Another important (and weird) part of Reality's Edge is hacking. Most regular hacking attacks are resolved like shooting is, but with wilder effects, like raising walls in the environment or spawning civvies. Of course, regular damaging or weapon-blocking attacks exist too. And to guarantee that all players have at least one hacker, each gang automatically gets the Shadowbacker avatar, a digital character that only interacts with the hacking aspects of the game. This is how Reality's Edge solves the Shadowrun issue of a hacker playing an entirely different game; virtual entities move on the same board as real ones, only they don't interact like normal minis do. That is, except for having to walk through doors to enter buildings, which is hilarious.
