Here's the 3rd and last episode of the series.

Shadowrun: Hong Kong - Review After 100%

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Complete Nonsense Reviews review Shadowrun: Hong Kong.

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Shadowrun: Hong Kong Extended Edition is the last title in the cyberpunk turn-based rpg series of games from Harebrained Schemes. As such, it is also the final part of my Shadowrun September event, so make sure to listen till the end to hear my finishing thoughts.
Shadowrun September Reviews Playlist - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oZ_S...

Kickstarter can be awesome:

The Shadows of Hong Kong Bonus Campaign Is Here!!

We are pleased to announce that the Shadows of Hong Kong bonus campaign is now available as part of a free update to Shadowrun: Hong Kong.This update also adds the developer audio commentary Kickstarter reward and a variety of small game improvements such as new visual effects, updated dialogue, and editor features for User Generated Content.

So, we’ve rebranded the title asShadowrun: Hong Kong - Extended Edition to reflect all the new content. Hong Kong has never been better!

The Extended Edition update is free for all Backers and existing owners of Shadowrun: Hong Kong - to receive the update, you just need to go to your chosen game store (Steam, GOG, or Humble) and download it as you would any other game update. (On Steam this should be automatic.)

@Gameinformer announces that Shadowrun Hong Kong will have 5+ hours of new content plus developer commentary free if you already own the game. The content takes place after the main campaign.

Harebrained Schemes is getting ready to deliver a big expansion to the third installment in its recently rebooted Shadowrun series. Hong Kong is a vibrant cyberpunk city that's about to get bigger.

The best part is that you won't need to spend a dime on the additional content. In a post on the official Facebook page, Harebrained Schemes shares the details.

"Almost ready to go back to Hong Kong?" the post says. "We're adding 5+ hours of gameplay and a Dev Audio Commentary! (Same low price, lots more content! And updated free to everyone who already has the game!)"

In an update on Kickstarter the Shadowrun: Hong Kong team sends us their seasons greetings and give away a desktop image to everyone and announce that the Digital Map and Panorama Poster Rewards are available to backers now.

Shadowrun: Hong Kong has been updated to version 3.0.8 and delivers us the following:

Release 3.0.8 contains a variety of Shadowrun: Hong Kong campaign fixes, bug fixes, and new features. If you are encountering any issues in Hong Kong, please update to build 3.0.8 immediately. (To update, restart Steam and then allow Shadowrun to fully verify and download the new build.)

After the update if you are experiencing a campaign-related issue, you may also need to restart your current scene (select "Restart Level" from the PDA) or rewind (select "Rewind" from the PDA save screen, then select a previous level) to before you encountered the issue in order to resolve the issue. 

New Features, Improvements

• Added “move and use” functionality to Healing and Drug items.
• Added a "Stash All Items Except Armor from Actor" trigger.
• Added functionality to interactable actors to allow for freemove interaction.
• Added new VFX fill region “astralFogFill”.
• Added new VFX sitting actors.
• Added new weather effects “rain”, “matrix”, and “embers”.
• Added trigger to toggle some VFX settings.
• Conversation Speaker list now populates from parent content packs.

Bug Fixes

• Resolved an issue that caused multiple Cyberdecks to be equipped.
• Resolved edge case issue that caused game stall under specific conditions.
• Resolved edge case issue that could break weapon scaling on Trolls and Orcs
• Resolved edge case issue that could cause game stall on actor teleport under specific conditions.
• Resolved edge case issue that could prevent “You Died” game over screen from triggering correctly.
• Resolved edge case issue where DocWagon icon persisted after use.
• Resolved edge case issue where some UI screens would overlap.
• Resolved exploit where equiped Programs could exceed Cyberdeck limit.
• Resolved exploit where loaned items did not replace currently equipped items.
• Resolved issue causing visual sorting issue on Spirit Man.
• Resolved issue that caused Clear Actor button to remove Totem.
• Resolved issue that caused Dragonlines to visually activate in freemove when a duckling stood on them.
• Resolved issue that caused incorrect behaviour when an item was given during a conversation.
• Resolved issue that caused Ley Lines to not appear in game.
• Resolved issue that could cause incorrect music track to start playing on level load.
• Resolved issue that prevented “no LoS” from showing on spell cast in some cases.
• Resolved issue that prevented ambient audio nodes set to override camera region from overriding the audio is some cases.
• Resolved issue that prevented casting friendly spells by selecting portraits.
• Resolved issue that prevented Combat Samurai Shades from being seen in game.
• Resolved issue that prevented cover from being applied to barrier spells.
• Resolved various minor animation and VFX issues.
• Resolved various minor text and typo issues.

Thanks Eye.

Shadowrun: Hong Kong is the next game that Forgottenlor reviews for us and although he does see some issues, he likes the game very much.

The writing in Hong Kong is top notch, though it has a somewhat different flavor than the previous two Shadowrun games. Shadowrun: Returns and Shadowrun: Dragonfall had some pretty heavy themes, like racism, genocide, religious fanaticism, and serial killings. I found Dragonfall especially tried to create an oppressive atmosphere. Many of the quests were very morally ambiguous and you were often forced into making a lot of uncomfortable choices. Shadowrun: Hong Kong is anything but rosy, and yet it seemed a lot less "dark" to me. There's a mission where you can visit a party. Another of my favorites is where you are hired to alter some Feng Shui. Once in a while you're given some witty dialogue choices, and your companions occasionally deliver some too. Few jobs put you in terrible moral dilemmas. You are often given the opportunity to help people. In many of the situations where you're not, you're dealing with multiple groups of opposing scum, and choosing a side doesn't feel like taking part in a no win situation. Obviously whether you prefer Hong Kong's black humor and less gritty feeling to Dragonfall's dark and foreboding atmosphere is a matter of taste.

Zach Hines (Kill Screen Daily) reviewed Shadowrun: Hong Kong:

All cyberpunk heads to Hong Kong eventually. Shadowrun does it right

Asia is so often the dream of a cyberpunk future. Neon-soaked skyscraper canyons, and an abrasive mix of high and low tech, of the ultra-rich and the ultra-poor—these are the things that cyberpunk is made of.

But all too often, the essence of the place fades into a backdrop of the story at hand. Ridley Scott’s take on the Los Angeles of Blade Runner is a thinly veiled Hong Kong, but this serves as little more than visual shorthand for futuristic grittiness—at best, it’s an instant noodle signifier of mood in an otherwise more typical LA noir story.
This is true of many cyberpunk works that snatch a little Asia to add flair. In the 2000 videogame Deus Ex, a significant part of the middle third takes place in Hong Kong. Though the game reaches for the headier themes of cyberpunk, such as transhumanism and the atomization of identity, it fails to tap into the rich vein of this stuff that’s at your disposal when you decide to travel to Asia; instead, it focuses on the most obvious visual cues as little more than exotic window dressing. 
Indeed, “Asian-ness” has become a trope of cyberpunk so deeply ingrained it borders on cliché. All of this stems from the genre’s coming of age in the 80s, when authors were writing against the backdrop of Japan’s rapid technological and economic boom, and artists were left gobsmacked by the majestic violence of 1988’s Akira. When William Gibson created Chiba-City in Neuromancer, he was putting down ley lines that continue to shape the genre to this day, but which have so far gone largely untapped.

[...]

The actual shadowrunning is no great evolution on the tried-and-true formula of the past two Shadowrun games (though it has improved its hacking minigame with a system swiped from the ‘80s pass-it-along-game Simon). This is a shame when it comes to creakier systems in dire need of updating, such as the counterintuitive inventory management, and the lack of briefing menus when you take on a mission. The turn-based combat remains deliberative and solid, despite wonky stabs at systems the engine is simply not built for, such as stealth. And for all its smart writing, the pacing becomes dull after the first act, when you are basically forced to wait for someone else to deliver the climax to you on a plate.

These are quibbles. Shadowrun Hong Kong’s success boils down to a smart early decision to stay true to Hong Kong, and exaggerate the flaws of the city’s bizarre governing philosophy to find a new, urgent relevance in the cyberpunk genre. As a long-term resident of the city myself, I found that as the central mystery started to resolve into a corrupt state-sanctioned housing scam that enriched a family-run business at the expense of the ultra-poor, I started to cringe; it was too close to the bone. Setting aside the orcs, elves, and Chinese demons, Shadowrun Hong Kong taps directly into one of Asia’s driving economies to deliver a startlingly clear vision of our cyberpunk future: one where we are all merely economic units on a corporate spreadsheet—to be compounded or deleted at the whims of an anonymous board of directors.

Score: 75%

Shadowrun Chronicles: Hong Kong was reviewed by GameInformer who gave it a score of 7.5.

Once your enemies finally shut up and pull out their guns, you need to dive for cover and carefully manage your heroes’ action points as you lay down suppressing fire, unleash a series of offensive spells, or hack your enemy’s security drones to do your work for you. It feels like the difficulty has been tuned for seasoned pros, so newcomers might be in over their heads early on. Unfortunately, the tactical, turn-based mechanics don’t feel much different from those that Harebrained Schemes dreamed up two years ago with Shadowrun Returns. The studio clearly wants to please its fans by delivering another gripping campaign, but I wish the gameplay had evolved.

Harebrained Schemes has clearly spent a ton of time on narrative, character development, and world-building, all of which make it easy absorb yourself in the fiction. Sadly, the massive amounts of reading in Shadowrun: Hong Kong might exhaust players who are hungry for action, and the combat itself feels comfortable but well-worn. Shadowrun: Hong Kong is fun for a select audience, but doesn’t have the depth or innovation to stand out.

Thanks Eye.

Some concept art for the new mini campaign that is being made for Shadowrun: Hong Kong has been made available by Harebrained Schemes.

In addition to working on a new patch that will be released in the next couple weeks, the team is in creation mode - building a new hub, honing the story and doing concept pieces for new environments. 

Here’s one that Tristin’s been working on. Across the board, the team is totally stoked to have an Underwater Lab in the game! 

GamesOnNet reports that a new mini-campaign is in the works for Shadowrun: Hong Kong:

Harebrained Schemes have announced that a new mini-campaign for the just-released Shadowrun: Hong Kong is in the works, available for backers at the $15 level and up.

“Set in the weeks following the events of SR:HK, the mini-campaign will give you – and your team – the opportunity to turn the tables on the corrupt cops who once hunted you,” reads the email sent to backers.

“Through layers of corporate greed and urban strife, you will contend with powerful enemies, uncover a deadly conspiracy, and cement your reputation as a Prime Runner… assuming that you survive, of course.”

Look for this mini-campaign in “early 2016″.

Thanks Eye!

Harebrained Schemes provide some insights into what they have been doing since the launch of Shadowrun: Hong Kong.

It’s hard to believe an entire month has gone by since the launch of Shadowrun: Hong Kong. It has been quite a whirlwind and we didn’t want too much time to go by before we let you know what we’ve been up to. 

Shadows of Hong Kong Mini-Campaign
The Shadowrun writing, design, and art teams are moving full speed ahead on the upcoming Shadowrun: Hong Kong mini-campaign. Set in the weeks following the events of SR:HK, the mini-campaign will give you - and your team - the opportunity to turn the tables on the corrupt cops who once hunted you. Through layers of corporate greed and urban strife, you will contend with powerful enemies, uncover a deadly conspiracy, and cement your reputation as a Prime Runner... assuming that you survive, of course. The SR:HK mini-campaign is due to launch early in 2016, and will be free to all Kickstarter backers at the $15 level and up.

A New HBS Shadowrun Series Wiki!
For our UGC creators (or wanna-be UGC creators!), alongside the release of the game, we also launched a new Wiki! You'll be able to find information covering all three Shadowrun games, the Level Editor, and User Generated Content (UGC). The core game sections have information regarding the missions you'll run, the NPC's you'll meet, items that can be acquired, and much more. (Beware of spoilers if you haven't finished your first play through!)

The Wiki also includes tutorials and information about the Shadowrun Level Editor. While we've covered the basics, the more interesting tutorials have always come from community members trying things that we never imagined! If you’re interested in trying to create your own mission, this is a great place to start.

RPGFan:

"Few developers can craft a world or characters the way Harebrained Schemes does"

Pros:

Fantastic writing, fun battles, authentic world.

Cons:

Crummy controls, typos galore, little change from Dragonfall.

Bottom Line:

If you loved Dragonfall, you're going to really like Hong Kong.

Score: 87%

The Good:
Stellar art direction, even with limitations
Rock solid cyberpunk storytelling
Gameplay is satisfyingly brutal with time
One of the better examples of morality systems

The Bad:
Building characters is frustratingly slow
Not terribly friendly to novices
Hacking mechanic is a bit tedious

Score: 8/10 - Great

NZGamer and Gamebanshee have reviewed Shadowrun: HongKong, too:

NZGamer:

Overall however, Shadowrun: Hong Kong is a really enjoyable play. The Hong Kong setting gives a new thematic twist for the series that feels well fleshed-out and interesting, and the increasingly strange mystery you get caught up in makes for a great experience.

Definitely one for newbs and phreaks alike.

Score: 8.5 Great

Gamebanshee:

So far I've enjoyed all of Harebrained Schemes' Shadowrun games.  They've all been inexpensive, interesting, and well-made, and they all given multiple ways of completing objectives and dealing with enemies, which is always nice.  Shadowrun: Hong Kong is no exception, and better yet, it's the longest of the three.  It took me 40 hours to complete it, which is about as long as it took me to finish the first two games combined.  Of course, I'm something less than a speed reader, so your mileage may vary.  But if you enjoy isometric turn-based RPGs, and if you don't mind reading, then Shadowrun: Hong Kong is definitely a game to check out.

Shadowrun: Hong Kong got a lot of praise already and IGN likes the game, too:

Good soundtracks aren't always good indicators of good games, but it's happily the case with Shadowrun: Hong Kong. The artistry of composer Jon Everist's work reveals itself in the opening titles, and maintains an atmosphere of subdued mystery through character creation and beyond - spilling over into the first conversations and battles effortlessly and memorably. It hints at the other enjoyable things that wait ahead, and though its story struggles to maintain focus at times, Shadowrun: Hong Kong is another great adaptation of the well-loved tabletop universe. [...]

The Verdict

Shadowrun: Hong Kong doesn't change much about the core gameplay experience that developer Harebrained Schemes has given us for three years now, but it makes up for it with a quality tactical RPG that's challenging, well-written, and filled with memorable visuals and audio. What it lacks in new features it makes up for in improving old ones, such as a better experiences in the Matrix as well as improved interface options.

Score: 8.0 - Great

• (+) Excellent writing
• (+) Improved Matrix
• (+) Superb music, visuals
  
• (-) Unfocused story
• (-) Occasional bloat

Chris Brown (Gameplanet) has reviewed Shadowrun: Hong Kong:

Harebrained Schemes returns with its third Shadowrun game in as many years. Can it surpass the excellence of Dragonfall? Chris reports from deep within the Matrix.

[...]

One thing that fans of series were excited for was a promised revamp of Decking, which is essentially a hacking mechanic that allows the Decker to interact with a digital reality found within the Matrix network. If this sounds familiar, it should – it’s an idea a certain movie franchise borrowed very heavily from.

In the previous games, the Matrix was basically a reskinned version of ‘real world’ locations, and a laborious grind to boot. Decking in Hong Kong is a different experience entirely, with a whole new look and feel. Additional options and a lot of refining have finally made it as fun and rewarding as it should have been all along, but it’s not intuitive, and despite an in-game tutorial can be impenetrable initially.

Ultimately though, Shadowrun Hong Kong is a masterfully crafted game with truly exceptional writing and a story that goes in unexpected directions. The pacing drops off in a few places, and some areas are either too large, or not filled in enough, so it doesn’t quite feel as satisfying as Dragonfall - Directors Cut. But this is not enough to ruin the experience by any means, it simply dulls the lustre of an otherwise exceptional RPG.

Score: 8.5/10 Superior

Harebrained Schemes has again struck gold within the Shadowrun universe. Refined Decking and brilliant writing as well as some genuine surprises breathe life into the fantastical future Hong Kong setting. Sadly, some pacing and level design issues stop it just short of the heights it was reaching for.

Ups:
Exceptionally well-written. Solid and deep turn-based combat.

Downs:
Not quite the leap forward from Dragonfall many may be hoping for. Can be unintuitive despite in-game tutorials. The story loses focus occasionally.

The first patch for Shadowrun: Hong Kong is out. Here are the release notes for V. 3.0.4:

Release 3.0.4 contains a variety of Shadowrun: Hong Kong campaign fixes and general system fixes and improvements. If you are encountering any issues in Hong Kong, please update to build 3.0.4 immediately. (To update, restart Steam and then allow Shadowrun to fully verify and download the new build.)

After the update if you are experiencing a campaign-related issue, you may also need to restart your current scene (select "Restart Level" from the PDA) or rewind (select "Rewind" from the PDA save screen, then select a previous level) to before you encountered the issue in order to resolve the issue.

Core/Engine Bug Fixes

• Resolved issue causing incorrect Nuyen value to be displayed in Sell Screen.
• Resolved issue causing mismatch between displayed and actual skin color for certain skin options in Character Creation.
• Resolved issue that caused some Backer names in the credits to have missing characters.
• Resolved issue that could lead to Elf Female models displaying incorrectly.
• Resolved issue that could lead to item loss when loaning items to some actors in specific situations.
• Resolved issue that could lead to actor duplication under certain edge-case save load conditions.
• Resolved issue that could leave Water Shrine Spirit unable to attack.
• Resolved minor animation issues.
• General minor VFX and Animation bug fixes and polish.
• Other minor bug fixes.

Content Bug Fixes

• Minor grammar and visual tweaks and polish.
• Resolved issue that caused a conversation to duplicate in Misdirection mission.
• Resolved issue that caused Matrix in the City of Darkness to have incorrect starting Trace.
• Resolved issue that could cause plot specific information to be revealed early.
• Resolved issue that could leave the Player unable to leave the Assist mission under specific cases.
• Resolved issue that could leave the Player unable to leave The Dig mission in certain cases.
• Resolved issue that could prevent Hostile actors from spawning correctly in Bad Qi mission in certain cases.

Notes

• Art book updated for purchasers of the Deluxe Edition (now contains more art.)

Bradley Storm (HardcoreGamer) has reviewed Shadowrun: Hong Kong:

In this day and age of gaming, it’s rare to find a developer that consistently releases not just good titles, but fantastic ones. When Harebrained Schemes first came onto the scene back in 2013, fans weren’t sure what the brand new studio (comprised of industry veterans, mind you) were going to do with the beloved tabletop roleplaying game Shadowrun. After all, the series has had a spotty past in the world of gaming, spawning both great games (like the SNES/Genesis entry) and just mediocre ones (like the multiplayer-centric Shadowrun for Xbox 360 and Windows).

Needless to say, audiences were worried about Shadowrun Returns. Of course, that anxiety disappeared the moment the game released and then became but a fleeting memory when the even more wonderful Dragonfall expansion launched last year. Here we are now in 2015 with Hong Kong, the third Shadowrun in three years. That’s a lot of Shadowrun, right? Seeing as annual franchises often go to the well once too often, Hong Kong — despite Harebrained’s now impressive resume — comes with trepidation of its own: do we really need another Shadowrun game already?

[...]

Closing Comments:

We’ve said it practically with each new Shadowrun Harebrained Schemes puts out, and we’ll say it again for Hong Kong: this is the most definitive, comprehensive and polished version of Shadowrun on the market. It builds on the past games in subtle but smart ways, fixing what was broken, and not touching what wasn’t. As a result, players are left with a magical cRPG that gives them so many options. Whether it’s the dialogue and story, combat, exploration, or the amount of loadout options, this is about as close as folks are going to get to a tabletop experience. The best part is, you don’t have to be a Shadowrun fan to love it. If you are, though, there’s just that much more to get lost in here. This is a game that transcends its name and should be spoken of in the same breath as the genre’s best. In years to come people will be comparing the new cRPGs to Hong Kong, because it’s easily a benchmark for what developers in the RPG arena should be looking at when designing their games.

Score: 4.5/5

Shadowrun: Hongkong will be released today. If you are a backer follow the instructions in Kickstarter update #37 to claim the game on Steam or GOG.

Two weeks before Shadowrun: Hong Kong's release the game's Kickstarter page has been updated with preview images of the revamped Matrix as well as two music pieces.

Here are two of the images:

So that's how the new Matrix looks and sounds, but how does it play? Well, we've revised a lot of Matrix systems and added some really fun new stuff such as Watcher IC and Blocker IC which really ramp up the tension of diving into cyberspace and provide a much greater variety of gameplay than before. (..)

We hope to tell you more about Matrix gameplay in the coming weeks, or you can see it for yourself on August 20th!

The release date for Shadowrun: Hong Kong is set for August 20th, 2015 andwill be available on Steam, GoG, & Humble Bundle on that day at 10am PST.

Estimating, scheduling and delivering something as complex as SR:HK is tough and I’m extremely proud of the entire team for their focus, dedication, and hard work. I’d like to say a special thank you to our ace Producer, Chris Klimecky and my co-Director, Mike McCain for their work in getting the game to you on time. Mike joined me at the helm a ways back so I could dedicate more time to writing, and his work has been first rate - just like it was on Shadowrun: Dragonfall and Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director’s Cut.

The game’s really coming together and it’s amazing to see the team’s hard work and creative collaboration on-screen. Making games is an incredible challenge but making games with these folks is an absolute pleasure.

We’ll be sending out another update in the next couple of weeks regarding how to get your keys from BackerKit and an update on all the remaining Kickstarter rewards.

And here is the 2-year launch anniversary update video.

In Kickstarter update #34 Harebrained Schemes LLC unveil the new Shadowrun Wiki:

A Peek Behind the Curtain at the New Shadowrun Wiki

Greetings Shadowrunners! My name is Aidan. I’m an intern from the Academy of Interactive Entertainment and I’ve been working on a special project for HBS for the last 6 months.

In a continued effort to support User-Generated Content (UGC) and the Shadowrun Community, we’ve been working in partnership with Gamepedia to bring you the new Official Shadowrun Wiki which includes information about all three Shadowrun games. 

What’s in the New Wiki?
For each of the games, you’ll see a Game Content section that includes quite a bit of data covering our previous titles, Shadowrun Returns and Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut. Most importantly, though, you’ll find expanded content covering the Shadowrun Level Editor. We’ve reorganized and transferred the information about the editor and its capabilities from the original wiki to the new wiki, including a load of raw documentation, tables of data, and tutorials created by studio members and by you, the Shadowrun community. We then added to it, covering all the new editor features the team created for Hong Kong. (Well, almost all, because once again - spoilers!)

Why a New Wiki?
First and foremost, we want to make it easier to find and share information about using the editor so more people can create Shadowrun stories. The new wiki and host allow for a streamlined editing experience and is built on the MediaWiki format which is easily recognizable - it’s the format that Wikipedia runs on. This format also has built-in support for templating and HTML/CSS which can save quite a bit of time when creating many pages with similar content (e.g. Descriptions of all that sweet gear available to your crew). Never touched a wiki before? The basic markdown is easy to pick up and will have you editing pages in no time.

What about the old wiki?
The old wiki will still be available for some time until post launch. We’d like to make the transition as smooth as possible so a notification will be added to the main page directing community members to the new wiki.

Your Turn to Jump In!
While Tagaziel (our man at Gamepedia) and I have been slaving away at the wiki, we are but two men. There's still plenty to work on and with the imminent release of Hong Kong, even more to add! So if you have some knowledge that’s not on the wiki, you’ve found something missing from the old one, or you’ve created some UGC that you want to share, take a shot at creating the appropriate page! Need some help? Hop onto the Community Portal and ask around.

On a final note - I’d like to thank all our community members who have contributed to the Shadowrun Wiki in the past. A lot of you can be seen on the forums pretty regularly helping out newbies to the editor as well and it doesn’t get much better than that. With that it’s back to the wiki for me.

- Aidan

And a quick SR:HK development update!
We’re in the home stretch of development and on-track for release! Stay tuned for more screenshots and a release date announcement next week. I have to say, it’s been amazing watching our art team grow and build off their visual successes in each new Shadowrun game. In addition to a great story and some very exciting game play & feature set improvements, Hong Kong is without a doubt our best-looking Shadowrun yet! I can’t wait for all of you to play it. 

- Mitch

The Deluxe Version of the upcoming game Shadowrun: Hong Kong is now available for pre-order at the Humble store.

Trailer:

According to the Kickstarter page Shadowrun: Hong Kong is nearly content complete:

Full Steam Ahead!

Hey Chummers - Producer Chris here!

Just taking a second to poke my head up from the depths of development to give you a quick check-in regarding where development of Shadowrun: Hong Kong stands.

Our pace has been accelerating steadily over the past few months to get us to the current breakneck speed that will carry us to the July 4th weekend. When we get there, we’ll celebrate our Content Complete milestone and the team will take a deep breath for the first time since it started getting "Toasty in Seattle" (we're not used to 80's in May, and the A/C was not up to the task - though recently improved!).

Content Complete doesn't mean we won't still be polishing the game after the 4th - it means we're not adding anything new to the experience after that. This is extremely important to the QA process. If basic functionality and structural pieces are continually shifting, it’s very difficult to get a stable, shippable game quickly. But, if we're just swapping out a placeholder wall tile for a final wall tile or a sketch portrait for a final portrait, it may not be risk-free (from your friendly neighborhood producer's POV), but it’s certainly less prone to create new bugs from a gameplay standpoint.

Speaking of bugs and QA, that process is up to full speed as well. Our bug lists are growing (as expected) while the rest of the new content goes in. And holy shrine spirits, is it ever going in! Missions are moving forward in leaps and bounds every day across the board, from gameplay and story to art and audio.

The new Matrix is finally being distributed in all its glory across every mission after months of hard work from multiple team members thanks to your generous Kickstarter backed funding goal. This is really exciting to see and we can't wait for you to experience it!

Also in the "Completely New to Shadowrun Thanks to Kickstarter Backers" category that’s rocking our cybersocks: animatics. If you got a chance to see the pre-launch trailer, you got a taste of what these are going to be like. As you know, we're big on storytelling, and while you don't have to worry that you'll be sitting through a bunch of movies instead of partaking of our writing team's talents, a little cinematic touch not only adds some great drama, but also some new perspectives on the world of Shadowrun. We hope you'll agree that the storytelling enhancement is powerful. (...)

Harebrained Schemes has released a teaser trailer for the upcoming third entry in their series of Shadowrun adventures, and the game is also now available for pre-purchase on Steam. To celebrate, the team is offering the previous two games for just a few bucks, and a discount on preorders of the new one as well.

Company co-founder Mitch Gitelman effuses:

Shadowrun: Hong Kong is on track for an important milestone at the end of this month: Feature Complete! That’s when the code for all our new features is working in the game. There will still be a little placeholder art remaining for some of the new interfaces we’ve added, but the underlying code works like it’s supposed to and everything will be in the hands of the artists and the designers after that. For the engineers, it’s all bug fixes, tweaks, and polish for the rest of the project!

The new screenshots actually show more of the game than the brief teaser, so here's a couple of them:

The Kickstarter page for Shadowrun: Hong Kong, has been updated with information on backer rewards, soundtrack files and a peek behind the curtains, which this time is about the process of designing a character portrait.

It all starts with our lovely Backers! Many of you gave us information and insight into what your perfect Shadowrun: Hong Kong character would look like as well as a photo of yourself (or someone you chose) to use as a base for the portrait. I take that base photo and create a sketch using it as inspiration, along with the details you provide like Elf Rigger or Dwarf Mage.

Now this is Shadowrun: Hong Kong, not Berlin or Seattle, so there needs to be a distinct look for that. One of the things we want to show is that Hong Kong has a more sleek tech feel. Having said that, my designs for the tech and clothing take a bit from high fashion ideas for post apocalyptic worlds with some of those awesome glowing technology and, of course, current day cyberpunk ideas of Shadowrun.

After the initial sketch is done, we take it to a color pass. This is the quick but really fun process of blocking in the base colors. I also need to decide what kind of background this character should be in. A lot of our visuals utilize bright rim lighting by colorful neon signs that future Shadowrun Hong Kong would feature.

Harebrained Schemes published a new post-funding update for the Shadowrun: Hong Kong Kickstarter campaign with an update on the digital backer rewards.

Now that we've locked down BackerKit, we've distributed the first of the digital rewards!! Depending on your pledge level, the following rewards will be found in your BackerKit account. 

• Shadowrun Returns and Dragonfall Soundtracks
• Shadowrun 5th Edition Digital Tools Box
• Out of Print Sourcebooks - both rewards and add-ons
• Shadowrun Returns Key for Steam, GOG or Humble
• Shadowrun Dragonfall for Steam, GOG or Humble

All you have to do is log in here: https://shadowrun-hong-kong.backerkit.com/ to download the files and get the keys. 

Note that your rewards will not be granted to your account unless you have completed your BackerKit survey and your account is fully paid which you can still do at the same link. We will distribute rewards to late backers early next week 

The latest post-funding update for Shadowrun: Hong Kong gives a sneak peak at some the games charter animations, and mentions a few other game projects.

The team is tearing it up on Shadowrun: Hong Kong! Lot's of great stuff getting into the game in all departments and we have strong momentum. Just what you love to see in game development. 

Before we share today's peek behind the curtain, we want to thank the 95% of Backers that have filled out their survey. But, we still need the last 1,760 of you to go to this link: HONG KONG BACKERKIT, click on “Didn’t get your invite?” and follow the instructions. 

Remember, we won’t be able to send your rewards if you don’t fill out your survey!

Once we lock down the site, there will be a few days of order processing and then we’ll be able to send out our first wave of digital rewards. Depending on your reward tier, this will include the soundtracks and/or keys for Shadowrun Returns and Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director's Cut, the Shadowrun 5th Edition Tools Box, and your Out of Print Sourcebooks (including any extras you’ve purchased).

One last thing, the Second Chance Backer site will also remain open until April 15 so if you know anyone who might have missed out on the Kickstarter and would still like to be a Backer, just send them this link: Shadowrun: Hong Kong Preorders.

Mitch Gitelman of Harebrained Schemes posted the next development update for Shadowrun: Hong Kong on the games kickstarter page. Here the details.

Mitch here again in our new office space. Thanks to your funding, we grew out of our old space and had to move into a larger room in the studio. As you can imagine, it's been a period of intense work since the Kickstarter ended. The entire team is in full production on a spectrum of cool stuff across the game so I thought it was time to pull my head out of production for a minute to give you another “peek behind the curtain” at the development process of Shadowrun: Hong Kong.

Harebrained Schemes released a post-funding update this month about how to get your game rewards. Sorry about being late, but I was focused on other games.

Hi, I’m Robin, Harebrained Schemes’ Community Manager. On any given day, you’ll find me taking care of anything at all related to communicating with and supporting our Backers and anyone playing HBS games. 

Since the team is heads down working on the game, I thought I’d give you a little bit of information about Kickstarter reward fulfillment and the Shadowrun: Hong Kong pledge management tool -- a website called BackerKit.

A website by the name of Clipping Error published a new article with their opinion about why the Shadowrun Hong Kong is  Kickstarter you can trust. Here is a short sample.

Okay, so why is Shadowrun Hong Kong a Kickstarter you can trust? The reason is, Harebrained Schemes have earned our trust. Shadowrun not only created a big fan base for itself, it built up an audience that knows and loves the developer. People trust developers that deliver on their promises, and Harebrained Schemes have done nothing but deliver. In short, you can trust Shadowrun Hong Kong because of the people behind it. I’m not saying Pete Molyneux was untrustworthy, but a lot of people have said that he has a proven track record of failing in projects, but because he’s been around for so long people find it endearing.

Harebrained Schemes is happy to announce the Kickstarter campaign for Shadowrun: Hong Kong is now over, and the game has managed to make $1,204,726.

We really shook the pillars of heaven, didn't we? You rule. You really do. We are really blessed to be associated with such a wonderful community. Thank you.

Well what do you know it seems the Shadowrun: Hong Kong kickstarter has reached the one million dollar stretch goal. We will now be getting the free mini-expansion.

Because of your generosity, your spreading the word, and your support, we are going to be able to create an additional 4-5 hour mini-campaign to import your high-Karma character into. You are, indeed, Prime Runners.

They also released a second update with more information.

As you must imagine, we're still reeling from the news that we hit our $1,000,000 funding goal with plenty of time remaining in the Shadowrun: Hong Kong Kickstarter project. And we bet a lot of people, especially new Backers, are wondering what goal we're setting for the final 48 hours to inspire people to continue funding.

Our goal now is the same one that we had on Day 1 of this project - ship the highest quality Shadowrun game we can. We worked hard to plan our project, communicate our plan clearly, and keep to that plan even when the enthusiasm and excitement of Kickstarter was swirling all around us.  

And now that the Shadows of Hong Kong Mini-Campaign is happening, where will the additional funding go? As we've said before, "No plan survives first contact with the enemy" so we'll put it towards dealing with problems that crop up during production. We'll put it towards our test budget. We'll put it towards pizza and bagels (and healthy stuff) for a team who bust their humps to deliver to the best of their ability. And we'll use it to try and sneak in little stuff that had to fall off our features list (don't ask, we're not telling).

The next Shadowrun: Hong Kong update has information from Harebrained Schemes the campaign is nearing the end, and has a new video for Valentine’s Day.

We wanted to take this chance to say thank you to all of wonderful backers. We wouldn't be here with out you. Happy Valentines Day!

The Shadowrun: Hong Kong kickstarter has five days left, and has manged to earn $904,663. So it seems we might still get the free mini-campaign if were lucky.

Harebrained Schemes also posted a new Sneak Peek, and a new Reward tier.

Holy moley, we're almost at $900,000!!! Yowza, yowza, yowza. Who wants that mini-campaign? Looks like you do, chummer. And how do we get to that big ol' funding goal? How 'bout a new reward level?

This one's for folks who love fiction and trivia. It’s a $100 Reward Level called THE GRIZZLED VETERAN. See if you can guess why. ..

In addition to all the great stuff at the reward levels below it (except for the $65 stand-alone level) you’ll get a FULLY-ANNOTATED .PDF version of the original, long out-of-print Shadowrun short story anthology “INTO THE SHADOWS” with a NEW FORWARD by Jordan Weisman, the creator of Shadowrun PLUS an ORIGINAL NEW SHORT STORY by Tom Dowd, one of its co-creators!

The "Into The Shadows" anthology was written prior to the Shadowrun Tabletop RPG's release in 1989 and contains a number of inconsistencies with the finished product. In their own words, Jordan & Tom will give you a behind-the-scenes look at these changes and why they were made. And who knows? You might find some juicy bits of trivia in there too!

We’re really pumped to be working with our friend Tom again and hope you’ll tell your friends about his happy return to Shadowrun.

In today's peek behind the curtain, our man with the art plan, Chris Rogers, is gonna tell you a little something about chairs. Seriously.

Mitch Gitelman talks about the development of Shadowrun: Hong Kong in the next kickstarter update. The game has made $879,199 with seven days left. 

For those new to the project, I’m the Game Director on Shadowrun: Hong Kong. I did a bunch of writing and plotting on Dragonfall and before that, I produced and did the bulk of the writing on Shadowrun Returns. I’m also the co-founder and Studio Manager of Harebrained Schemes.

Awhile back, I gave you a “peek behind the curtain” of the stages a game goes through from Concept to Release. Today, I thought it would be cool to give you a quick look at what’s going on in each area of the project so you can see where we are in the process.

As I mentioned previously, the transition from Pre-Production to Production is always tricky. Before the Kickstarter, we were in hardcore planning mode - writing design docs, prototyping new tech and magic, creating lists of stuff to make, that kind of thing. Now, a couple of folks are still in planning mode, but most of the team has started cranking on the game. I imagine there are producers out there who prefer things "neater", but in my experience, doing the right thing is more important than doing things right. You don’t ship a great process. You ship a great game.

I found a new interview for Shadowrun: Hong Kong  this week on a site called Gadgets and Khajiits with the the Co-Founder of Harebrained Schemes Mitch Gitelman.

GAK: So Shadowrun: Hong Kong made its Kickstarter target in two hours, a phenomenal time: why do you think people want another Shadowrun game, especially since it's such a long running series?

What’s great about Shadowrun is that it’s a world that revolves around dark and interesting questions and characters. In the previous two Shadowrun games, people really responded passionately to the characters and their stories. The emotions, the corporate intrigue, and everything which informs their actions, as well as the decisions that you as a player get to make. Ultimately, in a roleplaying game, that’s what makes it interesting – having to make morally complex selections and choices as you navigate through this world. 

GAK: Why have you decided to prioritize story with Shadowrun when many other games don't?

Many of us come from a tabletop role-playing background where story and character interactions were a major part of why we played. When cRPGs came on the scene, a lot were based on the stuff we loved. So when we got the chance to make our own, we focused where our passions are. When the audience reacted so positively to the writing in Shadowrun Returns, we decided to take it up a level in Shadowun: Dragonfall.

GAK: Is it hard to try and balance magic and sci-fi? Have there been any moments when it's gone two far either way?

Nope! The Shadowrun setting is a great blend of magic and sci-fi and as long as we stay true to the setting, it's hard to go wrong!

Harebrained Schemes released another kickstarter update this week for Shadowrun: Hong Kong about anew E-novel. and give another Sneak Peek of the game.

The Shadowrun: Hong Kong campaign has a new update from Harebrained Schemes about a new reward level, and give another sneak peek at the games development.

Remember how we always say that we're listening and taking your comments to heart? Well, here's an example for all the folks who don't play tabletop RPGs but want a way to support the project in a bigger way. It's a special reward level just for you! We call it "THE OPERATIVE" and it's a $65 STAND-ALONE REWARD LEVEL that doesn't combine with any of the other rewards. Check it out on the Main Page and then tell all your pixel-lovin'-no-dice-for-me friends about it.

And speaking of listening, great news on the Official (and stylish) Shadowrun synth-leather Messenger Bag. Because so many of you supported the project at THE COURIER Level and above, we were able to work with the manufacturer to increase the size of the bag! The new dimensions are 17" x "11 x 4". Big thanks to our Producer, Chris Klimecky for his mad negotiation skills.

For today's peek behind the curtain, one of the Passionate New Guys(tm) shares his approach to making your game.

The Shadowrun: Hong Kong campaign has lost a little steam in the last week, but has so far managed to earn $800,735. The developer also posted a new update today.

Wow, we're narrowing in on $800,000 in funding for Shadowrun: Hong Kong! 

That is incredible. We would love to create that Mini-Campaign for you if we're lucky enough to hit $1,000,000. Thanks for all your help in getting the word out. And thanks for being so welcoming to our new Backers! This community is full of really great people. 

For today's peek behind the curtain our Audio Director & Composer, Jon Everist, will talk a bit about his process and hopes for the game. For those of you who don't know, Jon also did the sound and music for our other Kickstarted game, Golem Arcana. 

Harebrained Schemes posted two videos from the live twitch interview yesterday.

We had a lot of fun on Arvan Eleron’s Twitch.tv show last night. The live interview with Lead Writer Andrew McIntosh and Game Director Mitch Gitelman lasted two hours and they took lots of questions from the audience. Here’s links to the interview, in case you missed it:

Part 1 of 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukGhNMhQOyc

Part 2 of 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSLijg0rSME

Beyond the interview, we thought you’d enjoy this new bit of concept art. It’s Tristan’s exploration into the look and feel of a Hong Kong slum in 2056.

I aslo have a new interview from Game Watcher with Mitch Gitelman.

GameWatcher: Were you surprised by just how quickly you met your target goal for Hong Kong?

Mitch Gitelman: It was an hour and forty-five minutes actually. Yeah, that was fun. Surprised? Absolutely, you know all the research we’d been doing and all the people we talked to said that Kickstarter was way down, and that there had been only five or six video game projects in 2014 that had funded over around $350,000 dollars. We thought we were going into something of a depressed market, and we decided to just do our best. We have our plan, we know what we want to do, if people help us out then that’s great. If they don’t then that’s that. I guess the fates had something else to say.

Alec Meer of Rock, Paper, Shotgun posted the second part of his new interview with Harebrained Schemes this time asking some questions from the site members.

Last week I ran the first half of an interview with three-time Kickstarter winners Harebrained Schemes, in which they fielded my own questions about their upcoming cyberpunk-with-magic RPG sequel Shadowrun: Hong Kong. This time, they’re fielding your questions – including what they’ve got planned for the future of the series, cyberpunk’s Asian influences, how the stories are becoming increasingly less linear, avoiding Eastern stereotypes with the new setting, and improving the game’s pace.

Harebrained Schemes posted a new update for Shadowrun: Hong Kong today with another peek behind the curtain, and mention a live Twitch interview later today.

Our Backers are amazing! You are now over 19,000 strong (yikes!) and your legions are growing by the minute! 

Andrew, our Lead Writer, and Mitch, our Fearless Leader are going to be LIVE on Twitch tomorrow - January 29 at 8pm EST - with Arvan Eleron talking about Shadowrun: Hong Kong! Andrew and Mitch had a great time the last time they were on his show and we hope you’ll stop by! http://www.twitch.tv/arvaneleron

In the meantime, here are two members of our Environment team to give you another peek backstage about how they go from a piece of concept art to in-game isometric perspective. Check out the cool gif they made, too!

Harebrained Schemes posted two more updates for Shadowrun: Hong Kong this week.

 What does a Game Producer do anyway?

We had a rockin' weekend, didn't we? Lots of great discussion on the board, lots of cool new people joined the project (welcome y'all!), and we're getting close to hitting our Revamped Matrix goal!

Per your request, here's another peek behind the scenes at the folks making your game. We enjoy sharing our process with you and appreciate your interest in how HBS makes games. 

And of course the more important update is about the Matrix stretch goal.

The Matrix Unlocked

Now that we’ve hit our funding goal for the Revamped Matrix, we thought you’d like to hear a bit more about what we’re planning. As we said, our goal is to evolve the gameplay along with the look & feel of the Matrix in Shadowrun: Hong Kong. Overall, we want the decker’s gameplay to feel like dangerous legwork, investigation, and hacking. One of the ways we hope to achieve this is with increased opportunities for risk & reward. The more chances you take outside the scope of achieving your core objectives, the more potential benefit to you… and the greater chance of being discovered. Combat will still be a factor, but it won’t be your entire Matrix experience.

As usual Harebrained Schemes released another update for Shadowrun: Hong Kong this week. We get information on what happens after the last stretch goal is meet.

We have our plans set for the story we want to tell in Shadowrun: Hong Kong, but if we’re lucky enough to reach the enormous sum of $1,000,000, we’re gonna create an additional 4-5 hour Shadows of Hong Kong Mini-Campaign that takes place after the SR:HK story ends. Not only that, the Shadows of Hong Kong Mini-Campaign will allow you to IMPORT your high-karma Hong Kong character for a challenge only a prime runner could accept.

The Shadows of Hong Kong Mini-Campaign will come out sometime before the end of 2015 and will be free to Backers at the $15 pledge level and up. And you’ll receive as many copies of the Mini-Campaign as you are eligible for at your reward level. For example, if you get 3 copies of Shadowrun: Hong Kong at the $150 level, you’ll also get 3 copies of the Mini-Campaign.

Make sense? Good!

But no matter what funding level we reach, it's BONUS TIME! 

Everyone who backs the project at the $35 Reward Level and above will get access to an AUDIO COMMENTARY TRACK from the Shadowrun Development Team. Hear the writers, designers, artists, engineers, and composer discuss how the game was made, the challenges they faced, and the fun they had while making the game. The audio commentary will arrive in an update after the game is released. 

AND everyone who backs at the $35 Reward Level and above will also get TWO HIGH-RES DIGITAL POSTERS that, when placed together, combine into a beautiful Shadowrun Panorama. The first poster contains a Timeline of Shadowrun History. The second contains a Glossary of Shadowrun Slang. Tell your friends!

Alec Meer of Rock, Paper, Shotgun has published the first part of his new interview with Harebrained Schemes to talk about their new game Shadowrun: Hong Kong.

RPS: Obvious question, but why Kickstarter again? Did you actually need to?

Jordan Weisman: We went back to Kickstarter because for two reasons really. One financial and one emotional. We really had a spectacularly positive experience working with our backers on the creation of Shadowrun Returns, Dragonfall and Golem Arcana. In all those experiences, our backers were really fantastic resources and sounding boards, and cheerleaders during development, which can sometimes be gruelling and dire. Having an excited audience with you during that process both makes the game better and makes it more fun to make.

Mitch Gitelman: Our backers would buy us pizza when we were working late, and they would buy us bagels when we were working the weekends.

Jordan: Sometimes in game development you’re sat they’re slaving away, and you’re like “does anybody give a damn?” Here, we had people with us throughout the entire experience, responding to our ideas, helping us hone them and being such positive supports. This Kickstarter’s very different than the other two, where we really asking them to help us fund the entire experience. Here, through being fortunate that the games have sold pretty well after we brought them out, we were able to fund a very good size Shadowrun Hong Kong ourselves. But there were a number of features which our budget didn’t allow us to add, and those were what we brought to the audience and said ‘if you guys would like these features added to the game and content and this additional material that we weren’t able to fit in our budget, please chip in.’ It really became a co-funding proposition, which is very different from what is traditionally done in Kickstarter.

Another update for Shadowrun: Hong Kong was released, and this time the developer shares news the game has meet another stretch goal.  Here are the details

Our favorite (former) Red Samurai/Ghoul's personal side mission = UNLOCKED! Thanks so much for the opportunity to make it. 

In case you were wondering about Wu and Racter's personal side missions, we assure you that there's a plan. At the basic level, their stories will be part of shadowruns we've already planned (similar to how Dietrich's background was tied into the Humanis run in DF). But, of course, there's more to it than that... aaaaand that's all we're gonna tell you. :D

Just rest assured, we're not going to create two cool characters like these and not give you the chance to find out what makes them tick! We're confident that when you experience the story, they'll feel fully fleshed out like the rest of your crew. 

And now that you've succeeded in unlocking Gaichu's personal mission, it's on to THE MATRIX! 

The Shadowrun Returns team nearly killed themselves to get our original Matrix art and gameplay in the game and we're still extremely proud of that effort. But just like Thorin and Company, we ache to return again and make things right. 

Another and another update for Shadowrun: Hong Kong. This time the developer gives everyone a first look at the Gobbet Collectible Figure. Its your's if you bought one. 

As promised yesterday, we're excited to show you a work-in-progress look at Gobbet's Collectible Miniature model. This untextured/unpainted 3D model was created by our own Maury Weiss, the artist responsible for most of the badass Golem Arcana figures we've released. 

The great thing about showing you this work-in-progress is that you can clearly see all the love that Maury puts into the details. If you're interested in learning more about Maury's process, you can read about it here.

And remember, everyone who backs us at THE TALISMONGER reward level and above gets ALL 5 figures - Gobbet, Wu, Is0bel, Racter & Koschei, and Gaichu!

The latest kickstarter update for Shadowrun: Hong Kong gives everyone a peek at the games development with Kevin Maloney here one of the HBS designers. 

As we mentioned in a previous update, part of the fun of making a Kickstarted game project is sharing our process with you. Sometimes it will be a discussion of a game mechanic we're working on, sometimes a look at how art for the game is made, and sometimes (like today) we offer a glimpse into how a major part of the campaign is developed. In this update, Kevin will talk about the hub - your base of operations and a recurring location in the story. 

Oh, and speaking of glimpses into our process - be sure to check back tomorrow to see a work-in-progress look at Gobbet's Collectible Miniature model!

Shadowrun: Hong Kong has meet the next stretch goal of $550,000, and it means the game will now have an expanded magic system compared to the last three games.

Here is the infromation from the latest update.

Harebrained Schemes announces in a new kickstarter update that a new funding goal has been meet, and Is0bel's personal side mission will now be included in the game.

Another Funding Goal Reached! Who rules?

What a tremendous few days, everybody. We can't tell you how energizing it is to see your outpouring of support for a project we're so passionate about. 

And thanks to you, Is0bel's personal side mission will be included in the game. We really like how her character is shaping up and we can't wait to bring her to you. 

Next up: Expanded magic! 

With all this talk of cybertech and the Matrix, we wanted to be sure to add stuff that would benefit all the magic-users out there. For shamans, we have Shrine Spirits. These aren't your average elemental spirits who occasionally break from your control and go nuts on your party. These are great-form spirits - powerhouses who come when summoned, kick the butts point to, and then head home to pop a cold one. They won't break control, but they won't stick around long.

Phys ads (magical ninjas) and mages will gain access to Foci (that's plural for a focus item) - enchanted weapons and objects that allow adepts to deliver devastating magical attacks and boost a mage's power.

Another day and another stretch goal was made for Shadowrun: Hong Kong. The games developer Harebrained Schemes posted a new update with the information.

You folks are amazing! Thanks for the opportunity to add more cyber-stuff to the game. Our designers and artists have been talking all morning about the things they're planning to do with your generous funding support. Glee.

And what's next? 

Is0bel's personal side mission! Is0bel's parents were immigrants (more like refugees) from the Ethiomalian Territories and, as happens to many families escaping a brutal regime, they flew out of the frying pan and into the fire. Is0bel grew up in (and escaped from) the slums of Kowloon and knows her way through some of the most wretched places in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, her family still languishes in the depths of the sprawl. Her personal mission takes her back there - with you along for the ride.

The Kickstarter campaign for Shadowrun: Hong Kong continues to earn more money by the minute, and has now made over four times what Harebrained Schemes asked for.

Harebrained Schemes released three more updates in the last 24hrs.

"Our first Kickstarter for Shadowrun Returns funded at $400,000 in 28 hours. Can we beat that by 2pm Pacific time? Looks like it's gonna be tight! "

And of couse they did make it by earning $404,361, and another strech goal.

"That's like 400% or something...

That means the (former) Red Samurai Gaichu is yours! Congrats on your new badass!

And don't forget, now that Racter and Gaichu are unlocked, their NUMBERED COLLECTIBLE FIGURES have been added to THE TALISMONGER Reward Level!  That's now five figures total. Huzzah!

Our next funding goal is Enhanced Cyber! That means new cyberweapons with new animations and effects. Sure, it means other stuff like cutting edge cybertech... but come on! Cyberweapons? Sa-weet!"

I'll finish the news-bit with a few links to a couple of interviews this week.

1. RPGamer - Shadowrun: Hong Kong Interview
2. GhostVolta - Developer Interview: Hairbrained Schemes
3. Arcology Podcast - Mitch Gitelman Interview

Most you know by now the new Shadowrun: Hong Kong kickstarter has been funded in one day, and is well on it's way to making $300,000 & all of its first stretch goals.

Harebrained Schemes also posted the first update about the exciting day.

With your support, we were able to hit our first funding goal in less than 2 hours and we just hit our third one. That means we'll be able to add Enhanced Player Controls, Animatic Scene Transitions and Racter, our favorite Russian, to your team!

The team is really appreciative of the opportunity you've given us. All we want is to do our very best work for an audience who wants what we're making. So, thanks for the (rapid) outpouring of support.

As you can imagine, that warmth means a lot to us in the chill of the Pacific Northwest. The team is trying hard to focus on their work but it's tough not to hit "refresh" on your browser every few minutes. Nevertheless, good stuff is happening in the studio and we're working on all sorts of production-y things simultaneously. 

Harebrained Schemes has launched thier next kickstarter called Shadowrun: Hong Kong, and asked for $100,000 to get funded. So far the game is already half -funded.

The team that brought you the award-winning Shadowrun Returns and Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director’s Cut is back with an all new, full length standalonec yberpunk tactical cRPG set in Shadowrun's magically Awakened Hong Kong of 2056.

HONG KONG. A stable and prosperous port of call in a sea of chaos, warfare, and political turmoil. The Hong Kong Free Enterprise Zone is a land of contradictions - it is one of the most successful centers of business in the Sixth World, and home to one of the world’s most dangerous sprawl sites. A land of bright lights, gleaming towers, and restless spirits where life is cheap and everything is for sale.

The lure of a quick payday draws you from Seattle into the neon glow of Victoria Harbor… and into a corporate conspiracy nearly thirty years in the making. A terrifying threat looms on the horizon - a supernatural force that corrupts and consumes everything it touches. Dragged into the shadows of Kowloon City, you will need to forge new connections and gain "face" to survive.

Hong Kong contains fantastic elements for a new Shadowrun setting: an underworld of triads, tongs, and gangs to navigate, wild magic to harness, and bleeding edge cybertech to equip. Plus, Hong Kong’s culture is steeped in "guanxi" - a network of influence and relationships based upon a combination of social status, and prestige. All of these elements add up to a great new setting for running the shadows.

Shadowrun: Hong Kong has everything you expect from a Harebrained Schemes Shadowrun game: strong storytelling and sharp writing, lots of morally gray choices, a crew of memorable characters with distinct personalities, challenging tactical turn-based combat, a robust character creation system, and a one of a kind cyberpunk-meets-magic game setting that’s endured for over 25 years. 

Our Backers voted for Hong Kong as the next city for us to bring to life and we’re excited to be working on it!

Update: The game is now funded on the first day.