Comparison to SRH

Comparison to Shadowrun series by Harebrained Schemes (SRH)

tl/dr summary: SRH focuses on role-playing a single character in a cyberpunk setting with magic. CKF focuses more on team-based tactical combat, in a cyberpunk setting without magic. SRH comes with one fixed campaign, although alternate campaigns are available through the sequel games and mods. CKF has no fixed plot; instead it has a number of randomly added storylines. CKF is fully 3D rendered with more visual customization. SRH combat and matrix activity is broadly similar to CKF; characters in the physical world operate in the same turn structure as deckers in the matrix.

Main plot, overworld, setting

SRH is much more of an RPG. There is continual dialog with branching dialog choices, and occasional combat scenes. CKF alternates between inventory/team management in a safehouse with occasional dialog, and tactical combat missions with no/minimal dialog. In SRH, there is a fixed main plot which will be the same in each playthrough. In CKF, there is no main plot. There are currently a small number of story lines, some of which may occur in one play-through but not another. The story lines may be triggered by a known characteristic of one agent, or randomly based on certain attributes of any agent. Story lines may have several linked missions and several "branches" to explore. No two playthroughs will encounter the same set of story missions.

Both SRH and CKF are "cyberpunk" games with the matrix and cybernetic augmentation playing major roles. The main difference is that SRH has nonhumans including elves and trolls, and magic. All characters in CKF are human and there is no magic; although there is extensive nanotechnology which can perform "magic-like" effects such as teleportation.

Overall graphics

SRH has typical graphics for a 2013 game, with a small selection of character portraits and sprite-based models. CKF is entirely 3D rendered and each character can be customized with a variety of faces, skin tones, hats, and other accessories.

Typical tactical view in SRH	Typical tactical view in CKF

Characters

In SRH, you have one main character, and a small cast of non-player characters who follow the main character. In CKF, you will have a main character and a team of 8-12 individually designed mercenaries, who will be offered as recruits randomly or as part of missions. Each character belongs to one of 6 classes (currently). When a character levels up, they may choose a new ability or improved ability from a large talent "tree". Generally a class has about 15 talents and about 15 opportunities for stat increases; each talent has about 6 options to improve it, resulting in about 16 different "strengths" of the talent. It would be hard to enumerate all the varieties, but certainly one class at max level could have thousands of different builds.

As with SRH, if the main character dies during a mission and cannot be revived, the game ends. Other characters may die on missions, but at normal difficulty, this should be rare.

Tactical combat

Turn sequence. Both SRH and CKF have turn based combat. CKF uses initiative ordering, which means that in each turn, player controlled characters may alternate moves with enemy guards; you cannot choose which agent will move on your own.

Map grid. CKF is gridless; weapon and talent ranges are true spheres accounting for distance and altitude. Each movement point is a straight line, but you can plot moves that bend around enemy sight lines or other obstacles.

Stealth. Some missions in SRH may start with the characters being undetected, but maintaing stealth is not really a factor. In most CKF missions, if you efficiently target and kill guards who are out of sight of other guards, you can perform most of the mission without "breaking stealth". Generally you wind up triggering guards and then "going loud" with automatic weapons.

Security devices. SRH does not rely on devices such as cameras to detect the player characters. CKF has a variety of devices including cameras. In CKF, different agents may have abilities to temporarily disable the devices at a certain range. As with detection by guards, detection by cameras will increase the security level and more guards will start to search for the team; but this usually leads to loud combat rather than mission failure.

Encounter ordering. Most levels in SRH have a fixed set of enemies who are placed on the map. Most missions in CKF have a number of visible patrolling guards and the possibility of reinforcements arriving.

Matrix / hacking encounters

Both SRH and CKF consider operations in the matrix to occur in a parallel world, using the same turn sequence as the real world. In SRH, deckers enter the matrix through certain access points, and then enter a map which operates similarly to the real world. It has a much different visual appearance and different enemies, but movement and ranged attacks work quite similarly. A decker takes one turn in the matrix in parallel with the other characters taking one turn in the real world. In CKF, a hacker enters the matrix and takes turns in parallel. However, the matrix is displayed as a rectangular grid of "nodes" each of which may have some enemy "IC" countermeasures to defeat and some loot items to download. Expect to spend 30-40% of your time in hacking missions, including times when the hacker must find and open a door while being attacked in the real world.

Typical matrix view in SRH	Typical matrix view in CKF

Base building and items

SRH does not have the concept of a central base. In CKF, between missions, as money is available, you can build up your base ("safehouse") with a number of different rooms, which can be individually upgraded. These give powerful abilities such as adding more loot to a mission or granting a new contact who sells higher level gear.

In SRH, as you progress in the game, vendors automatically offer more powerful weapons, equipment and armor. In CKF, more powerful weapons are obtained by either crafting in the safehouse, using blueprints that are available as mission loot, or by "leveling up" contacts to provide more powerful services. For example, in mid game, level 3 weapons may be available in the market; a contact may "level up" to offer level 4 weapons for purchase, and you may be able to craft certain types of level 5-6 weapons.

Map / objective variety

In SRH, each location is a fixed map, connected to other maps in a fixed way. Some maps may have combat as part of the objective, or conversation, or a mixture. In CKF, when a tactical mission starts, one of a set of 30 fixed maps is chosen, with more being added during Early Access. Each map has multiple entrance and exit points and can be reconfigured slightly with more/fewer guards, security cameras, and other features. Experienced players will recognize the maps and have favorite "routes" through them. Each tactical mission has an objective, such as "kill 3 captains" or simply "loot as many items as possible". Some objectives are better tackled with stealth, and some require loud combat.

Modding

SRH allows fairly extensive modding primarily at Steam Workshop and Nexus Mods. Modders can add new maps, items, and entirely new campaigns. CKF will add modding capability after release.