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Game News Shadowrun Returns Kickstarter Update #73: Dragonfall Standalone Director's Cut Announced

Infinitron

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Tags: Harebrained Schemes; Jordan Weisman; Mike McCain; Mitch Gitelman; Shadowrun Returns; Shadowrun: Dragonfall

Marking the one year anniversary of the release of Shadowrun Returns, Harebrained Schemes' Jordan Weisman and Mitch Gitelman have announced today the imminent release of Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director’s Cut, an enhanced, standalone version of their swell expansion pack. Here's the Kickstarter update:



As Jordan discusses in the video above, exactly one year ago today we released Shadowrun Returns on Steam. It was a pivotal moment for our little studio here. In 14 months, we’d gone from a dozen developers working out of a storage closet to being a full-fledged indie RPG developer. And the last year has been just as important for Harebrained Schemes - in the weeks and months following launch, Shadowrun Returns received a bunch of great reviews and kind words, from old and new fans alike. We even made several Game of the Year lists for 2013.

But most importantly, we got YOUR feedback. We learned what was working and what wasn’t about the game we’d worked so hard to create. Even better, we were able to take a lot of this feedback and channel it directly into Shadowrun: Dragonfall. Save-anywhere. A more open story with more compelling choices and locations to explore. A fully-realized team of runners to command and grow with over the course of the campaign.

And when Dragonfall launched, we were incredibly happy with the response it received. Reviewers praised the story, characters, and writing as some of the best in the business. For an indie studio like ours, that’s a huge deal! Still, as with Shadowrun Returns, we heard feedback about some things that folks wanted to see improved or simply wanted more of. We also heard many requests for a standalone version of the game - since it’s narratively independent of the Shadowrun Returns campaign, players wanted to be able to dive directly into Dragonfall.

So we thought: Why not just… make Dragonfall better?

We’re excited to announce Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director’s Cut. Inspired by other passionate, community-focused developers like CD Projekt RED (who continued to improve and add to their Witcher titles post-launch), we decided to make an even bigger & better Dragonfall for you guys. The Shadowrun team has been hard at work taking the existing Dragonfall campaign and making it even better - adding new features, missions, art, and more.

And we’ll be releasing it as a standalone title on Steam, GOG and the Humble Store.

What’s more, as a continued “thank you” for your support, the Director’s Cut will be FREE to all Backers and to all owners of the expansion version of Dragonfall. If you’ve played Dragonfall already, this should be a great opportunity to return to the streets of Berlin and enjoy the improved campaign all over again - to try a new archetype and make different decisions. And if you haven’t played Dragonfall yet, this will be the definitive version of the game to dive into.

We’ll be talking more about the specifics later next month - but we wanted you, our Backers, to be the first to know what we’re working on. The Director’s Cut will be released sometime in September.

Stay tuned for a full announcement in August. Until then - from the entire Shadowrun team - thank you again for your continued support, and for your help making Shadowrun Returns and Dragonfall a reality.

Is this is what they were hiring a writer for? It's good news, and long overdue, but at the same time, I'd be a bit disappointed if they're not making a new campaign after all.
 

Athelas

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They're calling it a director's cut...how cute.

But most importantly, we got YOUR feedback. We learned what was working and what wasn’t about the game we’d worked so hard to create. Even better, we were able to take a lot of this feedback and channel it directly into Shadowrun: Dragonfall. Save-anywhere. A more open story with more compelling choices and locations to explore. A fully-realized team of runners to command and grow with over the course of the campaign.
They needed explicit feedback to implement the bare basics of an RPG?
 

felipepepe

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Humm... interesting. They saw that it was dumb to release such a great game marketed as DLC, when it was actually a full expansion... and now they want to make it up by making it stand-alone.

Plus, by making it a Director's Cut, they get to fix whatever thing people didn't like and get new press news, reviews & metacritic scores... quite clever.
 
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Still a terrible dumbed down Iphone game made by a burned out has been who has turned over to casual gaming and his team of Seattle hipster suburbanites from which nothing good can come. Original Sin wipes the floor with it, it's embarrassing.
 
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Still a terrible dumbed down Iphone game made by a burned out has been who has turned over to casual gaming and his team of Seattle hipster suburbanites from which nothing good can come. Original Sin wipes the floor with it, it's embarrassing.

apples-and-oranges-300x225.jpg
 
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Kem0sabe

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great news, wish more developers would take this aproach to improving their releases instead of opting for further monetizing it with senseless DLC... looking at you Paradox.
 

Decado

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Still a terrible dumbed down Iphone game made by a burned out has been who has turned over to casual gaming and his team of Seattle hipster suburbanites from which nothing good can come. Original Sin wipes the floor with it, it's embarrassing.

Terrific post. Just kidding, it was shit!
 
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That being said, it would be nice if they went for a legit sequel with an expanded editor that was a PC-exclusive. Shadowrun Returns is fun as it is but you feel its limitations.

Then again, that might ruin some of its appeal as an "off game."
 

Morkar Left

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That's an ...interesting... move. I would have expected a new campaign but I won't complain about a better Dragonfall. I'm quite curious if there will be "only" more content or if the mechanics/gameplay will be altered, too.
 
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That's an ...interesting... move. I would have expected a new campaign but I won't complain about a better Dragonfall. I'm quite curious if there will be "only" more content or if the mechanics/gameplay will be altered, too.

Works for Atlus pretty well. Persona 4 Golden together sold a million units of a 5-6 year old game for extremely minimal content additions.

I think Infinitron was right about the "one game only" contract. Harebrained Schemes negotiated their way out of it and think they can get the sales numbers out of Dragonfall that it never got as a DLC.

Still, if its way better, I think I'll play it. I really liked Dragonfall.
 

Paul_cz

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Awesome. Heard good things about Dragonfall but did not get around to it yet. I will wait for DC.
 

Siveon

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Still regretting not backing Shadowrun. Well, at least I get to buy the standalone version.
 

Deleted member 7219

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I don't think I can bring myself to play it through again. Some good moments, but too many annoyances.
 

Darkzone

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We also heard many requests for a standalone version of the game - since it’s narratively independent of the Shadowrun Returns campaign, players wanted to be able to dive directly into Dragonfall.
This argumentation is kind of odd. So the only valid argument is to make more money by selling it as a standalone game. I have no problem with it, becasue i have them both. But why do not play with open cards?
A better Dragonfall i take anytime and i'm thankful for this, but this has not to be a standalone version. Where is the difficulty to press one button more to start a new game?
Hopefully they have read my statement here, how to make it a better game. ;)
 

felipepepe

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You forget that people have to own SRR to be able to play Dragonfall. And Dragonfall fixed a lot of issues of the base game, so it seems logical that people want to play it without having to buy the original game.
 

mindx2

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If I remember correctly, Dragonfall didn't sell very well because of their terrible marketing of it as DLC instead of a separate & improved campaign. I would imagine that by releasing this as a stand-alone game they're hoping to generate more income to perhaps fund the sequel. I enjoyed it as one of the first true KS games released (even though their so-called "old school" boxed version was TERRIBLE!!) so am happy to see them improving upon it and trying to make it better.
 

Roguey

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The freelance writer position runs through December and this is going to be released in September, so no, this isn't what that was for.
 

Darkzone

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You forget that people have to own SRR to be able to play Dragonfall. And Dragonfall fixed a lot of issues of the base game, so it seems logical that people want to play it without having to buy the original game.
Yes, but i would make a bundle from both games giving SRR DMS for free, to the buyers of SRR DF. But it seams they still want to make some additional money from SRR DMS. Not that i would realy care, and i wish them all the money they need, for a better third campaign / game.
I'm more a 2020 guy than shadowrun, but i can nowadays live with dragons and elves on cyber upgrades. And if a standalone SRR DF gives them more money... np with me.
 

GlutenBurger

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"Director's cut"? They're not describing a reprise of the director's hampered vision, they're describing a rectification of inadequacies in the director's original vision that have been collated from user feedback.

They could have hitched another line to the crowdfunding climate by calling it a Fan Cut.
 

almondblight

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The freelance writer position runs through December and this is going to be released in September, so no, this isn't what that was for.

Yep. My guess is that they realize a bigger base is going to be essential for sales of their next expansion, so releasing Dragonfall as a standalone will be a good way to prep things for the next release (which I'm guessing will be around March-April?). Also any engine enhancements they've been working on so far for the next expansion can be bundled in to this enhanced edition.

Mitch says in the comments that "The studio's doing fine financially." Well, hopefully.
 

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