Harebrained Schemes has managed to accrue more than $1 million in crowd-funding for their next adventure in the Shadowrun universe, Shadowrun: Hong Kong. Not only did the project manage to rack in $1,121,359, but it also hit the special mark of having a second mini-campaign added.
Over on the Kickstarter page, there's a brief update about the $1 million goal being met and what it means for dedicated fans. An image indicates that the mini-campaign that contains an extra four through five hours of content in the form of an expansion called Shadows of Hong Kong will be made. The mini-campaign will allow you to import your high-karma Hong Kong character into the mini-campaign, and that the content will be free to any of the backers who put in $15 or more during the initial Shadowrun: Hong Kong Kickstarter.
As mentioned on the updates page for the project, Harebrained Schemes writes...
“...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).”
Extra features at the cost of nothing and they'll be added in as surprises? Well, that's something I think that fans will definitely look forward to.
I've loved what Harebrained Schemes have done with the Shadowrun Returns IP. The original entry from the Kickstarter didn't turn out exceptionally well, but the follow-up in the form of Dragonfall hit all the right notes in all the right ways. More environments, more quests, more options, more customization, more features... more of everything. They did it right and they did it well. They also fixed up the game's combat to streamline things better, as well as offer more ways to solve puzzles or gain access to various areas. I loved what they did with Shadowrun Returns: Dragonall. It had a great story with a lot of awesome content.
With Shadowrun: Hong Kong we could be seeing some really big new features for the game to further expand what was already established in the previous outings. We're starting to see how established brands are coming out of some of these Kickstarter campaigns, with smaller budgets than the AAA sector but more streamlined and focused content for the core audience. It's a great alternative to the traditional method of dumping a $100 million into a brand and not having it guaranteed to make the money back.
That's not to mention that Shadowrun is a pretty fun cyberpunk RPG. It takes it back old-school to the days of Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights and Icewind Dale. Players will customize their team and take missions that make or break alliances, as well as further the story based on the choices you make.
I'm looking forward to seeing what Harebrained Schemes cook up for Shadowrun: Hong Kong.
