14 DAY TRIAL // The folks over at Harebrained Schemes have just announced that their Shadowrun Returns title would be available for pre-order via Steam beginning Monday, April 29.
In fact, RPG fans will be able to pre-order both Shadowrun Returns and the Shadowrun Returns Deluxe Edition at the end of the month.
No word on the price yet, but Harebrained confirmed that all those who backed the game on Kickstarter would receive Steam keys.
In addition, in order to honor their original promise of a DRM-free version of the game, developers announced their Account Website would provide backers with a downloadable version of Shadowrun Returns that does not include Steam integration.
The bad news is this DRM-free version of the game will only include the Seattle and Berlin stories, and the latter will come via a separate update.
Due to the fact that the DRM-free version of Shadowrun Returns will not benefit from Steam integration, Harebrained will not be able to offer any future updates or DLCs for this particular edition.
On a more positive note, Shadowrun Returns will be released along with the Steam Workshop integration and the Editor, which will allow players to browse community-created content or develop their own adventures.
According to Harebrained, digital distribution via Steam will also make it easier for developers to provide players with patches, DLCs, and map packs.
In this regard, it appears that the game will come with a separate Berlin Campaign, which will only be available for free to backers and those who pre-ordered the Shadowrun Returns Collector's Edition.
The Berlin DLC is expected to be released soon after Shadowrun Returns’ release on Steam. Additional content that will be released in the following months includes: map packs, new Shadowrun stories written by Harebrained Schemes, and more outfits and portraits for characters.
Shadowrun Returns will be launched sometime in June and will be available only on Windows, but Linux, iOS and Android versions have been confirmed to arrive later on.
