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Shadowrun Reviews of Shadowrun mods

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
35,660
There's a previous Shadowrun mod thread, but it's 90% toolset discussion, so anyone looking for user generated content assessments will have a difficult time of it. Hardly anyone talks about these things, and I think some of them could use some exposure.

Dead Man's Switch

Trivia Night Chapter One
:3/5:
Short and low in scope, but utterly hilarious writing.

Just Another Milk Run
:2/5:
Also short and low in scope, weird balance, too wordy for its own good.

The Price of Conviction - Coyotes Crusade
:3/5:
Short combat-oriented fan-fic with light role playing that determines which battles you face, decently mediocre.

Nightmare Harvest
:3/5:
Perhaps they patched it, but Roxor was wrong about the two mandatory fist fights; you get a pistol at the beginning. Decent scope with entertaining writing and moments, but it's somewhat-amateurishly scripted and bit crawly with poor spammy encounter design and weird AI behavior. The endgame is a bit too combat heavy. The ending is amusing, but will make serious people/canon purists flip.

From the Shadows, Run
Act 1 is :2/5: but the rest is :4/5:
Lot of different checks throughout, but it railroads you into playing a melee or spellcasting character if you want to take the path of least resistance at the beginning. Lot of combat, pretty decent writing though. The Shadowrun equivalent of Swordflight with its bad beginning and restrictive approach to resource management. The third act has a greater scope than the the previous acts combined, showing the author's growing confidence with the editor, though it's actually a bit too long. Amusingly enough, this is actually technically unfinished, since the mod author mentioned working on act 4 in the comments section of 3, but it has what could be considered an open ending.

Jacked-Up
:1/5:
Forces you to play as a default character (who's a black guy) which I'm sure quite a number of you won't like. Okay writing, a number of scripting bugs, sloppy use of "New Actor" NPCs, typos, and the second part is a series of fetch quests in a large hub with long loading times; the engine isn't suited for that kind of level design. Also features a dumb optional cannibal restaurant location. Starts out easy, but has a huge difficulty spike at the end with tons of mobs in narrow corridors. Its far-too-ambitious ideas are only hinted at, no actual ending.

Silver Angel
:1/5:
You're railroaded into fully speccing into pistols to survive a tough battle right at the start. Stealth section, pretty high difficulty, not-so-good writing. Lousy level design with few cover spots against high hp enemies. Unfinished, ends abruptly.

Food Fight
:2/5:
A quick adaptation of Baby's First Run with rather wonky-feeling scripting. The Nexus Mods version doesn't work, go fig.

Stuffer Shack
:3/5:
Another adaptation of baby's first run. Lower in scope, and as a result feels far more polished.

Razor's Edge
First two chapters :2/5: Third chapter :4/5:
Don't care for the plot that railroads you into stupidity or the obvious author self-insert, but the third chapter of this is a fantastic prison break that's worth going through the other parts. Unfinished though.

Antumbra
:3/5:
Chapter one is an okay-if-easy one-hour crawl with light role playing. The writing is okay, if a bit too wordy. Chapter two is four hours of more of the same, though it ramps up the difficulty by the end and gets a little too combat dense for my tastes. It's also frustrating how you keep meeting the final boss and he keeps running away even though killing him is well within your capabilities (at one point I got his health down to zero as he ran away, but he was flagged as immortal because the author had a particular climax in mind). Chapter three significantly increases the ambition (around 10-11 hours), sometimes to its detriment; one of the early levels has a bunch of NPCs that force you to wait minutes for them to finish their moving about. Nice time pressure mission that comes right after it though. Battles tend to be on the long side since the author has become incredibly fond of unlimited respawning enemies. The endgame once again goes for too long and ends with a dragon ex machina (though I can't blame the author, apparently this is Shadowrun canon).

February 29, 2020 Additions:

Seattle Blues
Between :2/5: and :3/5:
A simple, tough linear single-character combat crawl with okay writing. Given how amateurish the scripting is, it's a good thing the modder didn't try anything more ambitious.

Trivia Night Chapter Two (Incomplete)
:3/5:
Still hilarious, but just suddenly ends, unfortunately. Funny thing is that the modder could have just wrapped things up pretty quickly, but his ambitions got the better of him.

Hong Kong

The Enemy of My Enemy
:4/5:
Short combat-focused run, light role playing, pretty swell gay orc companion, decent writing from someone who sounds like he has experience with bad bosses at small places.

Good Intentions
:3/5:
Too-Wordy, too-expressive writing that comes across as ESL in places. Starts out as a non-combat puzzler, then turns into a regular run complete with mandatory stealth matrix. Several hours worth of content. Edit: I accidentally played an outdated version. The one on Steam has had updates that allegedly fix a lot of the ESL.

The Caldecott Caper
:3/5:
More from the author of Antumbra. Not thrilled with the plot, which involves your partner getting you deep into medical debt after saving your life. Combat-dense in the beginning, exacerbated by enemies having more health than in Antumbra. At least he doesn't bother with the stealth minigame for the matrix sections. The author comes across as too self-congratulatory in the commentary nodes, though he has improved. Obtaining the rigger for your heist also railroads you into stupidity, and she's a romance option despite being too dumb and impulsive. The romance lines are also incredibly cringey and I avoided taking them out of concern that the character would make fun of me for saying them (but apparently she does not, which says a lot about the modder). The Wire reference was amusing though, as is pulling off the heist itself. Falls into the usual trap of having an endgame that goes on for too long, though thankfully only one small map has the unlimited respawning enemies.

CalFree in Chains
:3/5:
Conclusion to the Antumbra/Caldecott Caper saga. As long if not longer than Dead Man's Switch. Feels like more of the same at first; the narrative is a remix of Antumbra 3 and The Caldecott Caper. Has the most interesting and unique builds when it comes to companions. Encounter design is often wave based like Dragon Age II (reinforcements don't pop out of nowhere though). There's an actual "Somehow, Shavarus has returned" moment because he needed a boss fight, though it comes with a big ramp in difficulty. Rolled my eyes a bit at the protec/attac reference. Finally has non-combat oriented missions which was a welcome change of pace though I ended up doing all three in a row. The run where you have to constantly open and close airlocks to proceed is also annoying with its tediousness, but at least the combat's optional. Too many long, drawn out Matrix sections. Features a sudden non-consensual kiss, though fortunately the one doing it is my type physically (personality-wise, an emotional wreck). The difficulty spikes hard near the end (though it tapers off) when it goes full Nazi Concentration Camps with the plot, though this is apparently canon to the setting (Thanks, Weisman). In the commentary nodes, the author reveals himself as an antifa sympathizer, a Disney shill who is both cynical and fabulously optimistic about their progressive agenda, and a dummy who thinks that gay people getting bad ends in fiction is "harmful and damaging." At least I finally got to fuck the supervillain-in-training dwarf after nearly three games, though it's inelegantly set up in an inappropriate spot, loser that the author remains (see what VD said about Witcher 2). For once, the endgame actually isn't a slog, bravo. Unfortunately, the fat loser who was run over by a car at that thing a few years ago is in the thanks section :roll:. I regret reading the commentary and paying attention to the credits, because otherwise this is some solid professional-quality work (though still flawed like professional-work often is). He could definitely be a professional game designer if he wanted to be (though he could use an editor to dial back the word count and a lead to dial back the combat density).

That's a month's worth of mods. I'm surprised at the number I liked, given that I disliked most of what I played from Neverwinter Nights. It's true I'm biased towards the setting, and the core gameplay being more to my tastes than NWN's doesn't hurt. :P There possibly might be a few more I could be interested in on the Steam Workshop that were never mirrored at the Nexus, but I have had my fill for the time being.
 
Last edited:

agris

Arcane
Patron
Joined
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Messages
6,764
Nice use of the full dynamic range. Too many 1/5 and 5/5 these days. :obviously: I feel like that solitary 4/5 must be pretty good.
 

Saduj

Arcane
Joined
Aug 26, 2012
Messages
2,547
I’ve played much of the user content but the ones I remember best are Antnumbra/Caldecott Caper/CalFree in Chains. I don’t disagree with anything Roguey said. But I would rate them all higher than 3/5 and consider them to be the best UGCs available.

The other two multi mission UGCs that I had a positive impression of were “Mercurial” and “Lonestar Double Indemnity” but it’s been so long I couldn’t tell you why....
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
35,660
I don’t disagree with anything Roguey said. But I would rate them all higher than 3/5 and consider them to be the best UGCs available.

I have an axe to grind against too much text and too much combat. Playing all three back to back at the end was a fine finish, but it burned me out.

The other two multi mission UGCs that I had a positive impression of were “Mercurial” and “Lonestar Double Indemnity” but it’s been so long I couldn’t tell you why....

Mercurial looked interesting, but it's Dragonfall DC only which I never downloaded. I looked up Lonestar Double Indemnity at both the Steam Workshop and Nexus and
That item does not exist. It may have been removed by the author.

Hidden mod

This mod has been set to hidden

The reason given by the author is: UGC development has stopped

Typical unstable modder.
 

DalekFlay

Arcane
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Joined
Oct 5, 2010
Messages
14,118
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New Vegas
I wasn't aware any of them were considered worth playing really. Maybe I'll try your 4-star one. Though I feel like each game lasted long enough that I was ready to move on by the end.
 

Yosharian

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Joined
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Messages
9,430
Location
Grand Chien
You think some of them could use more exposure but you only rated one of them 4 stars, and none 5? I don't get it. I'm not wasting my time installing some shitty fan mod unless it's balls-to-the-wall amazing.
 

Yosharian

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Joined
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Location
Grand Chien
maybe there are no balls-to-the-wall amazing mods for Shadowrun
Then what's the point?* Dead Man's Switch was pretty boring to begin with. Hong Kong was alright I guess. Never finished Dragonfall, but I guess it was OK too. The mods would have to be at least as good as Hong Kong to be worth playing at all.

*of playing the mods, that is
 
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Grauken

Gourd vibes only
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Mar 22, 2013
Messages
12,787
maybe there are no balls-to-the-wall amazing mods for Shadowrun
Then what's the point? Dead Man's Switch was pretty boring to begin with. Hong Kong was alright I guess. Never finished Dragonfall, but I guess it was OK too. The mods would have to be at least as good as Hong Kong to be worth playing at all.

To inform us of the existing mods and his opinion on them. Nobody is forcing you to read every thread on the codex, it's optional
 

Yosharian

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maybe there are no balls-to-the-wall amazing mods for Shadowrun
Then what's the point? Dead Man's Switch was pretty boring to begin with. Hong Kong was alright I guess. Never finished Dragonfall, but I guess it was OK too. The mods would have to be at least as good as Hong Kong to be worth playing at all.

To inform us of the existing mods and his opinion on them. Nobody is forcing you to read every thread on the codex, it's optional
No I meant what's the point of playing them if they're not great. I didn't mean what's the point of Roguey's reviews.

Isn't Roguey a girl? Or am I thinking of someone else
 

Grauken

Gourd vibes only
Patron
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12,787
Well, Roguey could be wrong, or his taste just different from yours, or you obsess over all things Shadowrun, lots of reasons. I often enjoy playing lots of shitty, forgotten games in the hope to discover unknown gems
 

eXalted

Arcane
Joined
Dec 16, 2014
Messages
1,213
That's... actually a good list. I've played some of them - I remember Antumbra 1 and 2 (especially 2 with that murican guy) were sooo wordy. Nightmare Harvest really pulled me in with its noir atmosphere. It was so buggy but I ended up completing it twice.
 

Roguey

Codex Staff
Staff Member
Sawyerite
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
35,660
You think some of them could use more exposure but you only rated one of them 4 stars, and none 5? I don't get it. I'm not wasting my time installing some shitty fan mod unless it's balls-to-the-wall amazing.

It'd be extremely rare for me to rate anything five stars. Additionally, From The Shadows, Run Acts 2 and 3 and Razor's Edge Chapter 3 received four stars. :M

For comparison, I'd rate Dead Man's Switch and Hong Kong three stars and Dragonfall and Shadows of Hong Kong four stars. The most professional-feeling mods are The Price of Conviction - Coyotes Crusade, From the Shadows Run, The Enemy of My Enemy, The Caldecott Caper, and CalFree in Chains. The longest are the last two.
 

Jack Of Owls

Arcane
Joined
May 23, 2014
Messages
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Location
Massachusettes
There just isn't that huge, HUGE community of talented module authors like with NWN so we try to make do with the tiny niche of UGC we have, sometimes so starved for new Shadowrun content we settle for second, third and sometimes fourth best.
 

SausageInYourFace

Angelic Reinforcement
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In your face
Divinity: Original Sin 2 BattleTech Bubbles In Memoria A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit. Pathfinder: Wrath
So that pretty much confirms what I said a couple of weeks ago about the topic, that almost all the mods are crap except the handful made by the Antumbra guy and they are merely okay, and really only if you need your SR fix.

Its surprising you don't seem to complain about many bugs because people used to run into plenty when playing those modules, I sure did.

All in all that is a pretty disappointing turn-out for this editor. We could've had years of supply with great SR modules but it wasn't supposed to be.
 

InD_ImaginE

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5,367
Pathfinder: Wrath
There just isn't that huge, HUGE community of talented module authors like with NWN so we try to make do with the tiny niche of UGC we have, sometimes so starved for new Shadowrun content we settle for second, third and sometimes fourth best.

Honestly in the Shadowrun forums they were a lot of passionate people about SR UGC. I was quite active monitoring them in the first year or so. Then they tried to use the toolkit. Then they simply gave up because making anything ambitious would pretty much break the toolset and caused silly amount of bugs.
 

Delterius

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Dec 12, 2012
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Entre a serra e o mar.
maybe there are no balls-to-the-wall amazing mods for Shadowrun
Then what's the point? Dead Man's Switch was pretty boring to begin with. Hong Kong was alright I guess. Never finished Dragonfall, but I guess it was OK too. The mods would have to be at least as good as Hong Kong to be worth playing at all.

To inform us of the existing mods and his opinion on them. Nobody is forcing you to read every thread on the codex, it's optional
Zombra Wasn't that your argument for Hong kong
 

almondblight

Arcane
Joined
Aug 10, 2004
Messages
2,549
Honestly in the Shadowrun forums they were a lot of passionate people about SR UGC. I was quite active monitoring them in the first year or so. Then they tried to use the toolkit. Then they simply gave up because making anything ambitious would pretty much break the toolset and caused silly amount of bugs.

IIRC, HBS also kept breaking modules with their updates, and it was a pain for users to keep fixing them. Then the community got split with DF and SRHK - so across 3 (or 4, if you consider DF and DF:DC different) different games in 2 years.

Like you said, there was a fairly large and passionate community at the beginning (even making open world campaigns before SRR was released), but they eventually fell apart.
 

Jack Of Owls

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Yeah, sometimes it's the damn toolset that cockblocks fun and prevents the flourishing of a good module community. I guess that's the case with HBS's Shadowrun series.

Btw, I see no mention of A Stitch In Time for SRR in this topic. I've heard at least one person compare it in quality to official campaigns, or close to it. Anyone here have input on it?
 

Saduj

Arcane
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Aug 26, 2012
Messages
2,547
I think “A Stitch in Time” is one of the open world mods. If it’s the one I’m thinking of, I played it for a bit years ago. I remember having a small army of followers (over 10) that made combat trivial and the game crashed frequently, probably due to the party size.

I’m sure improvements were made since then but the encounters I played were all pretty weak so I just never went back to it.
 

Yosharian

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Grand Chien
You think some of them could use more exposure but you only rated one of them 4 stars, and none 5? I don't get it. I'm not wasting my time installing some shitty fan mod unless it's balls-to-the-wall amazing.

It'd be extremely rare for me to rate anything five stars. Additionally, From The Shadows, Run Acts 2 and 3 and Razor's Edge Chapter 3 received four stars. :M

For comparison, I'd rate Dead Man's Switch and Hong Kong three stars and Dragonfall and Shadows of Hong Kong four stars. The most professional-feeling mods are The Price of Conviction - Coyotes Crusade, From the Shadows Run, The Enemy of My Enemy, The Caldecott Caper, and CalFree in Chains. The longest are the last two.
Oh ok. That puts things into perspective then.
 

Ladonna

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Aug 27, 2006
Messages
10,639
Not being a Shadowrun person (though I did play through the new games), I remember a few years ago someone commenting on the original campaign (from a console I am guessing) being done in this engine by a modder, and people were very happy with it. I have no idea what the original campaign is called, nor who did it, or where to find it. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable of the setting and its past versions knows about this?
 

Sukhāvatī

a.k.a. Mañjuśṛī
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འ༔ ཨ༔ ཧ༔ ཤ༔ ས༔ མ༔
Not being a Shadowrun person (though I did play through the new games), I remember a few years ago someone commenting on the original campaign (from a console I am guessing) being done in this engine by a modder, and people were very happy with it. I have no idea what the original campaign is called, nor who did it, or where to find it. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable of the setting and its past versions knows about this?
Perhaps thinking of the first modern Shadowrun Returns campaign being modded into the more updated SR: Hong Kong engine called Vox Populi?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1090315383
 

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