Shadowrun Returns

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. You are 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 alone. When the powerful or the desperate need a job done, you get it done… by any means necessary. The unique cyberpunk-meets-fantasy world of Shadowrun has gained a huge cult following since its creation nearly 25 years ago. Now, creator Jordan Weisman returns to the world of Shadowrun, modernizing this classic game setting as a single player, turn-based tactical RPG. With the Shadowrun Returns Editor, everyone is empowered to create and share their own stories and campaigns with the Steam Workshop community. You can even explore the entire Shadowrun Returns Seattle campaign in the Editor directly – see how it was built and borrow as much as you need to jump-start your own creations! No advanced coding or art skills are required to create content using the SRR Editor.

The player assumes the role of a shadowrunner who has fallen onto hard times since his or her last shadowrun in 2050. One of the player's teammates from that mission, Sam Watts, sends a pre-recorded video message to the player, where he reveals that he is likely dead, and that his final wish is that the player find whomever killed him. He also announces that he has 100,000 nuyen being held in escrow for the player should he bring whomever was responsible for his death to justice. Knowing that Sam resides in Seattle, the player travels to the city to begin their investigation. Upon arriving in Seattle and visiting the morgue where Sam's body is being examined, the player discovers that Sam is the latest victim of the Emerald City Ripper, a serial killer who has been surgically removing organs from his or her victims. The Runner soon enlists the help of one of Sam's friends to help find the killer; Jake Armitage, returning from the SNES Shadowrun game. Jake soon leaves the party as he is being hunted by multiple gangs and corporations over an unrelated shadowrun and must go into hiding, but he points the player to the scene of the crime, and to further leads that could help break the case open. Soon afterwards, the player meets Coyote, a female elf bartender/shadowrunner who is waging a private war against "Better-Than-Life" ("BTL") chips and those who trade them. She was a friend of Sam's as well; together they follow the Ripper as he commits more murders across Seattle. During their investigation they assist the more cooperative police officers assigned to the case, as well as the friends and family of the Ripper's victims (including Sam's sister, Jessica Watts), as they attempt to find and identify the Ripper. Their pursuit eventually leads them to Mercy Mental Hospital, where they find that a male elf named Silas Forsberg has taken the identity of the original administrator. Silas has been using the facility as a front for his organ harvesting operation; not only in his role as the Ripper, but also for financial gain (both by selling organs from unrelated victims to street clinics, and by brainwashing particular inmates at the hospital and then selling them as sex slaves). After killing Silas, the player learns he was directed to commit the Ripper murders by another party. They quickly determine that Jessica Watts commissioned Silas to commit the crimes, based partially on an earlier admission that she had been estranged from her brother. Sam and Jessica had lived a comfortable life before their father's passing, and despite his best efforts early on to live a decent life, he cracked under the pressure and spent the family savings on drugs and alcohol. He eventually became a shadowrunner to make ends meet, and to further fuel his self-destructive habits. When the player confronts Jessica at Sam's funeral Jessica reveals she had indeed ordered her brother's death, and the deaths of the other Ripper victims so her mother could have a proper funeral. She subsequently snaps and orders her bodyguards to kill the player, Armitage (who has briefly come out of hiding to pay his respects) and Coyote. The bodyguards fail, but she and a mysterious elf woman escape. While going over the dead bodies, the party discovers that Jessica is a member of the Universal Brotherhood, which is well known as an international new age spiritualism organization that attracts rich and poor alike. They also discover that the elf at the funeral was Lynne Telestrian; not only is she a high-ranking Brotherhood member, but her family manages Telestrian Industries. B