Uploaded March 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Hello friend, stay a while and listen. Today we are exploring the entire Shadowrun trilogy made by Harebrained schemes. In this long form deep dive video essay (do I have enough keywords yet?) I’ll begin with a general overview of Shadowrun as a tabletop game. It's one of the most interesting setting I've ever interacted with as it combines Tolkienesque high fantasy with William Gibson style Cyberpunk. Meaning you can both stop the dark lord by destroying his ring of power in the morning and jack into the matrix for a high stakes data heist after lunch.
I'll take a brief look at the earlier attempts to transform Shadowrun into a video game on the Super Nintendo, Sega Megadrive / Genesis, the Sega Mega CD and the Xbox 360. However the real meat of the conversation is about Shadowrun returns, Shadowrun Dragonfall, and Shadowrun Hong Kong.
I’ll be talking about the Kickstarter and early development of the Seattle based returns game before creating a character and diving into a story that starts as a simple murder mystery and quickly escalates into a world ending bug apocalypse scenario. Along the way we’ll explore the characters, world art design and game mechanics and when it’s wrapped up it’s time to move onto Dragonfall, The Director's Cut.
In Dragonfall we’ll zip on over to the flux state of Berlin where I’ll talk more about the world, lore, the politics and mythology that weaves through this very unique part of the 6th world.
And if that wasn’t enough for you, well for our final chapter we’ll be heading all the way into east Asia to see what it’s like Shadowrunning in Hong Kong.
So grab some popcorn and sit down to enjoy the talk. Whether you be an elf, dwarf, troll or Orc, all are welcome. Let’s explore these games and see what makes them great.
#shadowrunreturns #rpg #cyberpunk
—------------------------------ links—-----------------------------------------------
@Indigo_Gaming cyberpunk part 1
youtu.be/sttm8Q9rOdQ?si=C4_D0YA2mhPu5ivm
Wall Street Journal’s Kowloon Walled City video
youtu.be/dj_8ucS3lMY?si=z5gvFc03hbwhnSVf
South China Morning Post’s Kowloon Walled City video
youtu.be/Mq4jAwPdCMw?si=9z5geB1zHbKmd3wM
@gothgamernation Planescape Torment video
youtu.be/3xJSHL7E4sc?si=ka8k07gjq-q5FQg5
@webeharebrained Graft announcement trailer.
youtu.be/YhQZYJkfe8w?si=4zdjcRg17KGEScMy
—----------------------- Chapters—--------------------------------------------
Shadowrun Returns-----------------------------------------------
00:00 Start
04:02 The 6th World
12:30 Development
18:30 Game Overview
19:46 Character Creation
26:06 Story Setup
34:34 Safe Havens
38:47 Hiring a team
41:07 Combat
49:19 Story conclusion
55:37 What came next?
Dragonfall---------------------------------------------------------
58:27 Game Overview
01:01:09 Story Setup
01:11:26 Gather your party (companions pt1)
01:17:37 Magic and cybernetics
01:19:26 Companions Continued
01:24:56 Missions
01:33:30 Main story continued
01:35:43 regarding the apex mission bug
Hong Kong------------------------------------------------------------
01:42:20 Story Setup
01:50:52 The Old Walled City
01:55:08 The New Walled City
01:59:52 The New Crew
02:01:25 A Text Adventure
02:04:32 The New Crew Continued
02:14:59 Running in Hong Kong
02:18:07 Story Continued
02:22:08 Prosperity tower mission
02:27:37 Hong Kong Conclusion
Conclusion--------------------------------------------------------------
02:31:41 More From Hairbrained Schemes and series conclusion
02:33:36 Sign off
—-------------------------- Socials—----------------------------------------
Support me on Patreon and help me make this my full time job
patreon.com/Arkham666
All the hottest takes on coca cola are here
https://bsky.app/profile/arkham666.bsky.social
My Facebook page that a few people follow
facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077425298397
Instagram (I sort of use this sometimes)
instagram.com/samblenderart
Tip me a coffee here
ko-fi.com/arkham666
Commissions at artstation
artstation.com/the_rotton_core
Hello friend, stay a while and listen. Today we are exploring the entire Shadowrun trilogy made by Harebrained schemes. In this long form deep dive video essay (do I have enough keywords yet?) I’ll begin with a general overview of Shadowrun as a tabletop game. It's one of the most interesting setting I've ever interacted with as it combines Tolkienesque high fantasy with William Gibson style Cyberpunk. Meaning you can both stop the dark lord by destroying his ring of power in the morning and jack into the matrix for a high stakes data heist after lunch.
I'll take a brief look at the earlier attempts to transform Shadowrun into a video game on the Super Nintendo, Sega Megadrive / Genesis, the Sega Mega CD and the Xbox 360. However the real meat of the conversation is about Shadowrun returns, Shadowrun Dragonfall, and Shadowrun Hong Kong.
I’ll be talking about the Kickstarter and early development of the Seattle based returns game before creating a character and diving into a story that starts as a simple murder mystery and quickly escalates into a world ending bug apocalypse scenario. Along the way we’ll explore the characters, world art design and game mechanics and when it’s wrapped up it’s time to move onto Dragonfall, The Director's Cut.
In Dragonfall we’ll zip on over to the flux state of Berlin where I’ll talk more about the world, lore, the politics and mythology that weaves through this very unique part of the 6th world.
And if that wasn’t enough for you, well for our final chapter we’ll be heading all the way into east Asia to see what it’s like Shadowrunning in Hong Kong.
So grab some popcorn and sit down to enjoy the talk. Whether you be an elf, dwarf, troll or Orc, all are welcome. Let’s explore these games and see what makes them great.
#shadowrunreturns #rpg #cyberpunk
—------------------------------ links—-----------------------------------------------
@Indigo_Gaming cyberpunk part 1
youtu.be/sttm8Q9rOdQ?si=C4_D0YA2mhPu5ivm
Wall Street Journal’s Kowloon Walled City video
youtu.be/dj_8ucS3lMY?si=z5gvFc03hbwhnSVf
South China Morning Post’s Kowloon Walled City video
youtu.be/Mq4jAwPdCMw?si=9z5geB1zHbKmd3wM
@gothgamernation Planescape Torment video
youtu.be/3xJSHL7E4sc?si=ka8k07gjq-q5FQg5
@webeharebrained Graft announcement trailer.
youtu.be/YhQZYJkfe8w?si=4zdjcRg17KGEScMy
—----------------------- Chapters—--------------------------------------------
Shadowrun Returns-----------------------------------------------
00:00 Start
04:02 The 6th World
12:30 Development
18:30 Game Overview
19:46 Character Creation
26:06 Story Setup
34:34 Safe Havens
38:47 Hiring a team
41:07 Combat
49:19 Story conclusion
55:37 What came next?
Dragonfall---------------------------------------------------------
58:27 Game Overview
01:01:09 Story Setup
01:11:26 Gather your party (companions pt1)
01:17:37 Magic and cybernetics
01:19:26 Companions Continued
01:24:56 Missions
01:33:30 Main story continued
01:35:43 regarding the apex mission bug
Hong Kong------------------------------------------------------------
01:42:20 Story Setup
01:50:52 The Old Walled City
01:55:08 The New Walled City
01:59:52 The New Crew
02:01:25 A Text Adventure
02:04:32 The New Crew Continued
02:14:59 Running in Hong Kong
02:18:07 Story Continued
02:22:08 Prosperity tower mission
02:27:37 Hong Kong Conclusion
Conclusion--------------------------------------------------------------
02:31:41 More From Hairbrained Schemes and series conclusion
02:33:36 Sign off
—-------------------------- Socials—----------------------------------------
Support me on Patreon and help me make this my full time job
patreon.com/Arkham666
All the hottest takes on coca cola are here
https://bsky.app/profile/arkham666.bsky.social
My Facebook page that a few people follow
facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077425298397
Instagram (I sort of use this sometimes)
instagram.com/samblenderart
Tip me a coffee here
ko-fi.com/arkham666
Commissions at artstation
artstation.com/the_rotton_core
