Harebrained Schemes releases first concept art for new Shadowrun game

Shadowrun concept art

The latest Shadowrun Returns Kickstarter update has unveiled the first piece of concept art for Harebrained Schemes' next Shadowrun game. Word of the new game first surfaced by way of an October job listing that mentioned "our next Shadowrun game," and the studio confirmed that it was in the works in a separate update posted last week.

"Here's a piece of look & feel concept art for our new setting," the studio wrote in the brief update. "We'll show how it translates into Shadowrun's isometric gameplay view when our Kickstarter launches in January!"

Commenters noted that the image could indicate the game will take place in Tokyo or Shanghai, but the great likelihood is that it will actually go down in Hong Kong. RPG Codex noticed that the filename of the teaser image on the Shadowrun Universe website is "HK-KS-Teaser," and also pointed out that Hong Kong came in a close second in the "2nd City Survey," ultimately won by Berlin, that determined the setting for Shadowrun: Dragonfall.

Going by the Shadowrun Wikia, Hong Kong—the Hong Kong Free Enterprise Zone, in game parlance—sounds like a pretty interesting place. Overcrowded, violent, and utterly in the grip of unchecked corporate powers, perhaps, but isn't that just about exactly what you want from a pseudo-cyberpunk RPG? It sounds like a pretty good bet to me.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.