back to article Reviewed: Shadowrun: Hong Kong, Until Dawn, Hearthstone expansion and more

If you're waiting on the release of Bloodbowl 2 or an imminent Skaven battle, luckily there several games that can act as a welcome diversion before the avalanche of AAA titles arrive this autumn. There’s something for everyone here, from Steam indie RPGs to PS4 exclusives for the kids – and even a jousting tortoise. Shadowrun …

  1. David Webb

    Hearthstone

    The Grand Tourny is actually free, only costs 700 gold to buy each level, if you're just starting out in the game you can get 700 rather quickly whilst you play, I've already unlocked two levels just by doing dailes and messing around with my cards to find a pretty okay one (currently 17 but my win ratio is going up and up)

    1. Jedit Silver badge

      "The Grand Tourny is actually free, only costs 700 gold to buy each level"

      This is completely incorrect. The Grand Tournament is not an adventure like Naxxramas or Blackrock Mountain (which do cost 700G per wing, or you can buy them for real money). It's an expansion that comes in booster packs of 5 cards that cost 100G each or can be bulk bought with real money.

      You can play Hearthstone for free, but it's pretty painful unless you're already good at it. The best advice for new players is to save your gold for Arenas (which reward packs and cards and let you learn by experience) and buy Naxx and BRM for money. Basically it's now a $50 game with further optional micro-transactions. It's still good VFM at that level, though.

      (Handy tip for people who plan to spend real money: if you have an Android device, install the Amazon app version of the game and make purchases through that using Amazon Coins. The coins are discounted at least 10% when bought in bulk, plus there's often a partial rebate on Coin purchases - IIRC there's a 25% rebate on right now in the US. Also you'll be given a free Classic booster pack the first time you complete a game on each of an Android tablet and phone, an iPad and an iPhone.)

      1. Cuddles

        Re: "The Grand Tourny is actually free, only costs 700 gold to buy each level"

        Not only that, but I'm really baffled where the £40 price could have come from, given that nothing in the game has ever cost that amount. Everything individually is much, much cheaper than that, while the amount you could spend is potentially infinite if you really want to keep throwing money at it. £40 appears to be a number pulled, to be charitable, out of thin air. It's also rather bizarre that it's listed as only being for Mac and Windows, given that it's also available on Android and iOS.

        It's also complete nonsense to say that it's difficult for new players to get into or that you will have to spend lots of money due to this expansion. Sure, if you want to have all the cards and compete at the very top of the ladder that would be true, but almost no-one is actually interested in doing that. If you just want to play casually at the lower ranks you don't need to spend any money at all, and you don't need any cards from this expansion to be perfectly competitive. Or you can just play Arena in which everyone has equal access to all cards, and which on average doesn't cost anything (it costs 150 gold to enter and you'll get over 100 gold worth of stuff at the end even if you lose all your games).

        1. David Webb

          Re: "The Grand Tourny is actually free, only costs 700 gold to buy each level"

          I double checked, you can buy 5 (random) cards for 100 gold coins or £1.99, though as it'a random you could end up spending a fortune in real munneh and not getting the card you badly want, but yeah, it can be done free if you're willing to grind and grind and grind some more, then some more after you grind.

          1. Tom_

            Re: "The Grand Tourny is actually free, only costs 700 gold to buy each level"

            I've been playing Hearthstone for about a year and have never put any money in. It's great fun anyway.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P99qJGrPNLs

  3. dogged

    What are the system requirements for Shadowrun?

    I'm working away from home with only a laptop and no discrete GPU.

    1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      For Shadowrun Hong Kong, Steam says the following :

      OS: Windows XP SP3/Vista/Windows 7 & 8

      Processor: x86-compatible 1.8GHz or faster processor

      Memory: 2 GB RAM

      Graphics: DirectX compatible 3D graphics card with at least 256MB of addressable memory

      DirectX: Version 9.0

      Hard Drive: 10 GB available space

      Don't know if you have to multiply everything by, 2, 4 or 10 to be sure, but I'm pretty certain that a 256MB graphics card is going to severely disappoint you.

      1. dogged

        it's a Core i5 with shitty Intel gfx, but we'll see if it'll fly.

        Thanks guys.

      2. nk

        It should be fine, even with a modern onboard card, but admittedly I have not tried that

        The game does not impress visually, with its retro looks and isometric viewpoint.

        Still I thoroughly enjoyed the previous 2 iterations and look forward to the latest.

        Any fan of turn based action with a good storyline should check it out

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          I definitely check ShadowRun out. I loved the RPG and liked the books (Nigel Findley).

          ~Decker-Mage

    2. Chris 190

      System requirements from Steam store

      OS: Windows XP SP3/Vista/Windows 7 & 8

      Processor: x86-compatible 1.8GHz or faster processor

      Memory: 2 GB RAM

      Graphics: DirectX compatible 3D graphics card with at least 256MB of addressable memory

      DirectX: Version 9.0

      Hard Drive: 10 GB available space

  4. Ashton Black

    Heathstone... very addictive and I have put many hours of play into it. Pretty much got the full set of Classic, Naxx, GvG and Blackrock cards. TGT cards are slowly incoming using the method described above, play dailies until 150G then play Arena and open all packs that come up.

    I wouldn't like to have to start again, I spent many months getting to around rack 20-10. Now I average 5-10. I need to get much better to hit Legend, but I remain hopeful!

    As for money, spending, say £10 per month to get packs isn't that bad, when you remember playing more to play games like WoW or Eve.

  5. Frumious Bandersnatch

    Until Dawn -- "I’m almost relieved when the blood starts flying."

    So, basically your standard "Twenty minutes with jerks" trope.

  6. Vince Lewis 1

    shadowrun hong koong is also on gog

    For those that don't want to be under valves thumb.

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