Shadowrun Returns

• The archetypes such as Decker and Mage available at character creation simply assign the majority of your Karma for you. If you want full control over creating your character, it's better not to pick one.

• Etiquettes aren't particularly useful in the base campaign, but Academic will net you a decent chunk of cash early on while Shadowrunner and Corporate will come up the most often.

• Don't ignore skill bonuses given by outfits. For example a Rigger will gain access to the incredibly powerful +2 AP bonus for drones at Drone Combat 9 which can be reduced to 8 by wearing an outfit increasing the skill by 1. Due to the way the skill system works, this single point is worth a whopping 27 Karma.

• Conjured spirits have a chance to go berserk at the end of each turn, so it's best to keep them away from your party and close to the enemy to make sure the spirit goes after them first should you get unlucky.

• Everything that affects Action Points is immensely powerful. The spell "Haste" and the drug "Jazz" are the primary methods of increasing your AP, while concussion grenades are the primary means of reducing enemy AP.

• Ranged Combat 3 (or Melee Combat 3) opens up your third weapon slot. This is especially useful for Rigger/Deckers who need three slots for a cyberdeck and two drones.

• While specialization is generally recommended, lightly dipping into other skills is cheap and often effective. A Shaman can expand their options by getting some Mage spells for example. Also, all characters should consider investing at least a few points into Shotguns due to endgame-related reasons.

• Cyberware hugely hinders a character's magical abilities. A physical class equipped with cyberware can consider some light investment in magic in order to gain access to simple buffs or magical healing, but on the opposite end pure spellcasters should avoid cyberware entirely.

Dragonfall: Director's Cut

• The easiest types of characters for beginners are likely to be medium-ranged direct damage dealers, namely a pure Mage or a rifle-specialized Street Samurai. Note that mages now need some measure of Intelligence to cast the best spells.

• Biotech of 2 is recommended to be able to see enemy HP in combat, and at 3 it enables some Karma rewards in the early game that partially reimburse investment into the skill.

• Among the best (most-used) Etiquettes are Corporate, Security and Gang. Academic is also frequent (without many rewards) and the remainder are fairly rarely used.

• One of the biggest changes in the Director's Cut is that cover and armor have become much more integral to combat. Armor points are explicit and directly reduce damage dealt, so armor piercing attacks and spells are much more important. Medium and heavy cover effectively negate criticals and reduce damage taken, while light cover simply reduces damage taken. Being "out in the open" or "flanked" means minimum of 1.0x damage.

• Melee strikes will "pop" targets out of cover for a round, as will certain special attacks.

• The Lodge missions are odious but the ultimate reward is pretty worthwhile.

• Even for Magic-using classes, there is a cyberware item that costs 0 Essence and doesn't affect your cooldowns so don't forget to keep checking with the clinic.

• It is possible to reach the 50K nuyen mark before you run out of main missions to help with the fundraising - if you like, you can go meet your contact early for some added content.