Shadowrun Returns

Story

The player takes on the role of a Shadowrunner who has fallen on hard times since his last Shadowrun in the year 2050. One of the player's teammates from that mission, Sam Watts, sends the player a recorded video message in which he reveals that he is probably dead and that his dying wish is for the player to find whoever killed him. He also announces that he has deposited 100,000 Nuyen in an escrow account for the player if he brings whoever is responsible for his death to justice. Knowing that Sam lives in Seattle, the player travels to the city to begin the investigation. After arriving in Seattle and visiting the morgue where Sam's body is being examined, the player learns that Sam is the latest victim of the Emerald City Ripper, a serial killer who surgically removes organs from his victims. The Runner soon asks one of Sam's friends for help in finding the killer: Jake Armitage, returning from the SNES game Shadowrun. Jake soon leaves the group as he is hunted by several gangs and corporations for a disjointed Shadowrun and has to go into hiding, but he leads the player to the crime scene and other clues that could help solve the case. Soon after, the player meets Coyote, a female elven barkeep and Shadowrunner who is waging a private war against "Better-Than-Life" ("BTL") chips and those who trade them. She was also friends with Sam; together they follow the Ripper as he commits more murders throughout Seattle. In their investigation, they assist the more cooperative police officers assigned to the case, as well as the friends and families of the Ripper's victims (including Sam's sister Jessica Watts), who are trying to find and identify the Ripper. Their pursuit eventually leads them to Mercy Mental Hospital, where they discover that a male elf named Silas Forsberg has assumed the identity of the original caretaker. Silas has been using the facility as a cover for his organ harvesting, not only in his role as the Ripper, but also to enrich himself financially (by selling organs from unrelated victims to street clinics and brainwashing certain inmates of the hospital and then selling them as sex slaves). After killing Silas, the player learns that he has been instructed by another party to commit the Ripper murders. They quickly find out that Jessica Watts hired Silas to commit the crimes, in part because of an earlier confession that she was estranged from her brother. Sam and Jessica had led a comfortable life before their father's death. Although he made an early effort to live a decent life, he cracked under the pressure and spent the family's savings on drugs and alcohol. Eventually, he became a Shadowrunner to make ends meet and further his self-destructive habits. When the player confronts Jessica at Sam's funeral, she reveals that she had actually ordered the deaths of her brother and the other Ripper victims so that her mother could have a proper burial. She then goes berserk and orders her bodyguards to kill the player, Armitage (who has briefly come out of hiding to pay his respects) and Coyote. The bodyguards fail, but she and a mysterious elven woman escape. Upon searching the bodies, the group discovers that Jessica is a member of the Universal Brotherhood, known as an international New Age spiritualism organization that attracts rich and poor alike. They also find out that the elf at the funeral was Lynne Telestrian; not only is she a high-ranking member of the Brotherhood, but her family runs Telestrian Industries. Between the company and, to a lesser extent, the Brotherhood, she and the rest of her family are extremely wealthy and influential. Armitage doesn't want to get into any more trouble with the powers that be and goes into hiding after finding out. The player and Coyote track Jessica to the fraternity's chapter near Pike's Market. While Coyote waits outside, the player searches the building and discovers that the Brotherhood is heavily armed and has been involved in the disappearance of several people. Letting Coyote into the building through the servants' entrance, they break into the "inner sanctum" of the facility and discover that the Universal Brotherhood itself is a front for a swarm of insect spirits. The Runners also reunite with Jessica, who says she is well aware of the true nature of the Brotherhood. The team rescues a young elven woman before escaping the facility and realizing that they cannot kill the exotic spirits with their current weapons. However, the woman brings the team together with her friend, a decker named Baron Samedi. On his instructions, the team infiltrates Telestrian Industries, who are working on Project Aegis, a chemical weapon that can easily kill ghosts. However, the operation is unsuccessful and the player is forced to infiltrate the company a second time alone in order to obtain the only sample of the Aegis mixture.