Game Review: Shadowrun Dragonfall
8) The story is one of the best stories in games, flat-out.
I wouldn’t go so far to say it’s a literature quality story, but it’s definitely adult, interesting, and tackles big themes. It’s not silly and cringe-worthy as many games that try to have a real story, where my reaction is often ‘aww, bless their little hearts’. The story centers around a conspiracy in Berlin, where the great dragon Feuerschwinge, or Firewing, is devising a way to return to power after having been subdued by humans decades ago. Your group of Shadowrunners gets involved because they get a job to rob a mansion — which turns out to be hiding some sort of secret relating to this Firewing ascension plot, and your team leader gets killed, getting you thoroughly mixed up in the machinations of groups bigger than you and plots outside of your control. The story of the game plays out like a mystery/thriller and the twists and turns are numerous — you’re constantly being thrown for a loop and as the plot reveals itself there are a lot of “ohhhh” and “oh shit” moments. The motivations of the characters feel real and compelling. The surface level writing is also pretty engaging and thank God they hired some talented writers and clearly valued that skillset, unlike many recent games, because a lot of the pleasure of this game comes from the reading.
9) The improvements in the Director’s Cut are mostly welcome.
It’s definitely the definitive version of the game. They added in a lot of things that felt like they were missing from the original DLC – your party members get unique missions, there’s a kind of ‘talent’ customization system for your party members, about five new missions, and a few new endings. All of these additions are really, really great. The teammate missions really flesh out their characters and give them something special, not just in terms of story rewards, but in terms of new equipment and abilities. The talent customization for allies adds a dimension of customization that was needed (in the original version you couldn’t customize or level up your allies at all), and it gives them access to some really cool new and unique abilities only available to them. The new endings are, of course, a welcome cherry on top, though if you aren’t trying specifically to get them you’ll assuredly get one of the original endings.
