NEWS
Steam Early Access: Shadowrun Online
Yesterday it was revealed that the upcoming free-to-play MMORPG Shadowrun Online will be available through Steam's Early Access program this upcoming Monday. The development team at Cliffhanger Productions have stated that initially the early access form of the game will be a small sample of where they aim to take the overall game, offering minimal story or rewards. The primary focus during this time will be on displaying working core mechanics, and fixing that which still needs fixing.
On April 29, 2012 Harebrained Schemes successfully reached their goal to fund Shadowrun Returns on Kickstarter, and it was released in 2013. After their success, Cliffhanger Productions followed and had their own project Shadowrun Online funded by August 14, 2012. Cliffhanger Productions told those who contributed funds to the project that there would be a closed beta in May the following year, but when May came around it was nowhere to be seen. So began the rough development cycle for Shadowrun Online which may beginning to coming to a head, now that there is at least a playable portion that will be available.
On the Steam page for the game, Cliffhanger Productions has listed what players should expect from the final product.
WHAT IT WILL BE
We have a lot of neat ideas for the game and of course we will add more elements. Things that will be added as development continues:
Class-Free Character Creation: Create your own Shadowrunner and skill any way you want, with a ton of visual customisation options.
Items: Weapons, armour and cyberware, magic talismans and cyberdecks: Loot them, buy them or upgrade existing items. Our item system separates the visual aspects from the item ability, so no need to wear a silly hat just for the bonus it grants!
Co-op or single player mission gameplay: Play with your friends or lead a team yourself, when you want to play solo.
Dynamic Security and Alarm Levels: Depending on what you do in a mission you may trip alerts, making some missions more difficult – or shut off the alarm in time.
PvP duels and PvP Missions: Test your Shadowrunners in PvP against other players.
Evolving world campaign: New content will be released based on the collective actions of the players. This is your world!
Tough missions: Because life in the shadows is never easy!
As noted, the team looks like they would like to add more on top of what is listed but at this time we are only to expect the more base features of the game.