3 hours in, let's post some impressions!
Story
You get a call from your friends, but it's just a recording. He set up a dead-man's switch to ring you up if something ever happens to him. 100k money is set aside for you if you happen to find out the person who killed him. So, there's no grand quest to save the world here, it's all about investigating murders and dredging the scum of magical-cyperbunk Seattle. It's a really nice change of pace, and it's bolstered by some pretty good writing. It's got just the right amount of dirt and grit and grime that you'd want out of your cyberpunk fiction.
Graphics
It's got a slightly cartoony look, but the look is clean, appealing, and cohesive. The view's isometric, with the options of three different zoom levels. Lots of neon, lots of garbage on the ground level, but you can also expect some slick corporate digs along the way. The graphics engine is set up to be modular, which makes it easy for modders to build and populate locations simply using the existing art palette. All major characters and most minor characters also come with character portraits to add a little unique flair to each of them, which is nice since you can only tell so much by looking at their small, 3D model. Basically, the game looks pretty good.
Music
Moody synth from Marshall Parker and Sam Powell.
Gameplay
Outside of combat, you progress through a series of maps taking place in various parts of Seattle. When you're not fighting, it's all real-time and free-roaming, although there's not necessarily a huge amount of things to do. Occasionally you'll come across people who want something from you or want you to kill some bad guys, providing you with a quick and easy way to get information, items, or cash. This isn't Skyrim, so don't expect that kind of freedom. You're presented with a linear series of maps that you progress through in the same way every time. So, you talk to a few people, do a few sidequests, trawl the vendors, and then get ready for the main battle.
One nice thing about the conversation system is that certain responses are only available if you have certain skills or stats. I always like that kind of thing.
Battles are handled similarly to XCOM, in that it's all turn-based with movements grids and cover. You've got melee attacks, ranged attacks, drones, summoned monsters, magicks, and the like to defeat all the enemies in the combat maps. One little twist here is that at certain points in the game, you can jack into the Matrix, which pulls up a VR map that your digital avatar must navigate. Time moves slower there, but your real-world avatar is still in danger. Overall, it's a fairly simple combat system, but it's good enough to do the job it needs to do.
Customization
5 races, 6 classes, and you can also customize the appearance of your character. Adding in character portraits for you to choose from for your PC is a nice touch, although if you fiddle with your appearance too much the portrait may not resemble the 3D model too closely.
Cons in a nutshell
-Auto-save only is annoying
-Linear campaign
-Just 10-12 hours long
TL;DR
If you like turn-based RPGs or cyberpunk, Shadowrun Returns is unlikely to disappoint you.
