The Shadowrun universe has taught us well: behind every corporation, a cover-up; behind every cult, a crackpot with a plan for world domination via extra-planar beasties. So when Harebrained Schemes announced they were working on pointy action-roguelike Necropolis, we knew better than to expect the premature end of their RPG series – and discovered a third campaign for Shadowrun Returns referenced in the company’s job listings.
This, though, is unexpected. The team will return to Kickstarter to fund their next expedition into America’s techno-magical future.
The developers made a Kickstarter update yesterday consisting only of an image and the legend: “Shadowrun returns to Kickstarter January 2015”.
Harebrained more than quadrupled their Kickstarter targets two years ago when pitching Shadowrun Returns’ first single-player campaign, Dead Man’s Switch. Its follow-up, Dragonfall, was funded at the time by a $1 million stretch goal.
The studio advertised for a new lead artist in early October – weeks after Dragonfall’s director’s cut appeared on Steam.
The job listing made reference to Harebrained’s “next Shadowrun campaign”, and offered an estimated development time of at least six months. That timeframe suggested the team were still working with the toolset first put together for Dead Man’s Switch.
The ad promised a “riveting new story in the Shadowrun Universe”, and an art style consistent with the last two campaigns in the series. Harebrained required their new hire to have “seen Blade Runner”. “Because, come on.”
Where would you like to see Shadowrun’s next community cash injection go?