Seminal 1990s tabletop role-playing game, Shadowrun, has recently come to the digital domain, originally with a version of Shadowrun Returns for the Mac, PC, and Linux platforms. Cult of Mac gave the game a stellar review, calling it a “fully realized tabletop to digital RPG conversion.” Say that five times fast.
Now the game is finally on tablets, both of the Android and iOS variety, and the buzz is that it’s a note-for-note port of the desktop game, minus the campaign editor. That’s a lot of game to smoosh into a tablet.
Shadowrun Returns takes the strategic combat style of XCOM: Enemy Unknown and add it to a well-written storyline full of intrigue, murder, and the return of magic to an alternate future of hackers, mega-corporations, and post-modern city dwellers. Magic has returned to the world, bringing with it transformations of humans into trolls, dwarves, elves, and other magical beings, right alongside a technological civilization that does William Gibson proud.
The game looks fantastic on the iPad screen I have here, and is set to work with higher-end Android tablets as well. The only difference between this version and the one on the desktop is that the computer version of the game has a campaign editor, which lets you create your own adventures set in the Shadowrun universe, much like the original tabletop game itself.
Shadowrun Returns is available on the iTunes App Store as well as the Google Play Store for $9.99, which may seem like a lot, but is, in fact, half the price of the desktop version on a service like Steam. If you haven’t picked up Shadowrun Returns for your computer, yet, this is a perfect opportunity to get the stellar game for a low ten bucks, right on your tablet.
Source: App Store
