Shadowrun Returns latest classic RPG to seek Kickstarter resurrection

By Anthony John Agnello Published April 5, 2012

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Kickstarter is fast becoming the patron saint of old-school RPGs. Wasteland 2 has more than doubled its intended goal of raising $900,000 to develop the post-apocalyptic sequel. Yet the people are hungry for more! Harebrained Schemes is ready to give it to them. The studio headed by Jordan Weisman has started up a campaign to bring back another cult classic from 20 years ago: His very own Shadowrun.

The studio opened its fundraiser to developer new sequel Shadowrun Returns on Sunday with the goal of raising $400,000. The game is planned for Android and iOS mobile devices as well as PCs. Like the Shadowrun video games of the ‘90s, Returns will be a 2D single-player game with turn-based combat with a bent on character development and strategy. This game will apparently hew close to the Super Nintendo Shadowrun created by Data East, with similar interactive conversations.

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In addition to Weisman, who created the original Shadowrun pen-and-paper role-playing game back in 1989, seven of the other original writers that worked on the game will be helping with Returns.

Weisman says that he’s been working to bring Shadowrun back to video games for awhile, but licenses associated with the franchise still held by Microsoft after its botched attempt to turn the series into a shooter made it difficult for major publishers to get involved.

With 24 days to go, Harebrained has already raised

Anthony John Agnello

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…

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