Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
Shadow Tactics is a hardcore tactical stealth game set in Japan around the Edo period. Take control of a team of deadly specialists and sneak in the shadows between dozens of enemies. Choose your approach when infiltrating mighty castles, snowy mountain monasteries or hidden forest camps. Set traps, poison your opponents or completely avoid enemy contact. The group is composed of very different personalities. Working together as a team seems impossible at first. Yet over the course of many missions, trust is won and friendships are made. The characters develop their own dynamic and each member will have to face their own personal demons. One of the leaders of this team is Hayato, an agile ninja, who clears the way through his enemies silently, with his sword and shuriken. Samurai Mugen prefers a more powerful approach and can defeat more fiends at one time, but thus also forfeiting flexibility.
Steam User 82
I could not complete Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, so this review is purely based on the first half of the game.
I had an overall good time with this game, surprisingly. I've never touched or even been remotely interested in playing Real-Time Strategy games in the past, however something about this game in particular peaked my interest, and so I decided to give it a shot.
The game starts off very strong. It's challenging, but not impossible nor frustrating. The atmosphere and music are on point, and the voice-acting is just as strong. The controls are intuitive, and although few, work in conjunction expertly, making for a surprisingly deep game, mechanics-wise.
Where my problems lie with this game, causing me to ultimately drop it and Desperados III (also made by the same developers, Mimimi), was it's stark difficulty spike. The first mission was a very brief and easy tutorial mission. The second was a bit more challenging, however I already knew I was well over-my-head playing a tactics game when it took me about 45 minutes to complete, and the speed-run challenge time was only 15 minutes. But I continued regardless. The third mission, however was a significant amount harder. It took me almost 2 hours to beat, and the suggested speed-run time was under 45 minutes. And the game continues this difficult level for the next several missions.
It wasn't until I hit level 7 (I think, the rice fields one), where the difficulty became too much for me, and I stopped having fun altogether. By this point, almost all enemies have about 3 others constantly looking at them, making it very difficult to whittle down a group one by one. I spent almost 2 hours trying to pass the first area, struggling to even pass the first guard. By the end of that time, I realized I was simply no longer having fun with the game, and was growing way too frustrated, and so I decided to leave it.
It truly is a great game. If you like RTS games, this game is a no-brainer. If you do not, I am still sure you will enjoy it for the first few hours, and if you are more patient, and/or smarter than I, you would enjoy it for much more than I did.
I give Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
7.1 Trained Raccoons out of 10
I might return to this game in time, and perhaps I may change my opinion on it. I just have many other games on my to-do list I have to cross off before I do so.
Steam User 26
As of May 2024, this, in my opinion, is no doubt, the greatest real time tactical stealth game of all time. Pretty much after Helldorado, the genre pretty much became dead.
That was until Mimimi came with this masterpiece.
Pretty much imagine this game being Desperados but modernized and set in feudal Japan. The unity engine surprisingly made the game look good, with the ability of turning 90 degrees around the area in a full 3D environment, so no more blind surprises like in Desperados.
There are 13 missions, but just like Desperados, all of them are long and take an hour, two or sometimes three depending on how good you are. There is a replayability involved as many missions can be done in multiple ways to earn badges, or try them out on harder difficulty.
The story is very well made, and the characters are each unique and likable. I recommend playing in japanese dub for full immersion.
The gameplay itself is like Desperados 1, but with QoL added and improved enemy vision mechanic. You will get to know each enemy and how they react quickly and yes, even civilians can screw you.
Overall, if you liked Desperados 1, and you like feudal Japan setting, then absolutely play this. Really amazing game, although shame that Mimimi went bankrupt a year ago. They really nailed this game. Full recommendation.
Steam User 25
Commandos: Feudal Japan.
A steal at the current 90% discount. The potential difficulty stems from finnicky mechanics (mostly based on exact timing/execution).
The playable characters in the game correspond with the Sniper, Thief, Spy, Green Beret and Diver.
Steam User 24
Did you play Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines in the past? Did you love it? Do you miss it? If so, this game is a must for you.
I had no Idea this game existed until a few days ago, and I'm so glad I bought it! The difficulty (so far) has been really on point, it rewards critical thinking, it's fun to come up with strategies with the different characters, the art is very pleasant and of course, Samurai and Ninjas.
Commandos but it's Samurai and Ninjas, it doesn't get much better than this, folks.
Steam User 14
Good game tactics wise. The first half of the game is great. The last third is a bit of a slog, however the last mission, despite its difficulty is worth it to demonstrate what you have learnt thus far.
The story is low key and characters pretty ordinary, however the gameplay is the game's strength.
If you like tactics, defs worth your time
Steam User 13
Good old Commandos has been reborn in Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun.
Different times, but the tasks are still the same. We destroy undesirable personalities and their henchmen for the new Season. In every way we can!
We have at our disposal a squad of five fighters, skilled warriors. Each of them has their own approach to solving problems. The player will have to look for a solution to a particular task himself, both as a squad and as individual fighters.
At high levels of difficulty it is really difficult, you need to think everything through and choose your strategy.
It may seem that the game is short (only 13 missions), but in these missions the storyline of the game is fully revealed. The game never got bored, it was interesting to replay.
I recommend the game, especially for fans of the genre!
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Steam User 15
I bought this game years ago. Around 2021 I think. The moment I found it I knew that that it looked something that I will most probably like. The theme was right up my alley and top down stealth gameplay seemed well made. However for some reason I never brought myself to try it. Until few months ago.
I woke up with a terrible hangover and I wasn't planning to do anything productive that day. So I fired up my TV and picked up my controller. I wanted to try something new and I saw Shadow Tactics collecting digital dust in my library. I fired it up and got immediately hooked.
The game has quite advanced controls but It introduces them with a great pace with minimal learning curve. I played with the controller, however I imagine that using keyboard and mouse might be even more straightforward.
There are 13 levels that are big and beautifully crafted. Each took me 1-3 hours to beat. The final level took me a whooping 5 hours as it was a bit more challenging. Each level is generally an environment with different arrangement of enemies, places to hide and different team members. The cooperation between them is crucial as each member on your team has its strengths and weaknesses. Takuma is gameplay wise probably the most interesting character that you control. He is an old man that unlike other characters, can not jump, climb on vines or use hooks to pull himself on the roofs. He can't even backstab enemies. He of course has other talents, but given his disabilities he also becomes a part of the puzzle how to get all your characters to point A to point B. While everyone but him can jump, climb and easily kill enemies you need to use them to clear the path for Takuma.
An awesome feature of this game is also an ability give each character an instruction that is executed upon your command. For example, if you want to take down two enemies simultaneously, you can instruct two characters to do so. This mechanic opens up so many more possibilities like luring enemies or distracting them as other character can make a stealth kill.
And this is why this game is such a delightful time sink as you have so many options how will you tackle the problem. Will you kill the guard or try to distract him? Should you raise an alarm or is there another more sneaky way to proceed? The game also encourages replayability as it gives you various challenges on how should you complete a level. For example not using a specific skill, not being detected or complete a mission without the casualties.
This brilliant gameplay is packed in a beautiful art style. While the art style is not very unique, it is very well executed. Each level is memorable with different weather, color pallette and distinct level features. The music is also great and helps you immersing into edo period Japan.
Hands down this is one of the best games I played in recent years. Many tend to agree as game received overwhelmingly positive reviews. I can not recommend it enough.