a player progress with the game. As the title of the game implies, Jake is described as a "shadowrunner", a mercenary type of character common within the Shadowrun world. The player is given the option to hire other shadowrunners as henchmen with "nuyen", the game's currency that can also be used to purchase guns and certain key items scattered throughout various locations. Combat within Shadowrun often requires sharp reflexes, as practically every screen contains hidden assassins who, from random locations, open fire on Jake; the player may retreat or must otherwise immediately find the source of the attack and respond. Enemies typically drop nuyen, while at the same time, Jake builds up "karma". If the player retires to a bed to restore health and save one's progress, karma can be allocated into different attributes, skills, and magical powers. At certain points in the game, Shadowrun allows the player to enter cyberspace. Using an item called a "cyberdeck", Jake is able to hack into computers to retrieve information, as well as gain more nuyen. During such scenes, the gameplay switches to a top-down perspective while an icon of Jake moves through cyberspace, fights intrusion programs, and retrieves data. If Jake dies in cyberspace, he dies in the outside world as well. While the setting and a lot of gameplay elements are taken from the original pen and paper variant, certain gameplay elements have been modified. One example is that the "Condition Monitor" has been replaced with a more traditional hit points system, and the removal of the "Essence" mechanic, which decreases when cyberware is installed. This would reduce a character's ability to use magic as the installation of cyberware is making one less alive, thus less in tune with magic. Plot Shadowrun is an adaptation of the FASA tabletop role-playing game of the same name. The storyline of the video game is loosely based on the first Shadowrun novel, Never Deal with a Dragon, written by Robert N. Charrette. The narrative opens in Seattle, Washington in the year 2050, where the protagonist Jake Armitage is shown being gunned down in the street. A shapeshifting vulpine figure rushes to his side and is seen casting a spell over Jake before leaving hastily as the medics arrive on the scene. Jake awakens in a morgue with complete memory loss. Soon, he is approached by the "Dog", a shamanistic totem who gives him a