, too, given that Harebrained plans on using the time to really reinforce some of Shadowrun Returns' weaker areas. This time around, there'll be a more flexible main story, characters with more depth, better Physical Adept gameplay, a European-style city with its own personality, and a (hopefully) much better story. This, of course, will all come in addition to the requisite new weapons, enemies, outfits, music, and the like. Nothing about the save system, though :/
Will it be worth the wait? Do I need to write up another Prophecy for people to debate over? Time will tell. The folks at Harebrained seem to have pretty excellent heads on their shoulders despite their floppy eared gray matter, however, and - even if Berlin tanks - there's always the magnificently robust campaign editor. Speaking of, has anybody found anything particularly well-done or noteworthy yet? Have you created anything yourself?