Hotly Anticipated Harebrained Schemes' Shadowrun Returns Available Today for Windows and Mac Play on Steam - First 7-Figure Kickstarter Game Project Ships
Kirkland, WA (PRWEB) July 25, 2013 -- Launching for PC and Mac on Steam today and on mobile tablets in the upcoming weeks, Harebrained Schemes', Shadowrun Returns, is a highly anticipated, crowd-funded videogame with a multi-decade history. The Shadowrun universe, created 25 years ago, has been visited via several games and novels over the years and boasts decades’ worth of fans. Now, creator Jordan Weisman returns to the world of Shadowrun, modernizing this classic game setting as a single-player, turn-based tactical RPG.
The year is 2054. Magic has returned to the world, awakening powerful creatures of myth and legend. Technology merges with flesh and consciousness. Elves, trolls, orks, and dwarves walk among us, while ruthless corporations bleed the world dry. The player takes the role of a shadowrunner - a mercenary living on the fringes of society, in the shadows of massive corporate arcologies, surviving day-by-day on skill and instinct. When the powerful or the desperate need a job done, shadowrunners get it done... by any means necessary.
In the urban sprawl of the Seattle metroplex, the search for a mysterious killer sets the player on a trail that leads from the darkest slums to the city’s most powerful megacorps. Players will need to tread carefully, enlist the aid of other runners, and master powerful forces of technology and magic in order to emerge from the shadows of Seattle unscathed.
In addition to this rich universe, Harebrained Schemes is empowering and encouraging gamers to create their own stories within this shared game world by releasing the Shadowrun Returns' Editor along with the game. A rarity in the game industry, the Shadowrun Returns' editor is the same tool that the developers used to create their first campaign, titled “The Dead Man’s Switch”. Players can use the developers’ art and tile system to make their own environments, write their own dialogue, create their own story, non-player characters, etc... Along with the game, Harebrained Schemes is also releasing their campaign in its entirety, in an editable format for players to add to, expand upon, or improve.
"Due to the generous community funding last Spring, the creation of Shadowrun Returns has been a shared community experience from its beginning and we want this to continue," said Jordan Weisman, founder of Harebrained Schemes and creator of the original Shadowrun. "This game and universe is very important and nostalgic for us, and this last year has been an exciting ride. The incredible fan outreach and interaction has made it both an exhilarating, and scary, project to work on, as we don't want to disappoint. We have been encouraged and amazed by the user-generated Shadowrun Returns' content already created by our Kickstarter backers that had early access to our game editor, and we are looking forward for this to continue. We can't wait to see what stories our players have to tell within the Shadowrun universe."
As its many decades of fans know, Shadowrun is a "shared universe" that began as a 1980's tabletop RPG, in which players were encouraged to tell their own stories. The venerable game setting has endured and evolved for 24 years with hundreds of designers, authors, artists, engineers, and gamers contributing to its rich, layered setting. The Shadowrun tabletop game is still thriving today, and its Fifth Edition just launched from Catalyst Game Labs. Shadowrun Returns and its players will extend this universe even further.
Shadowrun Returns can be found on Steam. The game will be available for mobile tablets in the next few weeks.
Harebrained Schemes
Harebrained Schemes is a small team of passionate game developers led by Jordan Weisman, the creator of Shadowrun, Crimson Skies, BattleTech, MechWarrior, and many other acclaimed properties. Founded in 2011, the Seattle-based studio is centered on collaboration between seasoned veterans and fresh talent. Their first title, Crimson: Steam Pirates, was one of Apple’s Benchmark Games of 2011 and one of Metacritic.com’s "Best iPhone Games of 2011." Their next title, Strikefleet Omega, was named one of Google Play’s "Best Games of 2012." In April 2012, Harebrained Schemes made headlines when it launched one of the first 7-figure Kickstarter campaigns to fund Shadowrun Returns, which now appears on five “Most Anticipated Games of 2013” lists.
Susan Lusty, PR for Harebrained Schemes, (206) 331-4659, [email protected]
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