A new developer diary on the Harebrained Schemes website written by Mike McCain, art director on Shadowrun Returns, the tactical RPG reboot. First the game took Seattle, then it will take Berlin, and Mike fills us in on the state of the Berlin campaign offering concept art and all sorts of details on gameplay this will add when it is released. Here's word on the sandbox element this will bring:

We’re focusing on one such neighborhood for the player. Not only do you have a home base in this area, but you can explore and meet people in the surrounding neighborhood – meet a contact at the cafe down the street, or head to that back-alley street doc for some new meds or cyber. While developing this Haven area, I’ve been working with the Shadowrun pen-and-paper team in Germany to make sure we construct a slice of Berlin that’s accurate to the spirit of the campaign setting.

The main campaign of the game will allow you to complete certain missions in the order you choose, and will present you with some different ways to tackle those missions as well as some optional side objectives. To be clear though, Berlin is not a sandbox environment or an open-world experience. What we are working to create is a more flexible story structure and an engaging “hub area” that will give the player some choices and a sense of place and purpose.